ABSTRACT
Philosophy is the science of self-knowledge. But the outcome of any philosophical inquiry is determined by its starting place. The conception of philosophic method chosen in the beginning governs the conclusions at the end. Philosophy has many tasks: to examine the structure and methods of the arguments of the sciences, for example, and to study the workings of ordinary language. But when it neglects the imperative that would lead each philosopher to self-knowledge— and to a certain intellectual humility— the very centre of the enterprise is neglected. The need for both theoretical and concrete attention to self-knowledge is apparent also among those philosophers most concerned with such impersonal, systematic disciplines as mathematics and physics. Since philosophy begins with a decision, it may properly be viewed as an invitation to a conversion of life. To begin to live philosophically is to begin to live an examined life, to be able to account for one's radical decision.
