Importance of Philosophy in the Modern World :: Philosophy Religion Essays

The Importance of Philosophy in the Modern World   Many of the philosophers we have been reading in air division seem to me to be hopelessly date (although some of them express utilizable ideas and/or make good points). Of course, its easy to become trapped in writing only for the period a person lives in, and a ism is necessarily dependant on the historical situation and the extent of mans companionship. And some of the philosophers who have existed over the course of the centuries have necessarily had to worry well-nigh governmental, church, or societal disapproval, censorship, or punishment. (Socrates, for instance, was sentenced to death by a coquette for the crime of explaining his ideas.)   However, Victor Hugo said that if he were writing for his own prison term only, he would have to break his pen and throw it away (or something similar that). As so it seems that, in order for a philosopher to be applicable for the future as well as the present, he must op t into account all of the objections to his philosophy which fag end be anticipated at the present time. (Since we are not omnipotent, thats the best we backside do.) And it seems to me that the most ordinary objections to modern and premodern (but not postmodern) philosophers come from the incompatibility of their philosophies with what is considered to be established scientific fact. For instance, Platos theory of forms does not, to me, seem to jibe with modern physics and cosmology. And although I offer only vaguely glimpse the psychology which underlies Kant, it seems to be highly questionable. (In my view, applications programme of Kants epistemology and metaphysics could never produce an artificial intelligence capable of passing a Turing test.)   And so, it seems to me, the best way that a philosopher can keep from being dated (not in the romantic sense many seem to have no problem with that) is to be aware of scientific knowledge, and integrate it into philosophy. O f course, this necessitates an independent evaluation of the merits and drawbacks of a given scientific idea, which necessitates, in turn, a thorough knowledge of that theory.   After all, physics can (it seems to me) give us insights into metaphysics, since both set about different ways to do the same thing psychology, sociology, anthropology, and archeology can give us insights into epistemology various soft sciences dealing with comparative cultures can provide food for thought in ethics, and so on.