What Is Philosophy?

Utilitarianism is the doctrine that whatever results in the greatest good for the greatest number of people is the right thing to do. Utilitarians will typically epitomize their case with the question whether it is right for one innocent man to be killed that the many may be saved. I would say that, of those who are of the opinion that yes, this is right, or no, this is wrong, none are aware that what they are doing is simply recapitulating Christian theology. Is it morally tenable that Jesus died for my sins?

Some hold that whether someone gets credit or blame for an action should depend on whether he intended to do it. The model of intentionality is that “I will to raise my arm, and then I raise it.” What would Freud say about you and your raised little arm? There is not someone inside you who pushes a button and makes you lift your arm. The motion of the arm is fluid, in conjunction with desire, rather than a function of a will existing apart from your body. Sexual arousal is not a matter of will power. Whether an action can be praised or blamed, then, depends on something more than the model of intentionality described here. Some things are attributable to us that we never intended, because we have inescapably done them.

Philosophy is about thinking independently, using your critical faculties to question even their value. Socrates says specifically, “Do not tell me what your argument would have you say, but tell me what you actually think.” And yet people think philosophy means having a theory and defending it in journal articles as right or wrong; this is thought to be a career.