Apuntes sobre la naturaleza de la filosofía y su enseñanza

Abstract

Popular definitions of philosophy (including some that can be considered as traditional) in terms of (i) “love for knowledge” or “love of wisdom”, (ii) “mother of all sciences”, (iii) “the opium to alleviate sorrows” or “therapy”, (iv) or “investigation into the why of things” are clearly unsatisfactory. Similar definitions made up mainly by audiences of non-philosophers are commonly found in high school and college courses. The vocational imperative that is imposed on all those who dedicate their efforts to philosophical knowledge requires to seek an adequate characterization of that knowledge, because the minimum that any philosopher should be able to answer is what is the nature of philosophical knowledge. In this paper, I shall attempt to give a satisfactory explanation that shows why folk definitions of philosophy are inadequate and try to advance a definition of the term “philosophy” free of the shortcomings identified in the previous definitions. The reflection that will be undertook will not be a mere idle exercise of conceptual elucidation since the very nature of philosophical knowledge is looked for. 

Keywords:

Filosofía

naturaleza del saber filosófico

definiciones populares

Philosophy

nature of philosophical knowledge

popular definitions

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