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Are philosophical debates just products of historical circumstance?

Philosophia Perennis

I believe that indeed, philosophical debate derives its structure largely from social context, this context situated in historical change (in terms of macro-social practices). Such change shapes thoroughly the genealogy of our philosophical ideas. However, we still have debates inherited from ancients, where nothing's really been resolved (perhaps most philosophical debates are like this). Eg, one can still take on Platonism or claim to follow Zhuangzi...hell, even Heraclitus. However, the development of philosophy also shapes social practices, and thus how history progresses. Eg, the propagation of types of Marxism shaped thoroughly the dynamics of the world political economy.

We should also remember that much of philosophy is socio-political, not just epistemology, ontology, and ethics.

ebola


Agreed. One might go so far as to discern a "Perennial Philosophy", from Thales, the pre-Socratics, Platonism and neo-Platonism, Stoicism, Scholastics, Enlightened thought (Newton, Leibniz) etc. One might turn to the oft-quoted Alfred North Whitehead, and his 'footnote to Platonism' comment. To this extent one might find 'deep philosophy' that is perennial whereby History explains the particular form of the dialectic, but wherein no 'Eureka'-events occur.

Though I try to avoid submitting counterfactual conditionals one is justified in exploring the 'history' in the History of Ideas. Clearly germ-line modification was never tackled by the Nicomachean Ethics.

If anything it is the scientific revolution that has had the greatest single impact on Western thought since the founding of The Academy or the Lyceum*. Parsing off natural philosophy from metaphysics, epistemology and ethics etc.

Despite the vainglorious proclivities of certain philosophers and their adherents they all 'stand on the shoulders of giants'.

Philosophy as dialogic could be said to be in some senses a-historical, introducing intertextuality to the entire Western canon. Historical circumstance might frame the debate, but when untangled is found to be a reformulation of the Philosophia Perennis.

I think we live in a liminal and incohate age, wherein the next 50 years will bring about more change (environment/Human Nature) than has been experienced since the dawn of civilisation.. In this scenario the there will be new challenges for the philosophical discourse if it not to become obsolete. One will be confronted with new and unimagined ethical dilemmas, ontologies...where the more recent philosophies of mind, mathematics, science and religion will receive new impetus.

Enough rambling!:\

Historical circumstance frames the debate, or seeds new ideas, whilst the Philosophia Perennis continues under new guises whilst retaining its essence.

FLORIAT P&S



*statement of opinion, not fact, as to my mind the Copernican revolution, the birth pangs of the Catholica or the destruction of Paganism reified in the destruction of the Museion and Serapeum in Alexandria are each events of monumentous change in the History of ideas.
 
That's some highly focused and insightful 'rambling'. :p

If anything it is the scientific revolution that has had the greatest single impact on Western thought since the founding of The Academy or the Lyceum*. Parsing off natural philosophy from metaphysics, epistemology and ethics etc.

I believe this point particularly key. However, I would also argue that we should think of the scientific revolution in terms of concrete, historical social practices. "Science" was able to decouple from other branches of philosophy precisely because the institution of the academy was beginning to afford some autonomy from religious institutions. This change was made possible by nascent politico-economic revolutions, which decoupled the clergy and the power of feudal lordships from the bases of political power (as such bases shifted from fragmented lordships to the emerging centralized state) (I would also say that this political transformation emerged of different social bases in different times and places, this particular causal story being overall Eurocentric).

This, of course, hardly discounts your overall point; the above itself, as a possible philosophical act :)P) involves de-historicization and a-temporalization of science, to allow for some stable philosophy of science.

ebola
 
Philosophical debates are context driven. Philosophy in of itself is transparent, laid on top what ever circumstance. It is natural and everyone does it, whether it be talking of god or talking politics or fashion.
I think the mistaken assumption is that philosophy is on top of an "ivory tower".
That is probably assumed because of most of history those able to express their thoughts and question freely where the affluent and royal socio-classes.

In short it doesn't surprise me that philosophy is tied up with context.
What surprises me is that people still believe philosophy is far removed from normal affirms and is a plaything of pretentious people.
 
I think one of the primary reasons for this perception is that academic Philosophy too often sits upon an Ivory Tower is that it is both ancient and arcane, and challenges 'common sense'. It can be highly abstract and therefore dismissed as irrelevant, yet as you rightly point out it can and should be applied to the concerns of the non-academic layman.

A good example is with Ethics. Metaethics is really of interest to a small section of society, however it underpins normative ethics, which in turn informs applied ethics...which involves us all, and upon which almost everyone has an opinion. This does not preclude the need for academic philosophy which helps to guide social and political policy (Bioethicists are an example of this).

There is still room for the philosophical syllabus now and in the future, despite the scientific revolution, and many academics excel at making philosophy relevant to our modern lives (Alain de Botton being a good example)
 
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