Topics Philosophy

Question Why do people (especially philosophers) engage in arguments which cannot be resolved?

Accepted:
December 7, 2005

Comments

Some philosophical issues are resolved, but many aren't--often the deepest ones. Philosophers nevertheless pursue abstract and difficult issues in the hope of solving them. And this isn't clearly misguided: a low success rate might result from the difficulty of the problems instead of from their in-principle unsolvability. Still, even if some enduring problems--the mind-body problem, the nature of free will, our knowledge of the external world, and so on--are not, in fact, completely resolvable, a lot is to be learned about the nature of mind, freedom, knowledge and also rationality by pursuing them anyway. And the pursuit is independently enjoyable and edifying. Or so I have found.

I would add that studying philosophical issues--reading about them, discussing them with others, and writing about them inside or outside a class--can not only be intellectually edifying, but pratically useful as well: this is an an excellent way to hone one's critical reading, writing, thinking, and oral communication skills that are useful in many professional and personal contexts.

Question Why do people (especially philosophers) engage in arguments which cannot be resolved? Accepted:December 7, 2005

Question Why do people (especially philosophers) engage in arguments which cannot be resolved?

Accepted:
December 7, 2005