Philosophy is a kind of critical thinking: it is critical thinking about presuppositions (claims we take for granted and usually don’t analyze). For philosophy, presuppositions are controversial. “Philosophy does not answer questions; it questions answers.”

 

Consider two major groups of presuppositions:

1. Presuppositions of ordinary life (“common sense”)

2. Presuppositions of academic disciplines outside philosophy

This distinction cannot be rigid. Naturally, all academic disciplines take for granted the presuppositions of ordinary life listed below, in addition to presuppositions specific to the discipline.

The following table shows some presuppositions of ordinary life and corresponding branches of philosophy:

Ordinary Life Presupposition	Analyzed by
That there is a world independent of my mind	Metaphysics
That the future will resemble the past	Metaphysics
That I can know what the world is like using my senses	Epistemology
That my senses are not systematically deceiving me	Epistemology
That some statements are true and some false	Epistemology
That some persons are morally better than others	Ethics
That humans are more important than non-human animals	Ethics
That some arguments (pieces of reasoning) are better than others	Logic

The following table shows some presuppositions of academic disciplines and corresponding branches of philosophy (note that some presuppositions of academic disciplines are also presuppositions of ordinary life):

Discipline	Presupposes	Analyzed by
Law	That all people are equal under the law	Philosophy of Law
Science	That the universe operates in an orderly way, that the future will resemble the past	Philosophy of Science
Religion	That there is a God, that souls exist, that there is life after death	Philosophy of Religion
Art	That some artworks are better than others	Philosophy of Art
Women's Studies	That there is a specific female nature, or that gender is socially constructed	Feminist Philosophy

 

 

Some philosophical debates take place only in the world of professional philosophy. Even professional philosophers drive cars and eat food, without seriously questioning whether there is a world, or whether the future will resemble the past. Other philosophical issues, especially ethical ones, have direct impact on ordinary life. For example, should I be vegetarian? Should I give to charity? Who should I vote for? Should I pursue a boring but lucrative career or follow my dream?

 

 

 

 

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