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PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHYTHE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR PHILOSOPHY IN PRACTICEwww.practical-philosophy.org.uk www.society-for-philosophy-in-practice.org |
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PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHYTHE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR PHILOSOPHY IN PRACTICEwww.practical-philosophy.org.uk www.society-for-philosophy-in-practice.org |
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Philosophy and Everyday Life
Laura Duhan Kaplan (ed.)
New York: Seven Bridges Press, 2001.
ISBN 1889119679 (pb), pp. 255,
£22.50
Practical Philosophy (Book Reviews) Spring 2003 Volume 6.1
Reviewed by: Tim LeBon
‘Let
us imagine one world exceedingly beautiful. Imagine it as beautiful as you can;
put into it whatever on this earth you admire - mountains, rivers, the sea;
trees, and sunsets, stars and moon…. And then imagine the ugliest world you can
imagine … Supposing them quite apart from any possible contemplation by human
beings; still, is it irrational to hold that it is better that the beautiful
world should exist, than the one which is ugly?’ (Moore 1922, p. 83).
For generations, philosophers like G.E. Moore have conducted a good portion of their philosophy by the use of thought experiments somewhat divorced from everyday life. When arguing about the philosophy of mind and metaphysics their examples tend to verge towards the fantastic (‘brain in the vat’ and brain swaps) or remain firmly within the cloisters of their closeted environment (examples of chairs, desks and tables abound). The question arises then: how do philosophical theories actually cope with everyday life? For example, what can an experience with an autistic child tell us about the nature of the mind? How do liberal theories of power help you deal with a real-life two year old? And how does experience in the Vietnam War connect with theories about virtue ethics? These are just some of the questions considered in this collection of twenty-essays about philosophy and everyday life. The authors (none of whom I had previously heard of) are mainly American philosophy professors, but rather than tackle the problems of philosophy directly, they begin with real life stories and then attempt to draw philosophical conclusions from them. It is, then, a far cry from the traditional approach which starts with philosophical theories and then applies them to (not very) real life situations.
The book is divided into four sections dealing with Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy, Epistemology and Metaphysics. Each section is preceded by a solid introduction by the editor and includes ‘Questions to get you started’ and ‘Further reading’. References and ‘Study questions’ are included for each piece, suggesting that its target audience is the beginning student. Some essays held my attention more than others, but the best were certainly well worth reading. My favourite (in the Metaphysics section) was Christopher Miles Michaelson’s ‘Philosophy Out of the Cave’. Written in a style that reminded me of Max Shulman’s classic ‘Love is a fallacy’, it is a humorous questioning of Plato’s idea that the meaning of life is to be found in philosophy; the author implying it was more likely to be found in a glorious spring afternoon by the lake with a fellow student he rather admired … I also enjoyed reading Charles Kaplan’s piece about child-rearing (though I have to say the psychology in it was more interesting than the philosophy) and Margaritha Harmaty’s moving account of mothering an autistic child. I think however, that G.E. Moore can rest safely in his grave. Although the articles provide a novel angle on philosophical topics, in general they lack both the depth and rigour that would make them more serious contributions to philosophy. The relative brevity and entertaining nature of the pieces would, however, make some of them suitable as stimuli to communities of enquiry, particularly for elder children or adults.
Whilst not wanting to end this review on a negative note, a word of caution is in order for all aficionados of practical philosophy. Some philosophy books appear to be more practical than they really are. This book’s title is ambiguous; it could be a book (in Alain de Botton style) about how philosophy can help us deal with everyday life. In fact it is more the reverse - how everyday life can help us with philosophy. So as a resource for the philosophical counsellor it is of rather less interest than I had hoped.
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