Topics Philosophy

Question I have a very basic question that greatly puzzles me. Why do we consider reasonable sounding imaginings to be wisdom, for example Plato's idea of the existence of an ideal of each kind of object, such that an actual physical object is merely an approximation? I can see that this may have entertainment value; but why to serious intelligent educated people take such metaphors seriously? Why is a chair not simply any object designed primarily for sitting? Why does no one seem to question the VALIDITY of the notion of ideals and approximations? It seems that we elevate mere metaphors to the status of realities. Why do we do that? I am genuinely confused.

Accepted:
November 3, 2011

Comments

I guess I too am a bit confused. Surely philosophers have been questioning Plato's notion of forms ever since Plato. And one could presumably say the same thing about any other example one might care to offer. One could even object to the idea that a chair is any object designed for sitting. Surely there are chairs no one designed for that purpose, but are merely used for that purpose. But is anything that is used for sitting a chair? No, since sofas are also used for sitting, as are benches, tables, and old stumps. So what exactly is a chair? That's the kind of question that gets philosophy started.

This particular question isn't so interesting in itself, of course. The question philosophers really debate concerns the terms in which such questions are to be answered. And if such questions seem unimportant or useless, then consider the question what species are and how they are to be individuated. This is a question discussed by both biologists themselves and by philosophers of biology, and many of the issues there are familiar from more general philosophical discussion about the nature of kinds. Another area where this kind of issue becomes important is in the philosophy of race (and, similarly, of gender), where the nature of racial classification is a fundamental issue. What exactly is it to be black, or white, or Asian, or whatever?