Tuesday, June 17, 2008

The Problem with Analytic Philosophy

Explanations are meant to be understood — but by whom? Many scientific explanations can be readily grasped by the masses, at least intuitively (e.g. Newtonian mechanics). And even where this is not possible, at least science produces results. But what can be said about analytic philosophy? It neither makes any sense to the masses, nor does it produce any results. And while it may be understood by the analytic philosophers, they are so steeped in confusion that it can hardly be called an "explanation" of anything. What is it then? A game?

I like to think of analytic philosophy as being a lot like chess. And while I very much like chess, I am not here to play games.

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