“I would like to undermine the stereotype of "strict philosophy." J.L. Austin remarked that, when philosophy is done well, it's all over by the bottom of the first page. I take him to have meant that the real work comes in setting up the problem with which you are dealing, and thus getting your reader to take particular things for granted.” FirstsWellsRealDonePhilosophyProblemParticularReaderPagesBottomSettingSettingsGrantedStrictStereotypeAustinReal Work Author:Philip Kitcher
“So this is my attempt to give a preliminary - probably far too crude - account of how philosophy by showing can really teach us. The attempts we make to work through problems by reasoning always presuppose starting points, and even the most self-critical philosophers adopt some of those starting points simply by picking them up from the social environments in which they grow up.” GivingSelfPhilosophyProblemSocialGrowsTeachGrowing UpEnvironmentAccountsStartingPhilosopherCriticalReasoningCrudeStarting PointSocial Environment Author:Philip Kitcher
“After the success of Buddenbrooks, he married and fathered six children. Yet the surviving diaries tell us of recurrent sexual problems - and of Katia Mann's extremely sympathetic response to them” ChildrenProblemSixMarriedResponseSurvivingDiariesSympathetic Author:Philip Kitcher
“So is fighting incompleteness the source of artistic neurosis? I doubt it. At most, this would apply to artists who deal with particular kinds of problems. I don't think we should think of Haydn or Mozart or Dickens or George Eliot in these terms.” ThinkingShouldKindProblemArtistFightingTermDealsDoubtParticularSourceArtisticNeurosisDickensEliotIncompleteness Author:Philip Kitcher
“After two years of undergraduate study, it was clear that I was bored by the regime of problem-solving required by the Cambridge mathematical tripos. A very sensitive mathematics don recommended that I talk to the historian of astronomy, Michael Hoskin, and the conversation led me to enroll in the History and Philosophy of Science for my final undergraduate year.” YearsTwoPhilosophyProblemStudyClearConversationMathematicsFinalsAstronomyMathematicalBoredSensitiveTwo YearsHistorianRegimesProblem SolvingPhilosophy Of ScienceCambridgeUndergraduate Author:Philip Kitcher
“My ethical naturalism sees us as facing the predicament of being social animals without evolved adaptations that make social life easy. The fundamental problem that sparks the ethical project lies in our limited responsiveness to one another. The only way we have to address that problem is through a representative, informed, and engaged conversation.” WayProblemLyingSocialEasyAnimalConversationProjectsFundamentalsEngagedAddressesEthicalSparksRepresentativesAdaptationSocial LifeNaturalismPredicamentsResponsiveness Author:Philip Kitcher
“In ethics, we don't make progress by discovering pre-existent truths; we do so by solving problems.” ProblemProgressEthicsDiscoveringProblem Solving Author:Philip Kitcher
“Because the problems are objective features of the human situation - social animals without the capacities for making social life come easily - ethics is objectively constrained. It's not the case that "anything goes".” HumansProblemSocialAnimalSituationCasesEthicsCapacityObjectivesFeaturesSocial LifeAnything Goes Author:Philip Kitcher
“If the research agenda reflects "market forces", the problems of the poor are likely to be even more neglected than they already are.” IfsProblemForcePoorResearchAgendasNeglected Author:Philip Kitcher
“In my current work on global warming, I argue that the only apparent solution to the deep problem of climate change would require very large transfers of wealth from rich nations to poor nations, so that the entire world can make the transition to renewable forms of energy as fast as possible.” WorldProblemFormEnergyNationsWealthPoorRichSolutionsClimateClimate ChangeCurrentsArguingGlobal WarmingTransitionTransfersPoor Nations Author:Philip Kitcher
“Current education in science treats all students as if they were going to have scientific careers. They are required to solve problems and memorize lists. For many of them, this kills interest very quickly.” IfsProblemInterestCareersStudentsTreatsCurrentsSolveLists Author:Philip Kitcher
“I'm quite pessimistic about climate change. This is an urgent problem, and much of the world is only now waking up to the easiest part of solving - the realization that anthropogenic global warming is real.” WorldRealProblemWake UpClimateClimate ChangeRealizationGlobal WarmingWakingUrgentPessimistic Author:Philip Kitcher
“The hardest problem of all is to appreciate the facts that the poor nations are - quite reasonably - not going to forgo their development, and that they can only afford to develop by consuming fossil fuels.” FactsProblemNationsPoorDevelopmentAppreciateHardestFuelFossilsConsumingFossil FuelPoor Nations Author:Philip Kitcher
