tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post2774155969517906474..comments2024-03-28T19:14:33.619-07:00Comments on The Splintered Mind: Bertrand Russell on the Philosopher's TemperamentEric Schwitzgebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11541402189204286449noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-81678805910399500812008-01-29T18:27:00.000-08:002008-01-29T18:27:00.000-08:00I go with the theory that philosphy is God's reven...I go with the theory that philosphy is God's revenge for the Age of Reason. Curmudgeonly gnostics are always the most interesting. "Don't bug me, I'm trying to think!!!!"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-24932426572024589822008-01-28T20:41:00.000-08:002008-01-28T20:41:00.000-08:00I think to be relevant and interesting, Russell sh...I think to be relevant and interesting, Russell should say something different from what others have said before, or better (not just stylistically better), or with better defense. Or, alternatively, there might be an interesting interpretive puzzle or symptomatic type of error that once resolved/revealed the reader may find illuminating.<BR/><BR/>There are probably other ways of being relevant and interesting, too. But on many of the issues -- e.g. pacifism -- though he puts things beautifully "homicidal lunatics were well-employed in killing each other" but sensible men "should keep out of their way while they were doing it" (p. 174-175), he doesn't really get into the meat of the issue such as why it would be okay (if he thought it would have been okay) just to let Hitler conquer Europe, given his genocidal projects.Eric Schwitzgebelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11541402189204286449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-15572140038242513182008-01-25T17:55:00.000-08:002008-01-25T17:55:00.000-08:00My first comment was poorly-phrased. When I asked ...My first comment was poorly-phrased. When I asked what the journals would say, I meant the people who write in the journals, not the people who control them. As you say, getting published is obviously contingent on finding something interesting to say. So what kinds of things are you thinking of, in terms of ways "an author could show how it's relevant and interesting"?The Uncredible Hallqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09565179884099473943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-8851419519205317262008-01-25T17:20:00.000-08:002008-01-25T17:20:00.000-08:00Absolutely, Neil. Thomas Kuhn and Helen Longino ar...Absolutely, Neil. Thomas Kuhn and Helen Longino are good on this issue.<BR/><BR/>I see how what I wrote here might suggest otherwise; and I guess I do think that some motivations should arouse our suspicions more than others....Eric Schwitzgebelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11541402189204286449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-76687130373185000132008-01-24T12:44:00.000-08:002008-01-24T12:44:00.000-08:00There is, of course, a different and more importan...There is, of course, a different and more important question: does it matter what our motivations are? Being driven to defend a view may be a good thing, not, of course, from the individual's perspective, but from the discipline's.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-43880738065303734222008-01-24T11:02:00.000-08:002008-01-24T11:02:00.000-08:00Phaedrus, I couldn't agree with you more! (Well, ...Phaedrus, I couldn't agree with you more! (Well, except for the statement that philosophers always try to bring things into clearer focus.) Thanks for the comment.Eric Schwitzgebelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11541402189204286449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-48888886833326995782008-01-24T11:00:00.000-08:002008-01-24T11:00:00.000-08:00Neil: When I initially conceived this post, I thou...Neil: When I initially conceived this post, I thought of making a point like the one you make about the difference between the old grand system-builders and contemporary specialists.<BR/><BR/>However, on reflection I find myself torn: There is no doubt a puzzle-solving motivation among contemporary analytic philosophers. But also I think people are still irrationally attracted to general propositions that they then tie themselves in argumentative knots to justify -- e.g., that we should/shouldn't give large sums of money to the poor, that philosophy can/can't reveal special a priori truths, that robots can't/can't be conscious, etc.Eric Schwitzgebelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11541402189204286449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-23767896954248741352008-01-24T10:53:00.000-08:002008-01-24T10:53:00.000-08:00Thanks for the comments, folks!Hallq: I suspect it...Thanks for the comments, folks!<BR/><BR/>Hallq: I suspect it's not so much that referees and editors of mainstream philosophy journals have anything specifically against Russell's late work -- well, a few may! -- <I>if</I> an author could show how it's relevant and interesting. As I near the end of the book, I'm thinking the latter might be a challenge, since so much of what Russell says is either standard, or simplistic, or not very carefully supported, or not well connected with the traditional concerns of philosophers.<BR/><BR/>I agree that his prose is delightful -- though it seems to me that there's sometimes a compromise between the beauty of one's prose and the precision with which one makes one's points. In James and Nietzsche, and in Russell and Hume at their best, sometimes there's no compromise at all, though, and the beautiful prose makes the point more clearly than staid prose would.<BR/><BR/>But in any case, the quality of their prose hasn't prevented people from citing James or Nietzsche or Hume.Eric Schwitzgebelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11541402189204286449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-87574120915796119592008-01-24T09:45:00.000-08:002008-01-24T09:45:00.000-08:00Russell raises the spectre of motivation, which is...Russell raises the spectre of motivation, which is always the dark, seamy underside of any enterprise. Are there any pure motives? Is there such a thing as pure altruism? Russell, true to himself, is skeptical. So where does that leave him--and us--where the enterprise of philosophy is concerned?<BR/><BR/>To paraphrase a well-known quotation: Curmudgeonliness may not be a comfortable position, but naivite is a preposterous one.<BR/><BR/>For neil: I have always been impressed with Wittgenstein's notion that we all have a picture of the way the world works and that this picture both motivates our behavior and allows us to behave in certain ways. Philosophers try to bring this picture always into clearer focus, whether as a whole or part by part. (Most of the rest of us, I think, are content with diffuse margins and varying depths of perception.) I think the enterprise of philosophy tends to propel its proponents in the direction of an all-encompassing picture, regardless of which piece he or she may be working on at any particular time. The fact that the whole is not being considered all the time in contemporary philosophy merely makes its influence more insidious--at least, trickier to discern. Does philosophy suffer when the commitment to the big idea becomes a largely inchoate or even unconscious one?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-3761681625118440702008-01-24T01:15:00.000-08:002008-01-24T01:15:00.000-08:00I'm sceptical of the relevance of Russell's observ...I'm sceptical of the relevance of Russell's observation today - at least without some heavy qulification. Philosophy today isn't the broad and systematic enterprise it was in the past, and whether or not philosophers philosophers are committed to some big "general proposition about the universe", this big proposition does little work in driving their work. Of course, we (like everyone else) are in the grip of the confirmation bias and so on, but not in the service of a big idea. I suspect the temperament of the average philosopher today is more like that of scientist in normal science: driven more by a love of puzzle solving than by commitment to a big idea.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-82819014054865489862008-01-23T16:21:00.000-08:002008-01-23T16:21:00.000-08:00I share your love of Unpopular Essays and other si...I share your love of <I>Unpopular Essays</I> and other similar works, but I'm curious what you think mainstream philosophy journals might say about them. I venture that any philosopher who tried to publish a journal article referring to the essays would be at great risk of embarrassing himself, by drawing attention to the gap between Russell's masterful prose and the boring stuff produced by most academics.The Uncredible Hallqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09565179884099473943noreply@blogger.com