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Tallis in Wonderland

The ‘P’ Word

Raymond Tallis asks, does it matter if philosophy does not make progress?

“decisive arguments in philosophy are rare… decisive arguments for positive views are even rarer, and decisive arguments for positive answers to the big questions are so rare as to be almost nonexistent.”
David Chalmers, 2015

That the arts do not progress in the way that the sciences progress does not seem to worry us. We don’t wring our hands because the latest Nobel-prize-winning poet or dramatist cannot hold a candle to Shakespeare. A contemporary scientist who had not moved beyond Galileo, on the other hand, would be an object of ridicule. But what of philosophy? Does it progress, and if it doesn’t, should we dismiss it as a cognitive relic – an ox cart in the age of the jet plane?

Philosophy versus Science

David Chalmers, best known for his work in the philosophy of mind, addresses this question in an illuminating recent article, ‘Why Isn’t There More Progress in Philosophy?’ in Philosophy, 90 (1), Jan 2015.

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