Topics Philosophy

Question Has anyone ever asked a question that could not be answered philosophically? I'm not asking whether anyone's asked a question that cannot be answered by a philosopher -- presumably, a philosopher cannot answer whether the universe is intelligent or whether human beings deserve to live. But is there any question that cannot be philosophized about?

Accepted:
March 24, 2008

Comments

On your general question: "is there any question that cannot be philosophized about?" I think I can provide a proof that the answer is no. Suppose, for reductio, that there is such a question, call it Q. Then the question of why we can't philosophize about Q is a perfectly good and obviously philosophical question. Thus, Q, the question about which we can't philosophize, is a question about which we can philosophize, which is absurd. And so there are no questions that cannot be philosophized about. QED

That said, treating garden variety questions like "Can you give me a lift to work?" or "Would you like to go to the movies tonight?" or "is there any dirty laundry in the basket?" as occasions for philosophizing is usually a pretty good way to annoy the people around you. Being clear about this sort of thing should probably be required for getting a philosopher's license, but far as I know, the regs in most jurisdictions don't include it.