Antiphilosophy
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Antiphilosophy is an opposition to more traditional philosophy.
The views of Ludwig Wittgenstein, specifically his metaphilosophy, could be said to be antiphilosophy.
Antiphilosophy is anti-theoretical, critical of a priori justifications and therapeutic in its aim to dissolve philosophical misconceptions.
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Antiphilosophy and Wittgenstein's metaphilosophy
In Paul Horwich points to Wittgenstein's rejection of philosophy as traditionally and currently practiced and his "insistence that it can't give us the kind of knowledge generally regarded as its raison d'être".
Horwich goes on to argue that:
- "Wittgenstein claims that there are no realms of phenomena whose study is the special business of a philosopher, and about which he or she should devise profound a priori theories and sophisticated supporting arguments. There are no startling discoveries to be made of facts, not open to the methods of science, yet accessible "from the armchair" through some blend of intuition, pure reason and conceptual analysis. Indeed the whole idea of a subject that could yield such results is based on confusion and wishful thinking."
Horwich concludes that, according to Wittgenstein, philosophy "must avoid theory-construction and instead be merely 'therapeutic,' confined to exposing the irrational assumptions on which theory-oriented investigations are based and the irrational conclusions to which they lead".
Moreover, these antiphilosophical views are central to Wittgenstein, Horwich argues.
Examples of antiphilosophical positions
Ethics
The antiphilosopher could argue that, with regard to ethics, there is only practical, ordinary reasoning. Therefore it is wrong to a priori superimpose overarching ideas of what is good for philosophical reasons. For example, it is wrong to blanketly assume that only happiness matters, as in utilitarianism. This is not to say though that some utilitarian-like argument can’t be valid when it comes to what is right in some particular case.
Continuum hypothesis
Consider the continuum hypothesis, stating that there is no set with size strictly between the size of the natural numbers and the size of the real numbers. One idea is that the set universe ought to be rich, with many sets, which leads to the continuum hypothesis being false. This richness argument, the antiphilosopher might argue, is purely philosophical, and groundless, and therefor should be dismissed; maintaining that the continuum hypothesis should be settled by mathematical arguments. In particular it could be the case that the question isn't mathematically meaningful or useful, that the hypothesis is neither true, nor false. It is then wrong to stipulate, a priori and for philosophical reasons, that the continuum hypothesis is true or false.
Notes
- Wittgenstein’s philosophy (or rather anti-philosophy) of mathematics. ...
- Buddhist philosophy - Many philosophers of Zen would maintain that Zen is anti-philosophy.
- Gorgias (dialogue) - Callicles goes on an anti-philosophy rant, saying there is no harm in young people engaging in useless banter, but that it is unattractive in older men. ...
- De Stijl - Dadaist influences, such as I. K. Bonset's poetry and Aldo Camini's 'antiphilosophy' generated controversy as well. Only after Van Doesburg's death it was ...
- Philosophical skepticism - At least in its manifestation of Nagarjuna's texts that form the core of Madhyamaka, the anti-essentialist aspect of Buddhism makes it an anti-philosophy.
- Alain Badiou has recently coined the expression ‘antiphilosophy’ for these new and constitutively scandalous modes of intervening conceptually in the world; it is a term that Zizek has been very willing to revindicate for himself. --Fredric Jameson on The Parallax View by Slavoj Zizek
- "In my view, only those who have had the courage to work through Lacan's antiphilosophy without faltering deserve to be called 'contemporary philosophers'." From Vérité: forçage et innomable, translated as Truth: Forcing and the Unnameable in Theoretical Writings. London: Continuum, 2004. ISBN 0826461468.
See also
See also
- Church's thesis as a definition is an example of a problem where misconceptions may be dissolved, by viewing the thesis as nothing but a normal mathematical definition.
- Quietism also takes a therapeutic approach to philosophy.
