WELCOME Advanced Introduction to Philosophy Matthias Brinkmann - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

21.08.2015 1 WELCOME Advanced Introduction to Philosophy Matthias Brinkmann matthias.brinkmann@philosophy.ox.ac.uk

21.08.2015 2 Aims of this Course • Ease your way into the MA programme • Give you some basic knowledge in modern, analytic, practical philosophy • Give you a “feel” for that style of philosophy • Get you started on reading and doing philosophy on your own • Help you to avoid misconceptions about philosophy

21.08.2015 3 Seminar Structure Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 23.9. 24.9. 25.9. 26.9. 27.9. MORNING Philosophy Applied Ethics Metaethics Philosophy of Discussion GETTIER THOMSON MACKIE Science LAUDAN AFTERNOON Normative Normative Political Philosophy of Wrapping Up Inquiry Ethics Philosophy Economics SINGER HOOKER CANEY FRIEDMAN

21.08.2015 4 Each Session • First Part: Interactive Lecture  ask question at any point you like  ask any questions you like • Second Part: Text Discussion  student presentation if there are volunteers (<10 mins.)  looking at the text: what‘s happening? • Sometimes: Various Exercises • Length: however long it takes (2-2.5h)  breaks as you want them

PHILOSOPHY Session 1

21.08.2015 6 Contents (1) Analytic Philosophy a) Beginnings: Philosophy in the early 1900s b) Example: Russell’s Philosophy of Language c) Analytic Philosophy today d) Diverging Paths: Analytic “versus” Continental (2) Tools Arguments a) b) Necessary and Sufficient Conditions Definitions c) Gettier , “Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?” (3)

21.08.2015 7 ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY

21.08.2015 8 Structure A. Beginnings: Philosophy in the early 1900s Russell’s Philosophy of Language B. C. Analytic Philosophy today Diverging Paths: Analytic “versus” Continental D.

21.08.2015 9 1. The Rise of Modern Science • Many of the central insights in physics, chemistry, biology, etc. were developed in the early decades of the 20th century • Especially: Special relativity (1905), General Relativity (1916) Effects • Analytic philosophers were deeply impressed by the success of the sciences • Metaphysics and other, “older” styles of philosophy looked outdated and mysterious

21.08.2015 10 2. The Rise of Modern Logic • New developments by Frege and others allowed a rigorous statement of propositional logic for the first time • Logicism: reducing mathematics to logic Effects • Philosophy gains in clarity • The new forms of logic provide a new way of analysing old philosophical problems

21.08.2015 11 3. The Linguistic Turn • Turning away from metaphysical and epistemological issues • A growing interest in ideal languages, and analysing ordinary language Effects • Philosophy becomes primarily focussed on language

21.08.2015 12 Structure A. Beginnings: Philosophy in the early 1900s Russell’s Philosophy of Language B. C. Analytic Philosophy today Diverging Paths: Analytic “versus” Continental D.

21.08.2015 13 The Problem What do words/sentences mean? • Let us focus on singular terms/names  “ Jakarta ”  “Mark Twain”  “Winston Churchill” • A first intuition: words “point towards”/denote their objects, and that’s what they mean  let’s call this the “simple referential theory of meaning”: the meaning of a proper name is the thing it refers to

21.08.2015 14 Problems • The simple referential theory of meaning runs into difficult problems: 1. The Problem of Apparent Reference to Nonexistents 2. The Problem of Negative Existentials 3. Frege’s Puzzle about Identity

21.08.2015 15 Problems 1. The Problem of Apparent Reference to Nonexistents • Consider “ Sherlock Holmes lived in 221B Baker Street” • We believe that  this sentence is meaningful  according to the referential theory of meaning, it is meaningful because the names pick out (point to) some individual thing  but “Sherlock Holmes” fails to pick out anything that exists  there are no such things as “nonexisting things”

21.08.2015 16 Problems 2. The Problem of Negative Existentials • Consider “ Santa Claus does not exist” • Either “Santa Claus” does not refer, then this sentence is meaningless again; • or this sentence would imply that there is Santa Claus [the thing the sentence points to], but he does not exist — which is a contradiction

21.08.2015 17 Problems 3 . Frege’s Puzzle about Identity • Consider “ The Morning Star is the Evening Star” • Both the Morning Star and the Evening Star are Venus • If words just point to their objects, this would mean that the current sentence really means “Venus is Venus” • This would mean that the sentence is trivial, or uninformative • But it’s not: it tells us something new

21.08.2015 18 Russell on Proper Names • Russell: Proper names do not “pick out” a particular entity in the world, but rather they describe something which might or not might be there • Imagine I asked “who is Barack Obama?” – you would answer : “the 44th president of the US, who was born 4 August 1961 in Hawaii ...”  The answer to “who is Sherlock Holmes” is “the legendary English detective, who ...”.

21.08.2015 19 Russell on Definite Descriptions • Russell gives us a logical analysis of definite descriptions. Consider (1) The 44th president of the United States is black. • In Russell’s analysis, this becomes: (2a) At least one person is 44th president of the United States, and (2b) At most one person is 44th president of the United States, and (2c) whoever is 44th president of the United States is black. • Or in logical notation: (3a) ∃𝑦(𝑄𝑦) (3b) ∀𝑦(𝑄𝑦 → ∀𝑧 𝑦 = 𝑧 ) (3c) ∀𝑦(𝑄𝑦 → 𝐶𝑦)

21.08.2015 20 The Trick (3a) ∃𝑦(𝑄𝑦) (3b) ∀𝑦(𝑄𝑦 → ∀𝑧 𝑦 = 𝑧 ) (3c) ∀𝑦(𝑄𝑦 → 𝐶𝑦) • These three claims all rely only on variables ( 𝑦 and 𝑧 ), and general properties ( 𝑄 and 𝐶 ) • Reference to particulars has disappeared • Thus, we no longer “pick out” any particular object

21.08.2015 21 Problems 1. The Problem of Apparent Reference to Nonexistents (1) Sherlock Holmes lived in 221B Baker Street Sherlock Holmes = the legendary English detective (2a) At least one person is a legendary English detective, (2b) at most one person is a legendary English detective, (2c) whoever is a legendary English detective lives in 221B Baker Street (= if someone is a legendary English detective, they live in 221B Baker Street) • None of these refers to a concrete person, so we do not have a problem: (1) is meaningful • (2a) is false, so (1) is false.

21.08.2015 22 Problems 2. The Problem of Negative Existentials (1 ) “Santa Claus does not exist” Santa Claus = the man bringing Christmas presents, lives on the North Pole, ... Let’s narrow-scope: (1*) It is not true that: (Santa Claus exists) This translates to (2) It is not true that: [(a) there is at least one man bringing ..., and (b) there is at most one man bringing ..., and (c) whoever brings Christmas presents ... exists] • (2a) is false, so (2) is true

21.08.2015 23 Problems 3 . Frege’s Puzzle about Identity (1 ) “The Morning Star is the Evening Star” The Morning Star = the star rising in the morning The Evening Star = the star rising in the evening (1*) (The Star rising in the morning) is identical with (The star rising in the evening) This becomes (2) There is a unique star rising in the morning, and that star is identical with the star rising in the evening. • This is not trivial.

21.08.2015 24 Lessons from Russell • Questioning the Obvious • The importance of being aware of language • The surface structure of language might differ from its analysis, its “deep“ structure • Using logic as a tool to gain greater clarity

21.08.2015 25 Structure A. Beginnings: Philosophy in the early 1900s Russell’s Philosophy of Language B. C. Analytic Philosophy today Diverging Paths: Analytic “versus” Continental D.

21.08.2015 26 Contemporary Analytic Philosophy • Little of the content of early analytic philosophy has survived • It’s hard to say whether there is anything which we can clearly identify as “analytic” philosophy today – perhaps the label ceased to be interesting in the early 1970s (See some of the essays, esp. P. M. S. Hacker’s, in Biletzki , Anat, and Anat Matar, eds. The Story of Analytic Philosophy: Plot and Heroes . London: Routledge, 1998.)

21.08.2015 27 A Style of Doing Philosophy? • Perhaps the best thing we can say is that analytic philosophy has survived as a certain style of doing philosophy  being aware of the limitations and confusions of language  trying to be clear and explicit in arguments  being cautious about metaphysical speculation gone wild  using formal logic as a tool  looking to the natural sciences for a model of rational discourse

21.08.2015 28 Structure A. Beginnings: Philosophy in the early 1900s Russell’s Philosophy of Language B. C. Analytic Philosophy today Diverging Paths: Analytic “versus” Continental D.