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8/10/2019 The Recovery of Practical Philosophy
1/17
The Recovery of Practical PhilosophyAuthor(s): STEPHEN TOULMINSource: The American Scholar, Vol. 57, No. 3 (Summer 1988), pp. 337-352Published by: The Phi Beta Kappa SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41211544.
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8/10/2019 The Recovery of Practical Philosophy
2/17
The Recovery f Practical
Philosophy
STEPHEN
TOULMIN
a letter written in
1932,
AlbertEinstein
spoke
of
the "na-
kedness
and
poverty"
of
philosophy
with
regret,
but
also
some
affection.
eople
working
n
serious
cientific
ields
ike
physics,
e
said,
should treat
philosophy
kindly,
because all of
their
subjects
are
its
offspring,
ven
though, y
now,
the Mother f Science seems
to be not
just
aged,
but barren oo.
Einstein's letterdraws
attention o an odd feature
f
philosophy,
which s no
better
now than
when he wrote.
People
who work
n
the
natural ciences share
n more
r
ess
agreedupon
tasks.
But
the
agenda
of
philosophy
s
always
contested:
ts
scope
and credentials
ave never
been
agreed upon,
even
by
its classic
authors. hose
self-doubts ave
never been more
striking
r
severe
than
n our
century.
n his 1929
Giffordectures, or xample,JohnDewey argued hat, ince the1630s
the
philosophical
ebate
has rested
n too
passive
a
view ofthe
human
mind and
on
inappropriate
emands
for
geometrical
ertainty.
n
the
1940s,
gain,Wittgenstein
ried
o show how endemic
confusions ver
the
"grammar"
f
anguage
mislead
us into vacuous
speculations.
Far
from
eing profound, hilosophical
uestions
only
distract
s from he
important
ssues
in life. recall
Wittgenstein
aying,
f
a
colleague
in
English
iterature
t
Cambridge,
What
makes
him hink e understands
WilliamBlake?
Why,
he doesn't
even understand
hilosophy "
Edmund Husserland
Martin
Heidegger
lso
wrote
austically
bout
the nheritedhilosophical nterprise;nd RichardRorty,urveyinghe
whole
debate,
concludes that
philosophers
ave
nothing
eft
o do
but
engage
n
a
personal
onversationbout
theworld s
they
have
found
t,
each as a
separate
ndividual.
utting
own
Rorty's
ssays,
cany away
STEPHEN TOULMIN
is Avalon
rofessorn the
Humanities t Northwestern
niver-
sity.
A
physicist y
nitial
raining,
e studied
with
udwigWittgenstein
t
Cambridge
nd
has written
xtensively
n
ethics,
he
philosophy
f
cience,
nd the
history
f deas.
He is
co-author,
ith
Albert
Jonsen,
f the new book The Abuse
of
Causistry
University
f
California
ress).
337
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8/10/2019 The Recovery of Practical Philosophy
3/17
THE
AMERICAN SCHOLAR
the
mage
of
group
f
x-soldiers
isabled
n
the ntellectual
ars,
who
are
sharing
memories ver a
glass
of wine of
"old,
forgotten,
aroff
things,
nd battles
ong ago."
So philosophy's genda is as problematics ever.What an we do?
Mustwe
agree
to
regard
ll
philosophicalwritings
s
"autobiography"?
Or,
f
not,
an we
piece
together
n alternative
genda
from he
wreckage
left
y
our
parents'
nd
grandparents'
emolition ork? shall
try,
n this
essay,
to
give
at least a
partial
nswer o that
uestion.
This
problem
does not
respond
well to
head-on
attack,
o let me
sneak
up
on it
from
ehind,
y
ooking
t the
historical
ontext.
ere the
current
ritique
ives
us
a lot
of lues. For a
start,
he
philosophy
whose
legitimacy
he critics
hallenge
s
always
he
seventeenth-century
radi-
tion
founded
primarily
but
not
entirely) pon
Ren Descartes:
what
English nd American hilosophy epartments,ith nconsciousrony,
usually
all
"modern"
hilosophy.
hough
Wittgenstein's
hilosophical
Investigations
tarts rom
passage
n
Augustine
nd criticizes
ositions
from lato's
Theaetetus
nd
Cratylus,
is
arguments
like
Dewey's
and
Heidegger's)
are
directed
t one
particular
tyle
of
philosophizing
a
"theory-centered"
tyle,
which
poses philosophical
problems,
and
frames olutions o
them,
n
timeless
nd
universal
erms.
rom
1650,
this
particular
tyle
whose
charmswere
linked
to
those of
Dewey's
"quest
for
ertainty")
as taken s
defining
he
very genda
of
philoso-
phy.
Yet,
ust
because of his
fact,
we need to
ookback
further
n
time nd
ask,"How fardid,orcould,
any
one
style
xhaust he whole
scope
of
philosophy?"
To the
contrary,
will
argue
that
this
definition
f
the
subject
sets on
the sidelines
a
good
half of
the
topics
that
had been
discussed,
as
philosophy,
hroughoutntiquity
nd the
Middle
Ages:
from
ristotle's
icomachean
thics,
by way
of
Cicero's
De
Officiis,
nd
right p
to
th
Renaissance. The
current
ritiques
have leftthis
ne-
glected
halfof
the
philosophical
ield what shall
here call
"practical
philosophy" quite
untouched.
nd,
ndeed,
t s
those
neglected
opics
that re
showing
resh
igns
of ife
oday,
t the
very
ime
whenthe
more
familiar,
theory-centered"
alf
f
the
subject
s
languishing.
I
What
ssues,
then,
did
seventeenth-century
hilosophers
et
aside?
In
four
sets of
topics
and
spheres
of
thought, hey
were
especially
uninterested:
he
"oral,"
the
"particular,"
he
"local,"
and
the
"timely."
These
topics
re
connected,
ut
we can
usefully
ook at them n turn.
To
begin
with
he "oral": Ever
since
Descartes,
ll
questions
bout
the
soundness
or
validity
f
arguments
re understood
s
referring
o
338
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8/10/2019 The Recovery of Practical Philosophy
4/17
THE RECOVERY
OF
PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY
"arguments"
n the enseof chains fwritten
ropositions,"
nd
their
soundness
s
seen o
depend
nformal
elations
mong
he
propositions.
The
question,
Who
ddressed
his
rgument
o
whom,
n
what
orum,
andusingwhat xamples?"s nolonger philosophical atter.s for
Plato,
hemerits f
rguments
o more
est n
uch
uman acts
han
those f a
geometricalroof
est n the
accompanying
iagram,
ven
whendrawn
y
a
master
raftsman.
o "modern"
hilosophy
gnores
argumentationamong articular
eople,
n
specific
ituations,
ealing
with oncrete
ases,
with ifferent
hings
t stake
in favor f
proofs"
captured
n
writing,
nd
udged
s written
As
history,
his
evelopment
xplains
hat
appened
ext.
latonists
opposed
hetorics
"making
heworse
rgument
eem
he
better";
ut
Aristotlead
rejected
his
ibel,
eeing
the onditions
n,
nd
he
ways
inwhichrgumentsarryonviction"san ssue hat hilosophersould
address
with
lear
onsciences.
p
to
the ate sixteenth
entury,
hey
discussed hat ssue
without
ny
sense
that
t was irrational.
he
seventeenth
entury
ndid that
good
work,
einstating
lato's
ibel
against
hetoric
o
successfully
hat he
colloquial
use
of the
word
rhetoric
as been
deprecatory
ver
ince,
gnoring
hemerits
f onsci-
entious
rofessional
rgumentation,
nd
hinting
t
persuasive
ricks
or
use
ndishonestral ebate.
o
this
ay,
erious
tudents
f hetoric
till
feel
ound o
xplain
hat
he erm
s
not
necessarily
nsulting.
rom
he
1630s
n,
n
short,
ormal
ogic
was
n,
Rhetoric
as
Out.
As to the second ssue,the"particular,"
shall cite
the
French
mathematicianascal. Medievaland Renaissance cholarshandled
moral
ssues
by
case
methods
ike
those
n
Anglo-American
ommon
law.
Once
again,
hey
were
following
ristotle's
thics.
The
Good,"
Aristotle
aid,
has no universal
orm,
egardless
f
subject
matter
r
situation:ound
moral
udgment
espects
he
detailed
ircumstances
f
specific
inds
f ases."
That
nsight
ourished
he
practice
fCatholic
and
Anglican
asuists
p
to the
eventeenth
entury;
ut,
n the
1640s,
Pascal
published
series
f
nonymousamphlets
ndefense
fAntoine
Arnaud,
ho
was
accused
by
the
Jesuits
f
heresy
n the cclesiastical
court t
Paris. ascal's
arget
as
themethods
f
moral
nalysis
sed
by
theJesuits,ased onconcretecasesofconscience"casusconscien-
tiae),
and
his
Provincial
etters
idiculed
hem
with uch
ferocious
sarcasm
hathe
brought
he
whole
enterprise
f
"case
ethics"
or
"casuistry")
nto
asting
iscredit.
Starting
ith he
Cambridge
latonists,
hilosophers
urned
thics
into bstract
heory,gnoring
heconcrete
roblems
fmoral
ractice.
The modern
hilosophers
ssumed
hat
God and
Freedom,
Mind
nd
Matter,
ood
and
Justice,
re
governed
y
timeless,
niversal
prin-
ciples,"
nd
regarded
riters
ho
ocused
n
particular
ases,
r
ypes
f
339
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8/10/2019 The Recovery of Practical Philosophy
5/17
THE AMERICAN
SCHOLAR
cases
limited
y
specific
onditions,
s either
nphilosophical
rdishon-
est.
So,
seventeenth-century
hilosophy gain
limited ts
own
scope,
excluding
he
examination
f
"particular ractical
ases"
by
definition.
In a phrase,GeneralPrincipleswereIn,Particular ases were Out.
Likewise for he
third
ssue,
the "local."
I
use this
word
local
as
Clifford eertz
does
in
his
book Local
Knowledge.Early
in
the Dis-
course
on
Method,
Descartes
reports
vercoming
is
early
fascination
with
history
nd
ethnography,
here
geometrical
methods re of
ittle
power:
"History
s
like
foreign
ravel,"
e
says,
it
broadens
he
mind,
but t
does not
deepen
it."
Ethnographers
ollectfacts
bout ll
the ocal
jurisdictions
hatGeertz
xamines,
utthetask
f
philosophy
s
to
bring
to the
surface
he
general
principles
holding
n
any
and all
fields.For
Descartes,
uriosity
s
a human
rait,
ut
understanding
oes not
come
fromccumulatingheexperience fparticularndividuals nd specific
cases.
Reason
always
seeks for
bstract,
eneral
deas and
principles
o
connect
particulars
ogether.
Plato
saw
malfunctioning
ities as
having
pecific
athologies,
ike
Tolstoy's
unhappy
amilies,"
nd
historians
ere
free o
study
hem,
f
that
was
their
nclination.
he
philosopher's
ask
was,
rather,
o
study
"happy"
families
nd
"healthy"
ities and to
find
eneral
principles
f
political
health
behind all
local
idiosyncrasies.
or
Aristotle,
uman
affairs
ere
open
to no
such
generalization,
o the
diversity
f
political
affairs
as
legitimate
rist
or
he
philosophical
mill,
s it
remained
ight
up
to the
sixteenth entury. y dismissinghistorynd ethnography,
modern
philosophy
hus
excluded
a
whole realm
of
previously
ecog-
nized
issues. From
then
on,
Abstract xioms
were
In,
Concrete
Diver-
sity
was Out.
Finally,
he
fourth
ssue,
the
"timely."
Descartes
and his
successors
do
not
discuss
ssues
that
nvolve
given
momentsn
time:
now,
not
ater,
yesterday,
ot
today.
Earlier
on,
concrete ssues
of
legal
and
medical
practice
in
which
"time
s
of
the
essence")
had an
equal
billing
with
abstract,
heoretical
ssues;
practical
ssues
were all
decided as
the
occasion
required
pros
to
kairon,
n
Aristotle's
hrase).
A
navigator's
decision
to
change
courseten
degrees
to
starboard,
ay,
s
as
"rational"
as anythingnmathematics;et tsrationalityests nwhen t sput nto
effect
s
much s it
does on
any
formal
omputations
nvolved.
For
sixteenth-century
cholars,
aw was
the
model
"rational
nter-
prise,"
and
the
possibility
f a
universal
natural
philosophy
eemed
problematic.
century
ater,
he
shoe is
on
the other
oot.
hilosophy
focuses n
the
permanent
nderlying
tructure
f
Nature:
he
transient
affairs
f
human
beings
take
econd
place.
As
a
result,
ssues
of
practical
relevanceand
timeliness
re
sidelined
as not
being
properly philo-
sophical"
at
all.
After
he
1630s,
aw and
medicine
play
only
marginal
340
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8/10/2019 The Recovery of Practical Philosophy
6/17
THE
RECOVERY F PRACTICAL
HILOSOPHY
parts
n
the
debate;
philosophers
ocus heir
ttention, ather,
n
time-
less
principles
oldinggood,
not t
one
timerather han
nother,
ut
at
all times.From his ime
on,
then,
he Permanent
s
In,
the
Transitory
s
Out.
These four
changes
of mind
from ral
to
written,
articular
o
universal,
ocal
to
general,
imely
o timeless
were distinct.
ut when
seen
in
context,
hey
have several
things
n common:
pecifically,
hey
choose
to
ignore
he
whole
of
practical
philosophy
that
s,
the
ssues
arising
out of the
clinical
aspects
of
medicine,
the
procedures
and
practices
f
aw,
the
rhetorical
orce
f
personal
rgumentation,
nd
the
moralmethods f
hecasuists.
o it was
no accident hat
iagnostics
nd
due
process,
ase ethics
nd
rhetoric,
opics
nd
poetics,
were
sidelined
and discredited
at
the same
time.
Rational
udgments
of
practical
adequacyare timelynottimeless, oncretenotabstract, articular ot
universal,
ocal
not
general.
They
concern
eople
who
have roots
n the
practical
nd
pastoral
rts,
nd the
seventeenth-century
new
philoso-
phers"
were
theory-centered,
ot
practical-minded.
hey
were
not
interested
n
procedures
or
andling
imited
lasses of
cases or
specific
types
of
problems;
they
concentrated
nstead
on
abstract,
imeless
methods
f
deriving
eneral
olutions
o
universal
roblems.
II
Whydidphilosophy'sgendachangeso drasticallyt ust
this ime?
How can
we
explain
this
turning
way,
fter
630,
from he
oral,
ocal,
transient,
articular
spects
of
anguage
nd
life,
nd
this
preoccupation
with
written
rguments,
eneral
deas,
and
abstract
rinciples?
Evidently,
his
change
followed
he
rise of a
lay
culture
n
Europe.
The
main vehicle
of
medieval
religious
eaching
had
been oral
preach-
ing,
which
supported
n
interest
n rhetoric.
eformation
cholars
ead
the
Scriptures
nd
commentaries
or hemselves
nd became
interested
in
criticizing
ritten
rguments.
s
aymen,
oo,
hey
were
ess
involved
in
pastoral
are
than
heir cclesiastical
orerunners.
hough
discussing
ethical
heory,hey
were
not
ctively esponsible
or he
ureof
ouls.
n
these respects, he new philosopherswere the firstntelligentsian
Western
istory.
But
something
more
s needed
to
explain
why,
after
enturies
of
Aristotelian
ractical
hilosophy,
he
years
1620
to 1660
saw
not
ust
a
renewed
nterest
n
universal,
bstract
heory
ut
outright
ejection
f
traditional
ractical
oncerns.
Where
houldwe
look
for
his
omething
more? believe
it s time
for
ntellectual
istorians o
take
a
page
from
the economic
nd social
historians' ook.
All
historians
f
early
modern
Europe
(high
Tories
such
as
Hugh
Trevor-Roper,
s
much
as
liberal
341
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8/10/2019 The Recovery of Practical Philosophy
7/17
THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR
Marxists
uch
s
Eric
Hobsbawm)
gree
by
now that
he
years
610-1650
were a time of social
disorder
nd
economicretreat
cross
Europe,
so
much o that
hey
ometimes all the
early
eventeenth
entury period
ofgeneral risis.
The
origin
fmodern cience and
philosophy,
s
I
myself
as
taught
to
think,
reated hem s
by-products
fmercantile
rosperity;
his
gave
scholarsnew comfortnd
leisure
to
pursue
bstract
peculations
ree f
worldly
distractions. he
picture
f
general
crisis
makes that ccount
implausible,
nd the truth s
nearer
the
reverse.
Early
seventeenth-
century
urope
was far rom
eing
eisurely
nd
comfortable;
rom 620
on,
people
were
ready
o
cut
your
hroat r burn
your
house down
ust
because
they
disliked
your
pinions,
s
in
the Lebanon of
today.
o the
real
question
is,
Why, given
such
an uncomfortable
ituation,
id
philosophers
ind
"theory-centered"tyle
f
philosophizing
o
power-
fully
ppealing?
To answer
hat
uestion,
ermit
me to takeas
my
ext
John
Donne's
long
poem,
An
Anatomy
f heWorld."
Donne wrote
his
poem
n
1611,
just
after he
ssassination f
KingHenry
V
of
France,
who had
been the
main
agent
of
religious
olerance n
Western
Europe.
(We
know that
Donne understood
he
significance
f
this
ventfrom
hings
e
said
in
1611 n
another
oem,
gnatius
His
Conclave.)
With
he
sensitivity
f
writerwho
picks
up
the
feel of his
time,
Donne
voices a
conservative
regret
hat heworld s
getting
ut
ofhand
n
a
dozen different
ays.
His
concern s
not
merely
the warfare
etween
Protestant nd Catholic
zealots, specially fterhe CouncilofTrent, hough his s threatening
to become
unmanageable.
t is
not
merely
he
decay
of old
political
loyalties
nd
allegiances,
with
he
growth
f
rade nd
cities,
nd therise
of a class of
people
outside he
traditionalocial
network
the
so-called
"masterless
men"),
though
his,too,
s
aggravating
he current
lien-
ation.Nor s it
ust
the
general
narcissism
fhis
time,
hough
onne
can
deplore
"extreme
ndividualism" s
vocally
s
Robert ellah
today.
Nor
is
it,
even,
the radical
doubts that
Copernicus
nd
the "new
philoso-
phers"
are
spreading
bout
traditional
deas
in
astronomy
nd
physics,
though
heir
kepticism
s
corroding
he
general
confidence
n
provi-
dence andhuman eason.What hines hrough ohn onne'spoem s his
response
o
the fact
hat ll
these
things
re
happening
t
once.
Donne moves
from ivil
war to
physics,
rom
olitics
o
psychology,
within
ust
a few
ines,
n
ways
that lmost
defy
unctuation:
And
new
Philosophy
alls
ll
in
doubt,
The Element
ffire
s
quiteput
ut;
The Sun s
lost,
nd
th'earth,
nd
no man'swit
Can well
direct
im
where o
ooke
or t. ..
'Tis all in
peeces,
ll cohaerance
one;
342
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8/10/2019 The Recovery of Practical Philosophy
8/17
THE
RECOVERY OF
PRACTICAL
PHILOSOPHY
All
ust upply,
nd ll
Relation:
Prince,
ubject,
ather,
onne,
re
hingsorgot,
For
very
an
lone hinkesehath
ot
To be a
Phoenix,nd hathenanbeeNone fthatinde,fwhich e s,but ee.
Evidently,
he
general
risis f
the
early
eventeenth
entury
as not
only
a social and
economic
ne,
but
quite
as
much
religious
nd
cosmological;
nd this
makes
he
change
n
the
genda
f
philosophy-
more
ntelligible.
To
people caught
p
in
a
far-reaching,horoughgoing
ntellectual
crisis,
he
modest nd
undogmaticuggestions
f
practicalhilosophy"
looked,
ot
untrue,
utbesidethe
point: iddling
hileRomeburned.
The more
rgent
askwastofind newfoundationor ll that
ad,
fter
all,been soundnearlierdeas, ndevenmore orevitalizeosmology,
by developing
new,
more ational
heory
f nature. othof these
theoretical
rograms
the "foundationalist"
heory
f
knowledge
hat
collapsed
n
our
own
imes,
nd the
ystem
f
physical osmology
hat
Isaac
Newtonnherited
rom en
Descartes,
hich
made he
tarting
point
for modern"
hysics
were
formulated
n
universal,imeless,
mathematicalerms
uiteforeign
o theconcerns
f
practical hiloso-
phers.
ut,
or
ll that
he rchitects
f
he
new
philosophy
ared,
iven
their wn
exciting
ew
program,
he
wholeof
"practical hilosophy"
could ake back
eat.
Ill
It s now
ime o
put
orthhemore onstructive
uestions.
ow
does
practical hilosophy
nter nto
our lives
today?
And
how
does
it
contribute
o an
agenda
or he
futuref he
ubject
hat an
blunt
he
force
f
urrent
ritiques?
ne
good uestion
eserves
nother,
o etme
ask
n
return:ince
1945,
what
roblems
avecalled
for
hilosophical
reflectionn the
deepest
evel,
with
ny
of the same
urgency
hat
cosmological
heory
ad
for
eople
n
the seventeenth
entury?
he
answers, urely, attersfpractice: ot ooverstatehepoint,matters
of ife
nd death. ince
WorldWar
I,
three ets f ssueshave
mposed
themselves
n all reflectivehinkers
nuclear
war,
medical
echnology,
and the environmentand
none
of
these
three ssues can be
fully
addressed
without
ringing
ack to the surface
uestions
bout
the
significance
f human ifeand about
our
responsibilities
ot
ust
to
humanity
ut lso to Nature.
Yet
how fardo these
practical roblems
ive
rise
to
authentically
philosophical
uestions?
he
people
whodiscuss
hemmost
ffectively
343
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8/10/2019 The Recovery of Practical Philosophy
9/17
THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR
today
ediscover
rguments
hat
re-Cartesian
hinkers
sedfour rfive
centuries
go.
n
analyzing
he
morality
fnuclear
arfare,
or
xample,
Michael
Walzerrevives medieval
rgument
boutthe criteria or
telling just" romunjust" ars. heJustWar ebate s,of ourse,ne
central
lement
n
the ase-ethicsraditionhat ascal
disowned;
ndwe
can
scarcely ope
otalk
ense
bout he
ubject
f
we
totallyeject
hat
tradition.
In
discussing
he
role f
echnology
n
prolonging
he
biological
ife
of
dying atients,gain,
we confrontssues
bout herelationsetween
the
personality
ndthe
body
hat evive
he
argely
moribund
roblems
of Mind
nd
Body.
Far from
eingpurely
heoretical
uestions
bout
how
we can
distinguish
sychologicalxplanations
rom
hysiological
ones,
he ssuesnowbecome
ntenselyractical
nes,
bout owwe are
to treat
eople
t
the rucial
moments
f
heirives.Even before
hese
new issuesbecame so urgent,t was arguable hat heMind/Body
problem
ut
right
own hemiddle fmost
niversity
epartments
f
psychiatry:
ith he
ddition f
this
new,
moral
omponent,
he ssue
becomes
bove ll a
practical
ne.
As
for
cology
nd he
nvironment,
he ssential
hing
o
note
s
that
the
ssueraises ot
ust
utilitarian
uestions,
ut
osmological
nes oo.
This
may
ot
be
obvious,
ecausewe tend o
overlookhe
riginal
oal
of
osmology
nd
quate
t
with
part
f
heoretical
hysics.
et,
nboth
Greek
ntiquity
nd
eventeenth-century
urope,
he
rder
f
Nature
or
kosmos)
as
naturally
dentified
ith
he ixed
tructuref he
heavens,
whichwas a stable ackground,r tage etting,or he hangingrama
of
ife.
Leibniz's
fiercest
bjection
o Newton's
ccount f the
solar
system
s
thatt
gives
no
mathematical
uarantee
hat he
lanets
annot
get
ff
rack,
nd o
disrupt
he
whole
ystem )
ow,
n
the ate
wentieth
century,
ur
deas bout he
rder
f
Nature
re
quite
different.
or
us,
Nature
s
not
undamentally
table,
s itwas
for heGreeks
ndNewton.
Farfrom
eing
n
unchanging
ausal
backdrop
o
rational uman
ction,
Nature ow
has ts
wn
volutionaryistory;
ndhuman
istory
s
fully
intelligible
nly
when ead n this
arger
ontext.
On
one
evel,
ur
ntimate
ractical
ives re now
ouched
y
what
happened
o
green
monkeys
n
Central
frica
wenty
r
hirtyears go.Ona morentellectualevel, urbasic deasabout ocialrelationsnd
political
nstitutions
re also in
need of
rethinking;
nstead f
seeing
society
s a
fixed
order"modeled n
the
solar
ystem,
ith
lasses,
genders,
nd
occupations
eeping
o heir
roper
rbits,
e
are
earning
to
see those
hanging
elations
nd
nstitutionss so
many
more r ess
"adaptive"ways
f
meeting
hanging
uman
roblems.
n this
ense,
too,
our
ives
and
thoughts
re no
longer
onfined ithin
he
fixed
Newtonian
orld;
nd,
n
more
espects
han re s
yet ecognized,
ur
cosmology
oday
s
a
historically
hanging
ne.
344
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8/10/2019 The Recovery of Practical Philosophy
10/17
THE
RECOVERY F
PRACTICAL
HILOSOPHY
IV
Nowadays,
hen,
hilosophers
re
increasingly
rawn nto
public
debates bout nvironmentalolicy,medical thics,udicial ractice,r
nuclear
olitics.
omeof
hem ontributeo
these iscussions
appily;
others
ear hat
ngaging
n
applied
hilosophyrostitutes
heir
alents
and
distractshem rom
heir
roper
oncern ith
uantificationheory,
illocutionary
orce,
ossible
worlds,
r henature f
Erlebnis. or hese
purists,
have
specialmessage.
hese
practical
ebates reno
onger
"applied
philosophy":hey
re
philosophy
tself. o
speak
more
re-
cisely,
hey
re
legitimate
eirs
to
quote
Wittgensteingain)
of the
theoretical
nterprise
hat
ormerly
alled tself
philosophy."y pur-
suing
these
ssues,
we as
philosophers
oth
demolish he barriers
between racticalndtheoreticalhilosophynd reenterhevery ore
of echnical
hilosophy
rom
productive
ew
direction.
To
illustrate
his
oint,
etmetake linicalmedicine
s the
ype
ase
of
practicalnterprise
nduse
tto
do
two
hings.
irst,
etme
briefly
connect
he heoretical
roblem
f
general
imeless niversaishatwas
the
tarting
oint
f
eventeenth-century
hilosophy
ack
o
the
ocal,
timely,
oncretessues
hat
t setaside. will
argue
hat othkinds
f
issues re
ruly
hilosophical.
econdly,
will
use this
xample
o
make
some
pecific hilosophicaloints
bout
articularity,
bout
xperience,
and about
ationality.
To beginwith heparticular,e may ontrastheaimsof clinical
medicinendbiomedicaicience.
eople
ften
hinkf
medical
ractice
as
"applied
cience,"
hus
oncealing
he
particularity
f
patients
nd
theirmedical onditions.
patientmay
e studied ither
y
clinician
or
by
a scientist ho
s
researching
is or
her current isease.
The
scientist'snterests
in
anygeneral
eatureshe
patientmay
hare
with
others
uffering
rom he same
disease.
The
clinician's
nterest
s in
whateveranthrow
ight
n
this
atient,
n
that
ed,
here nd
now.
The
clinician's
nowledge
f
he
patient
illbe
"informed
y"
biomedicai
science;
ut t
s
not,
n ts
details,
entailed
y" ny
iomedicai
heory
and
typicallyoesbeyond verything
hat cientistsan
yet
ccount
or.
Thepatients notmerelyn "individual" hohappenso "instantiate"
a "universalaw." His clinical tate
s
local,
imely,
nd
particular,
nd
universalheoriest best hrow
nly artialight
n
t.
l
Clinical
nowledge
hus
iffers
rucially
rom
nyunderstanding
f
scientific
heory.
n
the
world f
practical
xperience,
e have
greater
confidence
n
our
knowledge
f
pecific
oncrete acts
han
we have
n
the
general
xplanations
hat
eople
offer
or
hose acts.
We know hat
chicken
s
good
to eat better hanwe understand
hy
t s
(Aristotle's
own
xample);
ndwe know hat
spirin elps
headaches etterhan
we
345
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8/10/2019 The Recovery of Practical Philosophy
11/17
THE
AMERICAN SCHOLAR
understand
hy
t does.
Knowledge
f
linical
articulars
oes not est
only
ntheir
eing
ndividual
instances"f stablished
laws,"
ince t
always
utruns
he
scope
of
those aws.
Only
n
strictly
athematical
fields avewe moreonfidencen theoreticalnderstandingfgeneral
principles
han n a
practical
nowledge
f
particular
ases. n
medicine
(to
be
sure)
heoretical
nd
practical
nowledge
renot
asily
eparated.
Still,
ny
belief
hat
etailed linical
nowledge
s
a
simple
pplication
of
cience
misses he entral
oints
that
nowledge
f
particular
ases
is
prior
o,
nd
more ertain
han,
ny
nderstanding
f
general
cientific
concepts
nd
theories.
To turn
next o
experience,
he terms clinical
xperience"
nd
"practical
xperience"
se this
word
xperience
n
an
everyday
ollo-
quial
sense.For
nstance,
ontaigne'sssay
Of
Experience"
ellsus
about he hingshat appenedo him nd what ind fperson ehas
become:how
he tends
otalkwith is
mouth
ull,
ell
ff is
horse nd
suffered
concussion,
nd
finds
is
aging odyhelping
o make
him
depressed.
Such
ways
of
discussing xperience
may
appear
philosophically
trivial,
ut
they
re
central o
the
working
f
practical
nterprises:
clinical
bservation
n
medicine,
irect
estimony
n
law,
ven
reports
about
experimental
rocedures
n
science.
By
contrast,
sk
modern
philosophers
o
ccount or
sense
xperience"
s
a basisof
knowledge,
and
therich
nd
concrete
hroniclef
everyday
xperience
s
at
once
replacedy thin,
bstract
ortegef deas,mpressions,nd ensations.What rewe tomake f his act?
hilosophy
nstructorsftenindthard
to
get
students
ven to
see the
"sense
data"that
re
supposedly
he
primary
tuff
f
he
visual
world: t
was
equally
ard or .
B.
Tichener,
fresh
rom
Wilhelm
Wunds
aboratory,
o
get
his
students
o
perceive
the
yellow
atches
hat
were,
n
his
theory,
resent
n
anyone's
mind
who
heard
nd
understood
he
word
yellow.
et
everyday
ractical
experience
eside
the "sense
experiences"
f
perceptual
heory,
n
short,
nd
sense
data"
urely
ppear
obe
fictions,
reamed
p
afterhe
event,
o
make
good
he
missing
inks
etween
pistemological
heory
and
practical
ife.
After
isiting
friend
ecovering
rom
urgery,
saiah
Berlinwasheard odeclare,He's a mere ense-datumf hisformer
self "
The willful
ncongruity
fhis
remarkhowsus
how far
expe-
rience,"
n
the
practicalense,
iffersrom
ll
these heoretical
ictions.
Finally,
s for
ogic
and
rationality,
linical
diagnosis
helps
us
dismantlehe
barriers
etween
logic"
nd
"rhetoric,"
argument"
nd
"argumentation."
arlier
contrasted
he
ormal
alidity
f
heoretical
arguments
ith
he
ubstantive
oundness f
practicalrgumentation.
Evidently,
linical
iagnoses
an
never
ave he
necessity
f
geometri-
cal
proof;
hey
est n
the
doctor's
ccumulated
xperience,
long
with
346
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8/10/2019 The Recovery of Practical Philosophy
12/17
THE
RECOVERY
F
PRACTICAL HILOSOPHY
any igns
nd
ymptoms
hat re
vailable t
the ime f he
iagnosis.
o
they
re
always pen
to revision r
rebuttal,
s
the llness
nfolds,
nd
they
upport
t
best
strongresumption:
rom
what
ne has to
go
on,
thebestdiagnosisnd treatmentre,presumably,o and so. ..
That s all
that
we ask of venthebest
diagnosticians;
nd
t s the
same
n
other ields f
practicalrgument
oo. n
a
legal rgument,
ven
thebest
vidence oesnot
ntail
ny
onclusion:
t
upports udgment
that,
n
the
ircumstances,
annot
n fact
e
rebutted.nferences
ithin
a
theory ursue
hedetailed
mplications
f
deas;
practical
nferences
use those deas to
suggest
owto handle
articular
ases.
So
practical
judgments
re
not
weaker
han heoretical
nferences;
hey
iffer
nly
n
being
ubstantivend
n
reaching
ut
beyond
bstract
onceptual
ssues
to
novel,
oncreteituations.
imely,
ubstantive
rguments
epend
not
on entailmentsut on
generalizations
hat re
trustworthy
n the
whole kaholou even houghebuttablenexceptionalases.
This
point
olds ven
n
physics,
here heories
reusedto
explain
particular
henomena.
ewton
went o
great engths
n
Principia
o
show
hat,
n
his
definitions,
satellite
moving reely
ear massive
body,
nder he nfluence
f n nverse
quare
ttractive
orce irected
toward hat
ody,
must ave
n
elliptical
r
parabolic
rack;
nd several
such atellites
oing
ound he ame
massive
ody
must
o
so at
ust
he
relative
peeds
hat
epler
ad
found
n
thevisible
lanets
for xam-
ple,
Mercury,
enus,
nd Mars.
Does
this
mean
hatNewton
roved
mathematically
hat he
planets
ecessarily
ove s
Kepler
ad
shown
theynfactmove?Newton'sdmirersssumedhat ehad;but twas n
illusion.
is
proof
ives
s reason
o
presume
hat he
isible
lanets
re
satellites
oving
nder
nverse
quare
orces;
et, ractically
peaking,
that
resumption
as
open
o
challenge
or t east he
next
iftyears,
while he
heory
as
accumulating
ther
upport.
Scientific
nterpretations
factual
physical
henomena
re
thus s
open
to revision r rebuttal
as
local,
timely,
nd
particular
as are
clinical
eadings
f
patients
nd their llnesses.
he moment e
leave
the realm
of
theory
or
hat f
practical xperience,
he rebuttable
presumptions
f
practical
rgumenteplace
the formal
ecessity
f
theoreticalnference.
onsider,
or
xample,
he
problem
f
onceptual
change,owhichmuchhoughtasbeengiven ver he ast hirtyears.
What easons o we
need to
ustify
iving p
one
scientific
heory
or
another?
nductive
ogicians
ave offered
uasi-mathematical
confir-
mation heories"
o answer
his
question;finding
hese
algorithms
unsatisfactory,
homas uhn
ave
us his
heory
f
paradigm
hifts."
et
surely theory
f
conceptual
hange
misses he
point.
he
practical
decisionwhethero
modify
n old
theory
r abandon
t
in
favor f
a
radically
ew one
is itself
local and
timely
hoice
bout
particular
situationnd
callsfor he ame
ppraisal
s
any
ther
ractical
ecision.
347
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THE
AMERICAN SCHOLAR
Given hewhole
ituation
n
whichwe
currently
ind
urselves,
s it
best to
hang
on to
the older
heory,
r
give
t
up?
Some
conceptual
change
may
presumably
e
ustified,
n
practice, y
all thatwe know
about he cientificituationnquestion; ut he heoreticalream hat
one and
only
ne
change
s
"necessarily
orrect"emainshe
dream
t
always
was.
To
this
day,
hen,
he
patterns
f
practical easoning
re
rhetorical,
not
geometrical.
ormal
emonstrativenferences
possible
nly
f
he
concepts
n
the
premises
nd the
conclusion f an
argument
re the
same;
nd
n
clinical
iagnoses,
or
xample,
his
an
never e the ase.
In
such
fields s medicine
nd
aw,
we
bring xperience
f
previous
casesto
bear n novel
ituations,
ndour
onclusionsold
good nly
o
the xtent
hatwhatwas true f
arlier ases s also
applicable
o
future
situations.iven his oint, e have basisfor econcilinghetoric ith
logic.
The
arguments
ithin
theory
r
conceptual ystem
may
be
"demonstrative";
ut
the
arguments
hat
pply
theoretical
deas to
practical
ituations,
rwhich
eek o
riticizehose
heories,
ook
utside
the heories
nd so
become
practical,"
r
"rhetorical,"
rguments.
V
When
was child n
England,
e
earned
W. S.
Gilbert's
ouplet
o
the
ffecthat
Every
ittle
oy
r
girl
hat's
ornnto heworld
live
Is
either
littleiberal
r lse little
onservative.
We
were lso
taught
o
divide uman
eings
nto
wo lasses:
hosewho
prefer
lue to
green,
weets o
savories,
ats o
dogs,
ndthe
ther
ay
around. he
blue, weet,
at
overs we
were old also
prefer
lato;
the
green,
avory,
og
fanciers
refer
ristotle.ow amno
onger
lear
what o make f
hese
upposed
orrelations,
hough
don't ule hem
wholly
ut.A
few
years
ack,
you
may
recall,
William
Gass wrote
perceptivessay,On BeingBlue;andcertainly yownAristotelian
tastes
mbracehelties
nd
green
heese.Whats
clear,
owever,
s
that
philosophy
isplays
series f
historical
endulum
wings
etween
wo
broad
gendas.
n
one
agenda,
he ask
f
philosophy
s
to
ay
whatever
can
be said
n
any
field
f
nquiry
hat s
entirely
eneral;
n the
other
agenda,
he ask s
to
say
whatever
an be said
that
s
as
general
s the
field
ermits.
eingpractical-minded,
ristoteliansill
not laimuni-
versality
or
heir iews n
advance f
practical
xperience;
eing
more
348
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14/17
THE
RECOVERY
OF
PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY
theoretically
nclined,
latonistsre
willing
o
peculate
more
reely
nd
to hazard roader
eneralizations.
Understood
n
these
terms,
he
seventeenth-century
ransition
y
whichmodernhilosophyndmodernciencewere aunchednvolved
a
pendulumwing
way
rom
imited,
ractical,
ristotelianoncerns
o
a Platonist
rogram
or
developing eneral
heories
nd
solutions.
Conversely,
hen
Wittgenstein
nd
Rorty
laim hat he
resent osition
of
philosophy
s
"the
End of heRoad"for he
ubject,hey
verdrama-
tize
he ituation.
ather,
e are
n
the
middle f
yet
nother
endulum
swing
ack,
rom
Platonically
riented,
heory-centered
tyle
f
phi-
losophy
oward he
re-acceptance
f more
practical,
ristotelianon-
cerns.
Sometime
go,
wrote or
erspectives
n
Biology
nd Medicine
paper
alled How
Medicine aved
heLife fEthics."
n
that
aper,
setoutto showhow andwhy evenfor hilosophicalurposes,he
primary
ocus ofethical
iscussion as
lately
een
moving
ut of
the
study
ndtothebedside.
imilarly,
he
primary
ocus f he
mind/body
problem
oday
ies
n
the ealm f
sychiatric
ractice;
he
rimary
ocus
of
problems
bout
ausality,ationality,
nd
responsibility
n
the
rimi-
nal courts.
To
say
his
s
not
o
uggest
hat hese
roblems
ave
become he ole
business
f
psychiatrists,
awyers,
nd
udges,
o that
hilosophers
ust
hand
them ver o the
specialists
ho alone
really
nderstand
hem.
Quite
he
contrary.
sychiatrists,
awyers,
nd
udges
whoaddress
he
general hilosophicalroblemsrisingutof heir espectiveractices
often
o so
ncompetently,
ndthere
s
important
ork or
hilosophers
to do
in
conjunction
ith uch
pecialists.
Wittgenstein
ay
laim
hat,
f
aken
n
isolation,
he
general
heo-
retical
ssues of
traditional
hilosophy
uickly
ecome
vacuous.
But,
where
omethingractical
s
truly
t
stake,
ll
is
changed.
o
quote
n
example
romnother
f
myCambridge
eachers,
ohn
Wisdom,
hilo-
sophical roblems
re
ike the
question,
s
a
flying
oat
ship
or an
airplane?
aken
ut f ll
practical
ontexts,
t
does
notmatter
hat
ou
reply.
"Have
it
your
wn
way "Wittgenstein
ays.)
But
f
something
serious
s
really
t stake
if
the force
f the
questions, Ought
he
captain fa flyingoatto have an airlinepilot's icense, master
mariner's
ertificate,
r both?
the ssue comes
ntofocus.
Most aw
students,ikewise,
now
he trick
uestion
bout
the
phone
call
in
which
ne
udge
sks
nother,
s
a
glove
ompartmentprivate
ouse
r
a
pleasure
oat? he
trick
s to
pot
he onstitutional
oint
bout
earch
and seizure
t issue
the
police
need
a warrant
efore
earching
private
ouse
for
llegal
narcotics,
ay,
but not before
earching
pleasure
oat.
o what bout
he
glove ompartment
f car?
349
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15/17
-
8/10/2019 The Recovery of Practical Philosophy
16/17
THE
RECOVERY OF PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY
anyone
o
experience
hem,
nd
t
almost ooks s
though,
n
the deal
case,
people
would o
onger xperiencenythingrivately
t
ll,
nd he
omforting
weight
f
personal esponsibility
ould issolve
nto
system
fformulaeor
potential eanings.
. .
And ll atonce, nthemiddle f hese eflections,lrichthe rotagonistf
Musil's
ook]
had
smilingly
o confesso himself
hat,
espite
ll
this,
e
was
afterll a
"character,"
ven
without
aving
ne.
There s
nothing pecifically
utobiographical
r
ndividual
boutthe
methods nd demands
of our collective ctivities.
On the
contrary,
e
can
discuss
them
s
present-day
ounterparts
f
what
Aristotle new as
"special topics,"
ecognizing
hat he
rts fMolecular
Biochemistry
nd
Criminal Law and
Drypoint
Engraving
re
larger
than the
personal
contributionsf ll
those ndividual
iochemists,
udges,
and
artists ho
putthose arts owork.The significancefpragmatismwhichRichard
Rorty
ouches
his forelock
o,
butthen
urns
is
back
on)
is
then
wofold:
first,
he
encouragement
t
gives
us to
study
he
practical
methods the
"topics,"
dialectics,"
nd "rhetorics"-
f ll these ollective
rts,
n
the
context fthe
Lebensformen
hat
mbody
hem; nd,
second
which
s
what
crucially
istinguishes
ur
position
from ristotle's the
fact hat
these
Lebensformen,
nd
the
forms f
thought
hat re "at
home" in
them,
re not
static,
ermanent
essences"
that re
capable
of
being
known
priori
nd
for
ood,
but
changing
onstellations
r
populations,
whose
historically
volving
orms
ave to be
discovered,
y ooking
nd
seeing, fter he event.
Only
when we have
finished
xploring
he collective
artsof these
enterprises
nd seek to
go beyond
themdo we
reach
a
point
t
which,
perhaps,
he
move into
autobiography
an
no
longer
be
further
ost-
poned.
As with
Musil's
protagonist
lrich,
ur
personalities
nd
"char-
acters"
re shownnot
by
our
participation
n these
enterprises
ut
rather
in
the
ways
in which
we
fashion
private
ives
out of
multiplepublic
roles.
Whatwas
it ike to
nherit seat
n the
parliament
t
Bordeaux,
nly
to have
your
closest
friend
nd
colleague
die
in his
(and
your)
mid-
thirties?
ow can
you
reasonably
eal
with he
conflicting
emands
of
private ndpublic ifethat uch an eventprovokes?Again,what s it to
be
a
talented
rganist
nd
musical heorist
ho
s
also
called
to
work s
a medical
missionary
n Africa?
How
do
you piece
together
life
that
reasonably
alances
off he
proper
xercise
of
your
musical alents
with
respect
for
your
Beruf?
These
autobiographical
ssues raise
questions
about
which a
Michel de
Montaigne
in
one
case)
or
an Albert
Schweitzer
in
the
other)
an
write as we
say
"philosophically."
o
that
xtent,
hilosophy
may
well include
at
one extreme
utobiograph-
ical reflections
f the
kindthat
Rorty
alks bout.
351
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17/17
THE
AMERICAN
SCHOLAR
But
none of
this
rules out or
discredits he more
public,
collective
agenda
that
he
current
ecovery
f
practical hilosophy
makes
vailable
to
us:
all the
way
across
a
spectrum
f
activities,
rom he
problems
f
nuclearwar discussedbya "newcasuist,"bywayofthegeriatric ard
and
neonatal ntensive
are
unit,
o
the
urisprudence
f
capitalpunish-
ment,
nd the
philosophy
f
quantum
mechanics.
aking
philosophy"
in
this
practical
sense,
as a
contributiono the reflective esolution
f
quandaries
thatface us in
enterprises
ith
high
stakes even
life and
death
Albert instein
would
surely
hink
gain
about the
"nakedness
and
poverty"
fthe
subject
nd concede
that
t s
timefor
hilosophers
to
come out
of their
elf-imposed
solation
nd
reenter he collective
worldof
practical
ife
nd sharedhuman
problems.
352