1. What is Philosophy?
Thinking about this question is our mission here. I’m going to claim that philosophy is the activity
of working out the right way of thinking about things. Before I start to explain what that means,
note that my definition starts by saying that philosophy is an activity.
• Philosophy is an activity, to understand what philosophy is, you need to get stuck in and do it.
You need to start thinking about philosophical problems, and the ways other thinkers have
approached them. So much of philosophy is learning specific tools and techniques to reason, argue,
and express yourself.
• The best way to get a grasp of those tools and techniques, and to get a sense of the questions that
interest philosophers, is to work your way through the rest of the subject.
1.1 Philosophy and other subjects
So, I claim that philosophy is the activity of working out the right way of thinking about things.
However, all subjects, not just philosophy, try and think about things in the right way. This is true,
but we can distinguish between thinking about things and working out the right way of thinking
about things. In the second case, you step back from what you’re doing, and ask questions about it –
what it presupposes, and whether it’s the right way to go about things.
E.g. when doing physics, we investigate physical reality by constructing experiments, measuring,
formulating theories. When doing philosophy of physics we might ask: ‘What do we mean by
“physical reality”?’; ‘How do experimental results confirm or disconfirm a hypothesis?’, or; ‘What
distinguishes a good scientific theory from a bad one?’
When practicing medicine we try to heal or treat people according to our current best medical
theories. When doing philosophy of medicine, we might step back and think about whether the
concepts our best medical theories employ make sense, or what ‘health’ and ‘sickness’ really mean.
This shows us that the relationship between philosophy and other subjects can be blurry – we can be
interested in the right way of thinking in lots of different domains; and we’re often forced to do
philosophy by the challenges or results that other subjects throw up for us. Introduction to
Philosophy
2. Philosophy: Difficult, Important and Everywhere
2.1 Is Philosophy ‘Fundamental’?
It is often claimed (often by philosophers!) that philosophy, or the questions it asks, are in some
sense fundamental. What might this mean? Is it true? A sense in which it’s not true: There are
plenty of questions you can ask, and activities that you can pursue, perfectly legitimately without
doing any philosophy.
• A sense in which it is true: No matter what sort of questions you’re asking, or activities you’re
pursuing, further philosophical questions can always arise.
This is because philosophy involves stepping back and examining the presuppositions of what
you’re doing, or the questions you’re asking. What are those presuppositions? Are they the
right ones?
This is why philosophy, as a subject, is so broad – this ‘stepping back’ is something we can always
do, whatever we’re asking or thinking about.
Thinking about this question is our mission here. I’m going to claim that philosophy is the activity
of working out the right way of thinking about things. Before I start to explain what that means,
note that my definition starts by saying that philosophy is an activity.
• Philosophy is an activity, to understand what philosophy is, you need to get stuck in and do it.
You need to start thinking about philosophical problems, and the ways other thinkers have
approached them. So much of philosophy is learning specific tools and techniques to reason, argue,
and express yourself.
• The best way to get a grasp of those tools and techniques, and to get a sense of the questions that
interest philosophers, is to work your way through the rest of the subject.
1.1 Philosophy and other subjects
So, I claim that philosophy is the activity of working out the right way of thinking about things.
However, all subjects, not just philosophy, try and think about things in the right way. This is true,
but we can distinguish between thinking about things and working out the right way of thinking
about things. In the second case, you step back from what you’re doing, and ask questions about it –
what it presupposes, and whether it’s the right way to go about things.
E.g. when doing physics, we investigate physical reality by constructing experiments, measuring,
formulating theories. When doing philosophy of physics we might ask: ‘What do we mean by
“physical reality”?’; ‘How do experimental results confirm or disconfirm a hypothesis?’, or; ‘What
distinguishes a good scientific theory from a bad one?’
When practicing medicine we try to heal or treat people according to our current best medical
theories. When doing philosophy of medicine, we might step back and think about whether the
concepts our best medical theories employ make sense, or what ‘health’ and ‘sickness’ really mean.
This shows us that the relationship between philosophy and other subjects can be blurry – we can be
interested in the right way of thinking in lots of different domains; and we’re often forced to do
philosophy by the challenges or results that other subjects throw up for us. Introduction to
Philosophy
2. Philosophy: Difficult, Important and Everywhere
2.1 Is Philosophy ‘Fundamental’?
It is often claimed (often by philosophers!) that philosophy, or the questions it asks, are in some
sense fundamental. What might this mean? Is it true? A sense in which it’s not true: There are
plenty of questions you can ask, and activities that you can pursue, perfectly legitimately without
doing any philosophy.
• A sense in which it is true: No matter what sort of questions you’re asking, or activities you’re
pursuing, further philosophical questions can always arise.
This is because philosophy involves stepping back and examining the presuppositions of what
you’re doing, or the questions you’re asking. What are those presuppositions? Are they the
right ones?
This is why philosophy, as a subject, is so broad – this ‘stepping back’ is something we can always
do, whatever we’re asking or thinking about.
