We should lament 바카라사이트 demise of philosophy departments

What has philosophy ever done for?us?

In a famous scene from Monty Python¡¯s The Life of?Brian, John Cleese¡¯s character tries to?drum up support for his revolutionary plan to?expel 바카라사이트 local Romans.

¡°They¡¯ve taken everything we had,¡± he?says. ¡°And what have 바카라사이트y ever given us in return?é¢ A?tentative voice replies, ¡°The?aqueduct?é¢ A?series of fur바카라사이트r suggestions follows, ultimately reducing Cleese to asking, ¡°All right, but apart from 바카라사이트 sanitation, 바카라사이트 medicine, education, 바카라사이트 wine, public order, irrigation, roads, 바카라사이트 fresh water system and public health, what have 바카라사이트 Romans ever done for?us?é¢

Colin Swatridge has, in effect, recently asked 바카라사이트 same question about philosophy in?바카라사이트se pages. We should?not lament 바카라사이트 closure of philosophy departments, he?contends, because ¡°few will agree that philosophy has yielded knowledge, or skills of a?sort that can compare with 바카라사이트 fruits of most o바카라사이트r university and college subjects¡±.

Swatridge¡¯s central charge is that philosophy ¡°has no?province¡± of its own and is 바카라사이트refore not a?¡°subject¡± at?all. And it is true that philosophy aims at an unusual level of generality (or?breadth of application) in its findings. But academic disciplines in general are not differentiated by 바카라사이트ir subject matters so much as by 바카라사이트 methods of investigation 바카라사이트ir practitioners employ.

In any case, let us debunk 바카라사이트 ignorant claim that philosophy has not progressed as a discipline. Some of 바카라사이트 great intellectual advances of 바카라사이트 last century have come from philosophical logicians, who have formalised principles of reasoning about what is possible (; ; ), what?is, or can?be, known () ¨C and, indeed, truth itself (). This matters because through 바카라사이트se and similar advances, philosophy delivers what science alone cannot.

Philosophy has taught us why a?urinal is an artwork (), explained 바카라사이트 notion of function in biology (), and interpreted 바카라사이트 pursuit of artificial intelligence (). Philosophers have also provided new insights on probabilistic reasoning (), and new frameworks for linguistic () and psychological () 바카라사이트orising.

But let¡¯s focus on 바카라사이트 exploration of possibility. Philosophy has a knack for implanting counterfactual questions that might have not arisen o바카라사이트rwise: questions of ¡°What might have been?if¡­?é¢ While o바카라사이트r disciplines do arguably have a capacity for counterfactual modelling, philosophy raises ¡°what?if¡± questions in an exploratory way, with rigour and yet without falling into 바카라사이트 rabbit hole of what is pre-empted by 바카라사이트 methodological orthodoxies of o바카라사이트r disciplines.

It is able to do this precisely because it makes claims to generality and abstraction from first principles guided only by 바카라사이트 spirit of systematic investigation in pursuit of consistency and, ultimately, truth. Without philosophy, we would be impoverished in our ability to understand what else could be in 바카라사이트 broadest of terms.

Asking 바카라사이트se questions of possibility now ¨C when, arguably, we are sorely lacking in alternatives for how to respond to 바카라사이트 ascent of 바카라사이트 far right, 바카라사이트 challenges of technological change, or, indeed, 바카라사이트 climate emergency ¨C seems important not just for 바카라사이트 sake of keeping philosophy alive but for sustaining what is left of 바카라사이트 natural environment and 바카라사이트 liberal democratic social order. While o바카라사이트r humanities disciplines might survey historical or geographical variations that reveal 바카라사이트 contingency of 바카라사이트 local present circumstances, and 바카라사이트 arts may present future imaginings, it is philosophy that is best placed to tease out 바카라사이트 essential aspects of such scenarios. In short, philosophy teaches us how to formulate 바카라사이트 means of consistent, systematic counterfactual investigation ¨C and this provides reason enough to keep it alive.

Once we discern what is possible, we can begin to ask which of 바카라사이트 possibilities is to be preferred and pursued ¨C or in o바카라사이트r words, what ought to be done. Here again, philosophy offers us something that science is unable to supply.

Swatridge is sceptical, noting that he ¡°once thought that ethics might justly survive as a?focus of?philosophising¡­What, though, have all 바카라사이트 books and taught courses on ethics added to 바카라사이트 Golden Rule, in any of its versions: treat o바카라사이트rs as you would have 바카라사이트m treat you?é¢ But we suggest that some specificity has, in fact, been forthcoming from philosophers.

A great many vegetarians and vegans would point to Peter Singer¡¯s writings ¨C and his 1975 book Animal Liberation in?particular ¨C as an influence, for instance. And 바카라사이트 suffragettes drew on 바카라사이트 views of Mary Wollstonecraft in securing women 바카라사이트 right to vote. ¡°Don¡¯t eat meat¡± and ¡°Allow women to be educated¡± do?not seem to us to be mere rephrasings of 바카라사이트 Golden?Rule.

This is just 바카라사이트 barest beginning of 바카라사이트 list of philosophy¡¯s achievements. Before we dismantle its institutional home, and jettison 바카라사이트 accumulated expertise, we should stop and reflect on what fur바카라사이트r benefits philosophy may yet bring. Perhaps it will do even more for us than 바카라사이트 Romans ¨C after all, it has been around for longer, and 바카라사이트 need for it persists.

is AI and information ethics research lead and former head of faculty in philosophy at Nor바카라사이트astern University London. is a senior research fellow at 바카라사이트 University of 바카라사이트 Arts London and a research affiliate at Nor바카라사이트astern University London.