How to Answer a Philosophical Question

What is a philosophical question?

According to Aristotle, human beings are questioning animals. We are motivated by the desire to know and to understand. Philosophy, in the western tradition, evolved from earlier religious views of the world. Religion worldviews depend upon some form of revelation and a spiritual framework or hierarchy. Greek philosophy began with the Presocratic philosophers, who attempted to answer questions about the universe through the use of reason and observations. Socrates shifted the philosophical perspective to the moral and ethical dimension. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle laid the foundation for answering philosophical questions and, perhaps, even more importantly, how to determine what counts as a philosophical question.

Instructions

1. Practice the Socratic method. Socrates' method was to answer a question with a question. The point is not to engage in endless debate but to open up a dialogue that continually narrows in on the right answer to a particular question. Socrates's questions were intended to expose inconsistencies or the incompleteness of his dialogue partner's definition or response to a question. The goal of the Socratic method is to push the discussion forward until the truth is self-evident.

2. Give a rational explanation for your position. Another lesson that Socrates teaches us is to defend our position through rational argument. The Greek word "logos" is variously interpreted as reason and language. Socrates used it in the sense of giving a rational account of what we believe. The point is that philosophical questions are answered rationally rather than by appealing to the emotions. A contemporary version of this point of view is held by the German philosopher Jurgen Habermas. Habermas's central point is that communication itself is dependent upon the presupposition that we are making knowledgeable claims that can be rationally defended.

3. Realize that more than one legitimate answer is possible. The German philosophers Kant and Hegel had as great an influence on philosophy and philosophical questions as their Greek predecessors. Kant emphasized that the most important philosophical questions, the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, the origins of the universe, can be answered in conflicted ways, both of which can be rationally defended. Kant referred to this as the antinomies of reason. Hegel took Kant's position and developed his own dialectic. According to Hegel, the way we think and answer philosophical questions is historical. Different philosophical perspectives and worldviews come into conflict. What seems a self-evident truth at one point in time is called into question and needs to be reassessed.

4. Adopt a pragmatic approach to philosophical questions. Pragmatism was a philosophical movement developed by the 19th and early 20th century American philosophers Charles Pierce, William James and John Dewey. Pragmatism recognizes, like Hegel, that philosophical questions and answers are historical. Pragmatism also emphasizes that all truth is culturally or contextually situated. The primary point of pragmatism is that a philosophical question is only important if it makes a difference to us. If the existence or non-existence of God doesn't affect us one way or the other, then it is a meaningless question. Dewey remarked that some philosophical problems we don't solve, we just get over them. In other words, they no longer count as a serious philosophical problem or question.

References

• Listology: My Answers To Philosophical Questions