Understanding the Classics of Philosophy: study guide

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Tuesday, May 6, 2025

ROUSSEAU'S PARADOX: WE ARE BORN FREE IN CHAINS

Retired professor of philosophy, author of the Smart Student's Guides to Philosophical Classics series. For more about the guides, go to my website www.houlgatebooks.com For more about me, go to Wikipedia -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Houlgate

Wednesday, July 19, 2023

TAKING SIDES IN PHILOSOPHY

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TAKING SIDES IN PHILOSOPHY

Should we take sides in philosophy? I ask this question because I recently did an online search and found at least one hundred ‘isms’ or 'schools of thought’ in philosophy, ranging from Aristotelianism to Empiricism, Existentialism, Hedonism, Idealism, Kantianism, Marxism, Nihilism, Platonism, Rationalism, Stoicism, and Utilitarianism, to name only a few philosophical isms. The very thought of choosing one of these philosophical schools and rejecting others is overwhelming.

But does a philosophy student need to take sides with a school of thought? Should philosophy professors teach their students from the standpoint of a philosophical school?

Many years ago, Professor Gilbert Ryle argued that there is no place for ‘isms’ in philosophy. Philosophical schools of thought are like political parties in which one’s loyalty to the party or to leader of the party is indisputable. Similarly, one who announces that he or she is an Empiricist or Rationalist, Utilitarian or Intuitionist is in effect telling us that they are "cleaving to a position" in which they entertain no doubts about the theory promoted by the school of thought or by the philosopher after whom the school is named.

Ryle argues that refusing to doubt a philosophical theory “is an unforgivable irrationality”(317). He means that philosophical theories are the product of logically valid arguments that are always open to discussion. “Any philosopher should see and welcome the logically valid parts of its own arguments and welcome the logically valid parts of the arguments of its contestant” (318).

Presenting a logically valid argument as the answer to a philosophical question is not the same as ‘taking a side’ or ‘cleaving with’ a philosophical school of thought. Suppose that a professor asks her students, “Can a truth of fact be deduced from a priori premises?” If this question is answered by some students in the affirmative, their answer should be backed by a logically valid argument. And they should be prepared to abandon their answer if the argument they have presented is shown to be invalid. But of most importance, philosophical questions are not properly answered by the students who simply announce, “I am a Rationalist,” or “I always side with Empiricism,” and leave it at that.

Ryles' point is that students of philosophy should be taught to focus on the problems of philosophy and philosophical argumentation not on what philosophical school of thought they should join. “Every rigorous philosophical argument is a discovery…But it is not just the conclusion of the argument which is the discovery; it is the total argument for that conclusion.” (328)

[Read Gilbert Ryle’s full article “Taking Sides in Philosophy,” in Philosophy, Jul., 1937, Vol. 12, No. 47 (Jul., 1937), pp. 317-332. The article can be found online at JSTOR. Ask your librarian for access.]

Learn more about the nature of philosophy, philosophical problems, and how to think critically about the classics of philosophy in my book Understanding Philosophy: The Smart Student's Guide to Reading and Writing Philosophy, 3^rd edition, now available at the Amazon online bookstore.

Laurence D. Houlgate

Wednesday, September 30, 2020

PLATO REPUBLIC STUDY GUIDE

Understanding Plato is the prize-winning first philosophy study guide in the eight-book series of study guides on the classical philosophers.

The series is designed for beginning and intermediate philosophy students who would like more depth than they would ordinarily get from books that give only notes, brief summaries and outlines of the philosopher's thoughts and theories.

Unlike other philosophy study books, each book in the series focuses on both content and philosophical method.

Each chapter breaks down arguments of the philosopher into understandable parts, showing how philosophers reaches their conclusions and how they defend against possible objections.

Each chapter concludes with a set of questions for thought and discussion. Some of the questions are on topics that provide an excellent starting point for term papers.

References to other books about the philosopher or the topic can be found at the end of the chapter, in footnotes, textboxes or at the back of the book.

Understanding Plato contains a complete discussion of four of the early Socratic dialogues (Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno) and Plato's longer and more famous work, The Republic.

CONTENTS

Part I has four chapters with discussion questions about Plato’s Socratic dialogues.

Part II has six chapters with discussion questions about the most important ideas and theories in Plato’s Republic.

Part III is a summary and discussion of the nature of philosophy, the difference between philosophy and science, and the unique methods of philosophical reasoning.

DETAILED TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 About the Smart Student’s Guide series

1.2 About Plato and Socrates

1.3 About this Book

PART I A GUIDE TO PLATO’S SOCRATIC DIALOGUES

2. EUTHYPHRO: AN EXAMPLE OF PHILOSOPHICAL METHOD

2.1 Examples are not Definitions

2.2 Quarreling Deities

2.3 Concurrence of the Gods

2.4 Piety as a Skill

2.5 Philosophical and Scientific Method