Topics Philosophy

Question My first question on this site: What questions should we put to philosphers? One of Kalynne's suggestions: You might ask what makes an answer to a given question a good one. Thanks, Kalynne! My question now: Are there some common parameters by which the "correctness" of an answer can be judged? I mean apart from logical coherence and factual accuracy, what else? I have a feeling that there is some textbook/weblink which has the answer for this. If yes, pls direct me to it.

Accepted:
December 31, 2007

Comments

Alas, if it were that simple life would indeed by kind. But the answers to philosophical questions are very difficult to judge, especially given the variety of types of philosophy that prevail. What some philosophers would regard as the epitome of clarity others might see as evasive and banal. I am not at all sure that logical coherence or factual accuracy are valued by all philosophers, and of course it might be also that different philosophers have different conceptions of what they are anyway.

Oliver is right, of course. (I feel obliged to offer an answer since I set up the question.) Sometimes it may seem as though philosophers are deliberately and mischievously obfuscatory, but this is more likely the result of living amidst the trees so long that memory of the forest has faded.

In a forum like this, I'd say a good answer is clear, coherent, and logically consistent. If it must be obfuscatory, then it will be accompanied by a clear-as-possible explanation for its being so.

Whence my metaphor of the forgotten forest.