MOVING TO FRONT FROM YESTERDAY--Philip Kitcher has now responded to some of the comments. It has been a very good discussion, and I invite others to contribute.
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This new paper by Philip Kitcher (Columbia)--who, of course, has made very substantial contributions in philosophy of science, philosophy of biology, philosophy of math, and epistemology, among many other areas--is bound to generate discussion (it appears in the April 2011 issue of Metaphilosophy); here is the abstract:
Philosophy is often conceived in the Anglophone world today as a subject that focuses on questions in particular ‘‘core areas,’’ pre-eminently epistemology and metaphysics. This article argues that the contemporary conception is a new version of the scholastic ‘‘self-indulgence for the few’’ of which Dewey complained nearly a century ago. Philosophical questions evolve, and a first task for philosophers is to address issues that arise for their own times. The article suggests that a renewal of philosophy today should turn the contemporary conception inside out, attending to and developing further the valuable work being done on the supposed ‘‘periphery’’ and attending to the ‘‘core areas’’ only insofar as is necessary to address genuinely significant questions.
What do readers think? Please read the paper before commenting, and signed comments will be very strongly preferred.
