In preparation for my postgraduate distance learning course I have been reading an article in Routledge’s dictionary of philosophy ‘Understanding Philosophy’. There are some interesting ideas discussed, some optimistic and some pessimistic about philosophy’s aims or goals.
A thought experiment by Dietrich put forward the idea of Aristotle travelling through time and arriving at a North American university fluent in English. He was shocked and befuddled by lectures in physics, astronomy and chemistry, but not in the least bit out of his depth with the lectures on metaphysics and ethics. The thing that stumped him was how little progress had been made to resolve the central philosophical problems in over 2000 years.
odespinner 