May 27, 1999
Dear Mr. Swartz,
I found your essay most interesting. I am merely an undergrad at
Purdue University – not even a philosophy student, it is more of
a hobby for me. Anyway, I just wanted to offer a few comments on
what you wrote. You mention in your essay how civil the
atmosphere was at the GE Research laboratory you were involved in
– whereas philosophers are relatively more aggressive.
First of all, I think there is a fundamental difference between
the scientific nature of the GE researchers' work, and that of
philosophy. You mention how the conversations between the
researchers tended to be a lot more about mutual benefits and was
altogether more respectful than that of the typical philosophers.
It is much easier to be respectful and talk about helping one
another in scientific experiments than in philosophy. Philosophy
is really about the opinions of individual philosophers –
argument and aggression are simply natural when one's most
cherished personal opinions (especially those that one arrives at
after much careful thought and reflection) are challenged by
another's set of opinions that may be completely contradictory.
It is a completely different "game" from that of science which is
by nature empirical. Thus I think that it is almost natural for
philosophers to behave in such a manner. The very foundations of
(Western) philosophy began from the arguments and public debates
of the Sophists and the school of Socrates, Plato etc.
Therefore I don't think that is possible or desirable to rid
philosophy of its argumentative nature – debate is part and
parcel of philosophy.
As to the level of aggression – that can be controlled. The
person (initials G.B.) you mention at the beginning of your
article was obviously out of line. That sort of behavior is
childish and is detrimental to good philosophy. Many philosophers
hold their own opinions so dearly that they simply do not listen
to the opinions of others, and rather spend their time refuting
the opinions of others that don't agree with them. This kind of
egotistical, dogmatic behavior is expected of religious zealots,
not philosophers!
Abhinav Garg
email: abhinav@purdue.edu
|