Thinking about Philosophy and Philosophers is great, but what do Philosophers actually do and why does it matter?
Dr Elizabeth Mackintosh
In Lens 2 of our CATALYST courses we explore Philosophy and why it matters. We study key Philosophers (from Plato to Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Hypatia to Angela Davis), consider questions regarding self, other, world(s) and time. Students have the opportunity to engage with key figures in the history of philosophy and their arguments, the topics of metaphysics and political philosophy, and to sharpen their philosophical and critical thinking tools. At a time where critical and creative thinking is under threat, the tools of philosophy are crucially important and so time to understand what is means to ‘think clearly’ is not a luxury, but an essential for us all.
The philosopher Susan Stebbing thought thinking clearly meant we must be able to: understand arguments and thus be able to spot a poor argument; follow chains of reasoning and use our reason to make judgements on what is true. The world is full of barriers and blockages to clear thinking. Mary Midgley famously compared philosophy to plumbing and how we all need to be more alert to the thought systems operating all around us (analogous to plumbing systems). Ideas, like water in a system, can become fixed and lead to drips, leaks or great gushing floods and so we must ensure we aren’t carrying a long a lot of potential baggage and blocks i.e. problems or problematic thinking around with us.
“At a time where critical and creative thinking is under threat, the tools of philosophy are crucially important and so time to understand what is means to ‘think clearly’ is not a luxury, but an essential for us all.”
So much interferes with clear thinking in terms of content and noise within and on social media, advertising, journalism and politics, where much of the language pulls on emotions rather than the reporting of facts. Stebbing, a philosopher of language (and logic and epistemology) stressed how philosophers can spot blockages and offer strategies for clearer thinking.
Here is a bit about how we do this, and what philosophers do generally, and on the course, and a bit about what we cover:
1. Paradoxes, Logic, and the Study of Arguments
Ship of Theseus illustration
Paradoxes are a fantastic way to introduce students to logic and the history of philosophy and they also reveal that some questions about time and space are as relevant as ever. They also teach us about clear and careful thinking. The paradox in terms of the meaning of the word is to be against the view of common belief or what is assumed, and more philosophically, a paradox is just any conclusion that at first seems absurd, but that has an argument to sustain it. So, we derive a problematic conclusion from sound premises and right reasoning and yet we get to a conclusion that is untenable (i.e. it is a contradiction in itself or it contradicts other beliefs that we hold firmly).
Paradoxes are positioned regularly throughout the philosophy module (via sessions on the Ship of Theseus paradox, Sorites paradox, or paradox of the Heap, and Meno’s Paradox) and afford us the opportunity to consider the paradox in argument form, and to consider what is meant by a flawless argument and also what might be considered a solution or ‘resolution’ to a particular paradox. This content creates a powerful opportunity to do some careful scrutiny of an argument and paradox and perhaps dispel the illusion that an argument is air-tight by isolating and diagnosing a flaw or fallacy in the argument.
As our Director, Justin Pinnells, said to me recently: ‘I just seem to listen to endless debates where people don’t actually respond to the actual argument under review, apply logic and instead argue ad hominem (an argument directed against the person and not their position) employ dirty rhetorical tricks or distract with what-aboutism.’ The reason Stebbing wrote her book Thinking to Some Purpose was to help us all be alert to how politicians, journalists and those around us are often using language that makes us feel a certain way when claiming to be reporting the facts.
Learn more about Zeno’s Paradoxes here: What is Zeno's Dichotomy Paradox? - Colm Kelleher
And Susan Stebbing here: Women at the Dawn of Analytic Philosophy – Susan Stebbing - CRASSH
“I just seem to listen to endless debates where people don’t actually respond to the actual argument under review, apply logic and instead argue ad hominem (an argument directed against the person and not their position) employ dirty rhetorical tricks or distract with what-aboutism.”
2. Conceptual Analysis
Something that moves us from more general academic enquiry and into the realm of the philosophical and the metaphysical is the work philosophers do with concepts. On the course we explore a range of concepts, conceptual schemes and also the sort of concepts referred to by W.B. Gallie as essentially contested concepts: such as person, social justice, ‘a work of art.’ Similarly to the paradox (and the paradox of the Heap is an example of where we are working with what philosophers sometimes call ‘fussy’ concepts) we love to think our common-sense understanding of concepts, such as political, educational and health concepts, will serve us well and yet on closer examination we are likely to find they are more elusive or dangerously fixed than we might have expected.
Concepts matter, and whilst it is easy to think it doesn’t really matter how we conceptualise the person or the moral or political community, this is far from the case. For example, our conception of the self as a rational, individual ‘thinking thing’ and separate from the body and its environment could be seen as promoting hyper-individualism and a type of detachment and impartiality that is not serving us well.
Students on the course, and in Lens 2 specifically, get to work on their own conceptual and metaphysical schemes via our own Moralmindcraft (yes, mind not mine) and to then, as good metaphysicists, consider if it all ‘hangs together’ and to consider the implications of their conceptualisations. This all matters because if we want to, and are free to, change the world (to quote Hannah Arendt) and how we view it, we need to do some hard thinking first. Much of the conceptual analysis and reflection, generalisation and abstraction work we do in Lens 2 is done through dialogue and through philosophical enquiries that allow our students to enter the philosophical conversation.
You can learn more about how philosophical dialogue improves a child’s logical prowess and reasoning skills, as well as their literacy and maths scores here: "It's absolutely gripping"... The power of Philosophy for Children - ORACY CAMBRIDGE
The brilliant philosopher Timothy Williamson also reminds us in this piece for The British Academy how metaphysics lurks in unusual places and how we cannot avoid metaphysics: What is metaphysics? | The British Academy
3. Creative Thinking and seeing the familiar in a new light
As referenced above, there are countless studies exhorting the power of philosophy to improve academic skills and success across the board (and you can read more here: Value of Philosophy – Charts and Graphs - Daily Nous), but philosophy and Lens 2 is also about thinking in creative and expansive ways that benefit us all socially and help us engage meaningfully with the world.
The philosopher Margaret MacDonald argues that philosophy is, controversially, more like the arts than the sciences.* Philosophy’s real power for MacDonald was its ability to help us see things in a new light and this can help us navigate and make progress when faced with disagreement. The philosopher’s beloved thought experiment (examples such as Twin Earth, Trolley Problem, and Chinese Room) are tools used at multiple times during the lens to help students think again about a particular dilemma under review and in activity we call ‘conundrums’ but we also make use of film, art, poems, novels and music as effective ways to help students consider a topic from an alternative perspective.
We also have some very creative ways to encourage a fresh perspective on ourselves, others and our world. The philosopher and a founding member of SAPERE Roger Sutcliffe makes the case for the importance of philosophy for encouraging global citizenship and being members of a thinking community. You can watch his TedX talk here: MIA MARCH Accountability V2 H3
*A controversial claim given that she said this in the context of the 1940s and the ongoing philosophical to say the opposite. Learn more about Logical Positivism here: Einstein vs Logical Positivism | Issue 133 | Philosophy Now).
4. A questioning mindset
The Philosopher Peter Worley (fondly known as the If Man) writes and talks extensively on the importance of understanding questions, but also the need for a questioning mindset. There is such a thing as good questioning and knowing what type of question to ask and when, and for cultivating a questioning mindset. You can read about Worley’s work on a Questioning Mindset in the Journal of Philosophy in Schools here: Ariadne’s Clew Absence and presence in the facilitation of philosophical conversations | Journal of Philosophy in Schools.
The philosopher Lani Watson developed the Philosophy of Questions research centre to provide balance in an answer orientated world. She argues that questions are like tools and that questioning is a powerful process for gaining knowledge and understanding and also an act of care as good questioning requires us to listen and to be attuned.
The philosopher Gemma Corradi Fiumara highlights the strange world that philosophy and academia foster in terms of its model of warring monologues and how we need to learn how to speak and to listen. Our conundrums activities, our thought adventures and our Capstone Project offer a healthy balance of ‘debating dialogue’, but also time to listen, to listen authentically and to constantly question and to think about questioning and the very nature of the question
Questions matter because questions are not purely linguistic entities. Questions are also part of our social and political acts and institutions and in terms of knowledge acquisition we need to always think about the way we use questions to learn, to find things out, to understand each other – and how to do that better.
You can learn more about Watson’s remarkable project here: What is PoQ | philosophyquestions
“Questions are also part of our social and political acts and institutions and in terms of knowledge acquisition we need to always think about the way we use questions to learn, to find things out, to understand each other – and how to do that better.”
5. Playfulness
‘…after glancing through a copy of Mind, I was asked: ‘Why do philosophers talk so much about games? Do they play a lot of them or something?’’ This is from the Philosopher Mary Midgley’s paper ‘The Game Game’ which shows the interesting link to philosophy and games. The philosopher is certainly drawn to the dilemma, the paradox (or originally the debater’s trick), the game and the mental playground that is, for some, philosophy.
Philosophy and philosophy with young people (and the Philosophy for Children P4C movement) encourages children to keep their playful nature, and their desire to poke and prod at ideas, very much alive. Emma Swinn and Steven Campbell-Harris argue (here: The Myth of Growing Up: How Childlike Traits Benefit Adults | Think | Cambridge Core) that we must not ever put away our childish desire to play and be playful as this will, in fact, make it far harder to thrive as adults.
At CATALYST the students, mentors, and facilitators and academics all explore ideas playfully and if you ask any of our alumni about their experiences, they will rhapsodise about both the dynamic intellectual stretch and about how much joy they felt as intellectually playful beings and as a happy community of changemakers. My own children, who have flourished on the courses describe the courses as ‘heaps of fun’.
If you want some philosophical playfulness in your life do look at the resources from Jason Buckley: Thinkers' Games - The Philosophy Man
Dr Elizabeth Mackintosh (Lead Educator and Partnerships Manger)
