Philosophy of X only exists so long as there is disagreement over the nature of X

Sinderion May 04, 2016 at 00:26 3900 views 5 comments

Idle thoughts led me to form the above statement. I highly doubt this is a new idea but I thought it would be fun to kick around. Basically what I mean by the above is so long as disagreement over the nature of a is possible, there necessarily is a philosophy of . Therefore, if there is no disagreement possible over the nature of some concept, then there cannot be a philosophy of that concept.

Do note that I'm not saying if everyone happened to agree on the nature of the concept, then no disagreement would be possible (though I highly doubt it would make a material difference to the actual existence of the philosophy of that concept among these agreeable people)

Thoughts? Are there any philosophers who have said something more substantial about this than I have articulated above?

Comments (5)

_db May 04, 2016 at 01:09 #11566 0 likes

Quoting Sinderion

Therefore, if there is no disagreement possible over the nature of some concept, then there cannot be a philosophy of that concept.

Correct. Philosophical methodology is via argumentation. You cannot argue without having disagreement.

This is why there is no philosophy of tupperware, or philosophy of car washing. There just isn't enough to disagree over, and plus most everyone doesn't care to flesh out their disagreements.

However, not all philosophy acts as a handmaiden to another profession. There are independent philosophical studies.

Sir2u May 04, 2016 at 02:06 #11568 0 likes

Quoting darthbarracuda

Philosophical methodology is via argumentation.

I hate using Wiki, but I am too lazy tonight.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_methodology

Quoting darthbarracuda

You cannot argue without having disagreement.

This is why there is no philosophy of tupperware, or philosophy of car washing.

There are plenty of things to argue about with either topic, just as there are plenty of things to argue about with your spouse. But that is not the reason that a philosophy does not exist for them.
When philosophers argue, they don't really argue but present their explanations of the topic at hand and provide the evidence, ARGUMENTS, necessary to backup their way of thinking.

Sinderion May 04, 2016 at 14:53 #11577 0 likes

Reply to darthbarracuda I don't think I'm disagreeing all too much, but I need to ask: When you say there are independent philosophical studies, do you just mean that they are independent of any extant disciplines, or that some philosophical topics necessarily cannot resolve into a separate discipline?

_db May 04, 2016 at 18:00 #11583 0 likes

Reply to Sinderion Independent philosophical studies are like epistemology, metaphysics, logic, etc. These are used in the various philosophies of x's, but can be studied by themselves.

YIOSTHEOY May 26, 2016 at 15:30 #12313 0 likes

Reply to Sinderion

You could substitute "uncertainty" for "disagreement" and come up with the same thing.