To start us off, let us consider the notion of Question in philosophy.
What makes a question/problem/inquiry philosophical? (as opposed to being a scientific, mathematical, practical, etc. one)
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Not sure if I’m allowed to post here, but hey:
Yet another demarcation problem…
I believe the hallmark of a philosophical question is that it either hasn’t been answered or cannot ever be answered.
This reminds me a little of underdetermination — the idea that no theory can ever be confirmed by a given set of evidence. Perhaps human limitations dictate that we can never determine the answers to questions such as “What is love?”
Most philosophical questions are about concepts, intangible concepts in particular. The emphasis is on ‘meta’ — that which allows us to explore beyond physical concepts. Philosophy is therefore practically twice removed from reality. We have theories about the world and theories about these theories; it is the latter that tends to be philosophical.
An example would be Hume’s Fork: That nothing can be both certain and about the world. I was going to argue that science and so on would be about the world — empirical knowledge is not philosophical in itself, while that which is certain tends to be more philosophical. Then again, that’s not entirely true because mathematics (some aspects) is certain, specifically analytic a priori knowledge (e.g. a triangle has three sides, true by definition). Whereas both mathematics and science are in themselves not philosophical, thinking about their empirical/certain nature would constitute as such. That’s truly meta.
And of course, the ultimate meta would be thinking about thinking. Go back to Descartes’ cogito, that’s the ultimate stop to the infinite regress (or at least it’s touted as such).
Okay, I think you can’t argue that anything can be more philosophical than thinking about thinking. Who’s doing the thinking and what is? Limited by the confines of your brain, there’s no way you can ever answer this question, making epistemology probably ultimate philosophy 101.
For interest:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underdetermination
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hume's_fork
Haha where are all the rg philoep posters! Go post
Hi!
According to me, philosophical questions are like mental gymnastics. They are questions that require great amounts of contemplation using non-common concepts such as morality, logic and ethics. While these questions can be backed up by certain types of evidences, these eveidences are mainly the use of laws or definitions that others have come up with. Unlike scientific questions, there is no solid proof that proves whether the issue is right or wrong.
No one can actually give a definite or final answer to a philosophical question. The discussion can continue for very long but at the end of it, you will still be left with more questions that you started off with because these questions require thinking from different perspectives and analysing on behalf of them. Hence, it makes philosophical questions confusing and trains one’s brain to think in a conceptual, analytical way.
Personally, I think a philosophical question is something that arises when you think about what you think (metacognition, one of the Habits of Mind). It is more opinion based, supported by evidences from real world happenings. Normally, a philosophical question is a question which does not have a definite answer and which questions our beliefs and morals.
After all, in philosophy, are we not always in pursuit of the truth? Philosophy aims to find out the truth of the world and more importantly, the truth of ouselves. When we ask philosophical questions, we are also questioning our opnion on a certain issue. This certain issue, more often than not, is something which is instinctive, and yet when pondered further, seems to arise many different points of view. Take for example our morality topic. Certain qeustions like “Is xxx morally right?” may seem to have a definite answer at first glance, but upon pondering and using different theories, we start to doubt our own instincts. Philosophical questions, therefore, allows us to be able to think about our instincts and our thoughts and beliefs on a certain issue.
Sorry! I forgot to include my class. I’m from 301.