What’s the Problem?

Abstract

An insightful colleague recently told me: philosophy is about problems. It’s about how problems are identified and dissected; it’s about how concepts are included and excluded when circumscribing problems; and it’s about how we uncover and re-discover forgotten problems and solutions. Shortly after this conversation, I came across a passage from Aristotle: ‘For those who wish to get clear of difficulties it is advantageous to discuss the difficulties well; for the subsequent free play of thought implies the solution of the previous difficulties, and it is not possible to untie a knot of which one does not know’ (1941, 995a28–30). Aristotle understood as well as anyone that the philosophical landscape we are traversing is well worn. Others have previously asked the same questions, and, for better or worse, they have offered answers. The ways in which issues are formulated and responses to problems are proffered do help us untie knots in our thinking. Sometimes it pays for philosophers to do a little archeology. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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