Friday, 4 February 2011

Philosophy manifestos

In a lecture on the theory dependence of observation I paused to mention the Vienna Circle and was struck by the absence of contemporary philosophical manifestos. Even the Pittsburgh School of Neo-Hegelians have not provided us with one. But what should a philosophical manifesto look like?

I think that there should be a couple of key elements.

1) A contentious view of the nature of reality

2) A specific view of the nature of philosophical insight into that reality

Obviously 1 and 2 need to fit together - it would be odd if it turned out that reality was impenetrable to the philosophy in question - but it would be an interesting rainy day exercise to work out some differing solutions.