3 ms·
I don't believe that analytic philosophy covers everything that the world has to offer. But I have yet to find anything of value to me in "continental philosop
by jfengel 3y ago
I don't believe that analytic philosophy covers everything that the world has to offer.
But I have yet to find anything of value to me in "continental philosophy". I realize that the distinction is arbitrary and tendentious, and the "continental philosophers" would not use that term for themselves.
Still... if we're not going to place the values of analytic philosophers at the fore, then we have to use our own. The only tool I have at my disposal is "I don't like it". Other people find meaning in it, and that's fine for them, but we don't seem to have any meeting ground and no good way to find one.
Which is fine. Neither of us is wrong. I just have to avoid resenting the ways that (in my estimation) continental philosophers act as if they were possessed of arcane secrets and it's my fault that I fail to understand them.
- taneq 3y agoI think it’s entirely reasonable to resent this behaviour. By portraying their musings as weighty and learned discourse rather than unfalsifiable speculation, they’re wasting our time.
- jfengel 3y agoFalsifiability isn't the be-all and end-all. It's an important way of looking at the world, but it's also limiting. The limits are great at helping us identify absolute bullshit. And all of that bullshit is aggravating because it makes it seem impossible that there could be anything else. But it's still important to avoid the intellectual laziness of dismissing it automatically out of hand and potentially missing something else that matters to us.