Philosophy

Why is philosophy so difficult?

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There is an ancient saying (in Greek): "Chalepa ta kala." This means: "Noble things are difficult." Not all things that are valuable are difficult...but some are. And part of their value, I think, derives from the difficulty. In difficult endeavors, even the smallest successes are thrilling.

But here is another answer (also with ancient roots): Aristotle, in the beginning of his work, Metaphysics, says that "philosophy begins in wonder." I think that's right, and it is right about any kind of inquiry at all. But that means that producing results, in an inquiry, is going to be difficult--because in every serious inquiry, we begin in wonder. And we wonder because we are ignorant: If we already knew what we wondered about, we wouldn't wonder! Conquering ignorance is a tough business; as Socrates noted (see Plato's Apology) even recognizing our own ignorance can be difficult...and is all too rare (then and now).

Just think of the kinds of questions that philosopher ask--about goodness and justice, knowledge and belief, meaning and reference, just to take a few samples. There are no roadmaps for answering the kinds of question that (as Nicolas D. Smith said) set you to wondering. Even what counts as relevant to an answer is up for grabs.

Questions recognizbly similar to "Does X exist?" "What is the nature of X?" (where X is usually something abstract and very general) seem to be asked generation after generation--but with different standards and criteria for what governs an acceptable answer. Our changing ways of doing philosophy, I think, partly account for the absence of definitive answers to philosophical questions. Our changing ways also partly account for the perennial interest in them.

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