Importance of Philosophy in the Modern World :: Philosophy Religion Essays

The Importance of school of thought in the Modern World   Many of the philosophers we construct been reading in class seem to me to be hopelessly dated (although some of them express mail useful ideas and/or make good points). Of course, its easy to become detain in writing only for the period a person lives in, and a philosophy is necessarily dependant on the historical situation and the expiration of mans knowledge. And many of the philosophers who have existed over the course of the centuries have necessarily had to irritation about governmental, church, or societal disapproval, censorship, or punishment. (Socrates, for instance, was sentenced to death by a court for the crime of explaining his ideas.)   However, Victor Hugo said that if he were writing for his throw time only, he would have to break his pen and throw it outside (or something like that). As so it seems that, in order for a philosopher to be relevant for the future as well as the present, he must( prenominal) take into account all of the objections to his philosophy which can be expect at the present time. (Since we are not omnipotent, thats the best we can do.) And it seems to me that the well-nigh frequent objections to modern and premodern (but not postmodern) philosophers come from the incompatibility of their philosophies with what is considered to be accomplished scientific fact. For instance, Platos theory of forms does not, to me, seem to jibe with modern physics and cosmology. And although I can only vaguely glimpse the psychology which underlies Kant, it seems to be super questionable. (In my view, application of Kants epistemology and metaphysics could never produce an artificial intelligence capable of difference a Turing test.)   And so, it seems to me, the best way that a philosopher can keep from cosmos dated (not in the romantic sense many seem to have no problem with that) is to be aware of scientific knowledge, and integrate it into philosophy. Of course, this necessitates an autarkic evaluation of the merits and drawbacks of a given scientific idea, which necessitates, in turn, a radical knowledge of that theory.   After all, physics can (it seems to me) give us insights into metaphysics, since some(prenominal) seek different ways to do the same thing psychology, sociology, anthropology, and archaeology can give us insights into epistemology various soft sciences dealing with relative cultures can provide food for thought in ethics, and so on.