[εις επαινον δοξης αυτου] New comment on What Philosophers Do.
Chris Trampel has left a new comment on your post "What Philosophers Do":
I couldn't help contrasting Kahn's view of the role of philosophy with that of Father Copleston:
"But if it is desirable for all cultured men to know something of the history of philosophic thought, so far as occupation, cast of mind and need for specialisation permit, how much more is this not desirable for all avowed students of philosophy. I refer especially to students of the Scholastic Philosophy, who study it as the philosophia perennis. That it is the philosophia perennis I have no wish to dispute; but it did not drop down from Heaven, it grew out of the past; and if we really want to appreciate the work of St. Thomas Aquinas or St. Bonaventure or Duns Scotus, we should know something of Plato and Aristotle and St. Augustine. Again, if there is a philosophia perennis, it is only to be expected that some of its principles should be operative in the minds even of philosophers of modern times, who may seem at first sight to stand far from St. Thomas Aquinas." Frederick Copleston, A History of Philosophy: Volume I, p. 2
While Copleston shares Kahn's sense of history, he nevertheless feels that there is something "out there" to be discovered. The philosopher does more than analyze systems, he uncovers the structure of Reality. And while remaining committed to Thomism, Copleston recognizes with Lewis that people of other cultural and philosophical persuasions make partial contact with "The World As It Is." In his view, philosophers can learn from the mistakes of the past. That is to say, there is such a thing as "progress" in philosophy. A book I really want to read along these lines is Gary Gutting's What Philosophers Know: Case Studies in Recent Analytic Philosophy.
Posted by Chris Trampel to εις επαινον δοξης αυτου at 12:52 PM
I couldn't help contrasting Kahn's view of the role of philosophy with that of Father Copleston:
"But if it is desirable for all cultured men to know something of the history of philosophic thought, so far as occupation, cast of mind and need for specialisation permit, how much more is this not desirable for all avowed students of philosophy. I refer especially to students of the Scholastic Philosophy, who study it as the philosophia perennis. That it is the philosophia perennis I have no wish to dispute; but it did not drop down from Heaven, it grew out of the past; and if we really want to appreciate the work of St. Thomas Aquinas or St. Bonaventure or Duns Scotus, we should know something of Plato and Aristotle and St. Augustine. Again, if there is a philosophia perennis, it is only to be expected that some of its principles should be operative in the minds even of philosophers of modern times, who may seem at first sight to stand far from St. Thomas Aquinas." Frederick Copleston, A History of Philosophy: Volume I, p. 2
While Copleston shares Kahn's sense of history, he nevertheless feels that there is something "out there" to be discovered. The philosopher does more than analyze systems, he uncovers the structure of Reality. And while remaining committed to Thomism, Copleston recognizes with Lewis that people of other cultural and philosophical persuasions make partial contact with "The World As It Is." In his view, philosophers can learn from the mistakes of the past. That is to say, there is such a thing as "progress" in philosophy. A book I really want to read along these lines is Gary Gutting's What Philosophers Know: Case Studies in Recent Analytic Philosophy.
Posted by Chris Trampel to εις επαινον δοξης αυτου at 12:52 PM
posted by Matthew LaPine at
12:52 PM
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