ABSTRACT
Imagine that you are one of a group of students ambitious to attend university, or already there. A curious visitor approaches the group to ask why individuals in it plumped for one or another course. Forget about those who reply ‘it will lead to a job’, or ‘both my uncles are doctors’, or ‘the exams are a piece of cake’; let’s think about those who express an interest in the courses themselves, rather than easy success, the approval of friends and family, or financial rewards. One student says: ‘I want to be a scientist, to discover what the world is and how it works, and maybe to figure out how to change it’. We easily catch her drift, since we believe that all manner of scientific theories count as first-rate knowledge of the world, and are aware that many scientific discoveries have led to practical inventions, such as modern medicines and weapons, which have certainly changed the world – for good or bad. Another student says: ‘I want to be a historian, to understand how people lived, what happened, and why things were so. Maybe my studies will even help me to understand what will happen, and advise politicians about how to get things right’. We’re not surprised, since we’re
familiar with attempts to ascertain, explain and extrapolate from historical facts. A third student says: ‘I want to study literature, to appreciate how it achieves its effects, and what makes for literary excellence. I also have writerly ambitions, and maybe a critical training will improve my own efforts’. Again this is familiar stuff, since we recognise that getting to grips with Milton or Joyce requires expertise. Finally, the visitor finds out that your aspiration is to become a philosopher. Now we’re not sure what to think. Some of us have nearly been reduced to tears by pub bores who declare ‘I’ve got a philosophy . . . ’, and broadcast unwelcome views on anything ranging from how to seduce someone easily to the sinister manipulation of the stockmarket by extraterrestrials. That sort of ‘philosophy’ is nothing more than a label for supposedly privileged information about supposedly important matters, usually crackpot, and often fanatically espoused. But we think better of you than that – so what do you mean by ‘philosophy’?
