Philosophy

Will philosophy ever end? Will we ever find the unchallengeable 'truth?' Or will we just get inches closer without ever really grasping the answers to life's most puzzling mysteries?

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The question whether philosophy will ever end is not quite the same as the question whether we'll ever find what you refer to as the unchallengeable truth. I'll just focus on the former question.

Of course, philosophy might end because our species or something else destroys life as we know it. That ending for philosophy would be sad but not very interesting. Your question instead seems to suggest that you're wondering whether, even if we had world enough and time (and let's add determination, also), we could answer all philosophical questions.

Some philosophers have taken a stand on this issue. For instance, Colin McGinn has argued that the "mind/body problem" cannot in principle be solved. Such a position might take either of two forms: (a) one holds that there's a definite question that needs answering, but that for some deep reason we are barred from being able to find the answer, or (b) the question is itself confused or ill-posed. Either of these positions might support the conclusion that certain philosophical problems can't be solved.

I have myself never seen a convincing argument for the conclusion, regarding a genuine philosophical question (as opposed to a confused or ill-posed one), that it cannot be answered. Of course, this needs to be set aside the historical record, which shows philosophers tending to not fully answer the questions that have vexed them for milenia. However, this does *not* show that philosophers and others who share their interests (including novelists, psychologists, and many others) have made no progress on what you call life's most puzzling mysteries. We know a great deal more about the range of possible answers to various of these questions than we did in the past--even in the recent past--as well as how many of these answers may be supported and challenged. We also know that many of the traditional questions that, for instance, vexed philosophers of Antiquity, need to be formulated with a lot more care and precision. Finally, philosophy in its very nature is constantly asking new questions that might not have been even intelligible in the past: just think of the ethical questions that genetic engineering enables us to pose.

So my (admittedly unsatisfying) answer to your question is simply: I don't know. However, I want to stress that even if "philosophy will never end," I'm not sure that would be a bad thing. The field will still make progress on old questions and pose new ones. In the meantime, I would hope that not only professional philosophers but those who are interested in the field, such as yourself, will have their lives enriched by the (possibly endless) inquiry.

Mitch Green

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