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This fact poses a special difficulty because in order to find out whether philosophy has any point, we have to philosophize, thereby boldly risking to do something that turns out to be pointless! The fact that the problem about the point of philosophy is itself a philosophical problem signals a difference between philosophy and other disciplines, since it is not-at least not entirely-a mathematical problem whether mathematics has any point, nor a medical problem whether medicine has any point, and so forth-these are rather (at least partly) philosophical problems, like whether life has a point. In any case, the question I am asking is whether philosophy has any point. If this were so -it will soon emerge that there is reason to doubt that it is so-part of the point of philosophy would be self-defeating, since if life comes to an end, so does philosophy. Indeed, it seems that part of the point of philosophy could conceivably consist in showing that life does not have any point. Notice that even if philosophy has a point, it does not follow that life has a point, only that something in life has a point. It is more important for us whether life has a point than whether philosophy has a point, since if life has some point, but not philosophy, we still have reason to live, whereas if philosophy has some point, but not life, we cannot rationally philosophize, since we have no good reason to live which, of course, is necessary to do philosophy. For instance, it may be more important whether life has a point because if it does not have any point, there would be no reason to prolong life. It might be that, for the business of living, other philosophical problems are more important. For philosophy, the consequence of doing philosophy being without any point is as drastic as it can be: apparently, it is that there is no good reason to do philosophy. I believe that an application of this strategy lands us in the claim that the fundamental philosophical problem is whether (doing) philosophy has any point. It is the former that is most appropriately called the fundamental problem of philosophy, whereas the latter might instead be called the most important problem of philosophy.Īccordingly, I propose to explore what is the fundamental problem of philosophy by looking more narrowly at the consequences for philosophy of answering different philosophical problems. But we should distinguish the philosophical problem which is most important for philosophy, or for us as philosophers, from the philosophical problem which is most important for us all things considered, or as regards all aspects of our lives. He suggests that the importance of a problem is determined by what actions the problem -or, I suppose, rather an answer to it -commits you to.
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In The Myth of Sisyfos Albert Camus straightaway claims that suicide is the fundamental problem of philosophy, perhaps even the only really serious philosophical problem.
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Why Philosophy Fails in the Fundamental Respect of Having An Intrinsic Point If some of our conclusions have practical import, philosophy could have the further point of giving us something by which we can live.ġ. This could provide philosophy with a point for us. Our philosophy will then express our personality. But if, as is likely, our arguments do not suffice to decide between these alternatives, our personalities might slip in to do so. Still, philosophical research generates an increasing number of finer grained distinctions in terms of which we try to conceptualize reality, and this is a sort of progress. But it seems that this cannot be accomplished because philosophical arguments are bound to be inconclusive. It is suggested that the intrinsic point of doing philosophy is to establish a rational consensus about what the answers to its main questions are. The fundamental problem of philosophy is whether doing it has any point, since if it does not have any point, there is no reason to do it. University of Gothenburg, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics The Fundamental Problem of Philosophy: Its Point