What Philosophy Tries to Teach

Unil'ersit)' ol VirginiaThe central concern of this paper is to characterize what philosophy tries to teach.This will be done specifically and informatively enough so that pedagogical consequences can be drawn about how philosophy should be taught.Further, philosophy will be placed in an educational framework.Let me outline how I shall proceed.First, the question of what philosophy tries to teach is distinguished from the question of what philosophy is.Next, some empirical observations are made about the teaching of philosophy.These observations are meant to be suggestive of what philosophy tries to teach.though not decisive.The most important observation is that what philosophy tries to teach is not adequately characterizable in terms of a content.Then, two theories about what philosophy tries to teach are presented, and related to prominent traditions in philosophy.One is that philosophy tries to teach a method.the other tbat philosophy tries to teach a way of life.Both positions are meant to contrast with content.Both are fundamentally wrong.and objections are presented to them.Then a theory is proposed about what philosophy tries to teach.Briefly.what philosophy tries to teach goes beyond content not because philosophy tries to teach methods or ways of life, but because philosophy tries to teach a creative art.What philosophy tries to teach is to philosophize, and this is a form of creativity.Thus, what philosophy tries to teach is not so much intimately tied with what philosophy is as with what it is to philosophize.Two conceptions of what it is to philosophize are discussed-cognitive and non-cognitive.The view pursued is that philosophy does have a cognitive content, and that fundamentally what it is to philosophize is to contribute to that cognitive content.