Chapter 12 Common Sense and Anglo- American Philosophy

What is the difference between the tender- and the tough-minded? What is the pragmatic method? What is the pragmatic theory of truth? How is Russell’s logic different from that of Aristotle and Hegel? What is the difference between knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description? How did Wittgenstein think he had solved all philosophical problems? In what ways did he change his views?

The Anglo-American Reaction to Hegel

Which style do you prefer? Continental Literary, poetic, enthusiastic for metaphysical speculation about Grand Ideas Anglo-American Disciplined application of logical analysis, with an avoidance of grand metaphysical speculation

William James Why would a scientist be interested in religion?

Are we as humans just… …clever little animals, powered by chemical reactions and shaped by natural selection? If so, if there any meaning to our lives at all?

Which is your temperament? Tender-minded Drawn towards abstraction, romanticism, and monism Tough-minded Drawn towards concrete facts, observation, and pluralism

Which temperament would you prefer to have? Why?

Is your worldview… …comforting to you? Do you think that a person’s philosophical approach is guided by her temperament? If so, it philosophy really a search for Truth?

PRAGMATISM In what way is pragmatism a method of philosophizing? In what way is it a theory of truth?

Philosophical Disputes How do you think we can tell if a dispute is an authentic dispute? Do you think that philosophy should be practical? If so, HOW?

Does it matter… …what the universe is made of?

A Pragmatist’s Riddle! How is knowledge…. …like a grease spot?

What is Truth? Correspondence between the mind and the world? The process by which the human mind assimilates and incorporates ideas into its commonsense understanding?

Do you think… …that truth needs to have “cash-value”? Why would it be valuable, if it did not?

Can truth develop? Would the “old” truth still be “truth” if it has developed into something different? What would James say? Do you agree?

Religion Does religion have any cash value? Is it then true? Can you disprove God, scientifically?

The Will to Believe Do you want to believe in God? Why? How can religion be useful? Can it also be destructive?

William… or Jesse? How are pragmatists philosophical cowboys? Is this an appealing image? If so, does this support pragmatism’s truth? According to whom?

Bertrand Russell A defender of the reality of common sense!

Can we say anything true about this slide? If so, what are the implications for Hegel’s holistic view of the universe?

The Universe A continuous thing? Composed of discrete bits?

Syntax, not semantics Imagine that you’re in a room with a rulebook that tells you how to respond to symbols (writing) that are passed into the room. You don’t know what the symbols (writing) mean. Would someone outside the room believe that you could understand what they were saying to you?

How is being in this room similar to computing?

Logic How do we know the principles of logic? Do we observe them? How else do we know them? Do we need to observe them for them to be true?

What’s the difference? Sense data Sensation

How is it possible that the sense data appearing in your mind describes what is outside it? How do you know there is a brown table in front of you?

Do you have remembrance of things past? Are you self-conscious? How is your experience of a sunset different from that of a dog?

Try to formulate a sentence that expresses a truth without using a “universal” term. Can you do it? What does this tell you about what you are directly acquainted with?

The Role of Philosophy? What do you think the role of philosophy is? Do you think that philosophy is the handmaiden of science? Or do you think that philosophy makes science possible? Why do you think as you do?

Ludwig Wittgenstein The solver of all major philosophical problems?

Picture Theory of Meaning Do you think that language pictures reality? What does this mean? Does this sentence picture reality? How?

Do the deepest problems in philosophy fail to be problems at all? How could you make someone who had never seen red understand what it is? How can language be used to point out the structure of the world?

Early and Later Ludwig Tractatus The picture theory of meaning Philosophical Investigations The language game theory of meaning

Does language only picture reality, or does it do other things as well? If so, what? Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side!

I Want to Play a Game When you play baseball, or football, do you know all of the rules before you set out to play? Or do you and others take part in a shared activity? How is this similar to language use?

When does philosophy come to an end?

Wondrous Distress in Anglo- American Philosophy How should we approach our exploration of reality? Is this exploration open-ended? What might one danger be of the analytical focus on analysis and logic? Could any one philosophical approach solve the issues that have caused perennial wonder and distress?