Topics Philosophy

Question What does one must be in order to be called "a philosopher"? For example, Are those from psychoanalysis tradition - Zizek, for example, has been influenced by Jacques Lacan - are legitimately called "a philosopher"? If this is the case, what is a - or, is there a - boundary between those who ask "philosophical" questions and those who ask "phychoanalysis" questions?

Accepted:
April 8, 2009

Comments

If I remember correctly, the first department of psychology in the United States came from the basement of Harvard's philosophy building (or so one story goes). Today it is not uncommon in Britain to find physics departments of universities still identified as departments of 'natural philosophy.' A jaundiced view of these trends is that once a philosophical enterprise begins to gain acclaim it gets a new name and more funding.

The Greek word 'philosopher' means 'lover of wisdom.' I think this means anyone interested in contemplating the human condition has a good claim on the title.

As far as the psychoanalyst vs. philosopher debate goes, I think the authors you mentioned surely count as both. I think what marks psychoanalysts as separate sub-group is that they belong to a school of thought (i.e., they have shared ideas about method, ontology, and epistemology). Those who would identify themselves as 'cognitive scientists' or 'philosophers of mind' are investigating very similar questions as the psychoanalysts - just from another school of thought.

The other prominent difference today between philosophers and psychoanalysts is that the latter frequently have patients. (Socrates would interject here that the city of Athens was his patient!)