PHILOSOPHY INSIDE OUT
Article first published online: 4 APR 2011
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9973.2011.01684.x
© 2011 The Author. Metaphilosophy © 2011 Metaphilosophy LLC and Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Issue
Metaphilosophy
Special Issue: Fortieth-Anniversary Special Issue: The Future of Philosophy: Metaphilosophical Directions for The Twenty-First Century
Volume 42, Issue 3, pages 248–260, April 2011
Additional Information
How to Cite
KITCHER, P. (2011), PHILOSOPHY INSIDE OUT. Metaphilosophy, 42: 248–260. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9973.2011.01684.x
Publication History
- Issue published online: 4 APR 2011
- Article first published online: 4 APR 2011
- Abstract
- Article
- References
- Cited By
Keywords:
- reconstruction in philosophy;
- importance of philosophy;
- pure philosophy;
- applied philosophy;
- scholasticism
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.