How to Study Philosophy

How to Study Philosophy

I have two proposals for the curriculum, which I believe would have salutary effects. The first is that philosophy should be studied only after studying a science, or concurrently with studying a science. Oxford has no pure philosophy degree; you have to study it with another subject, generally scientific—economics (also politics), psychology and physiology, mathematics. That is, an education in science is essential to a sound philosophical education. A scientific cast of mind is desirable in a philosopher. As things stand, you can study philosophy with classics at Oxford, but I don’t think this is ideal; science is, or has become, too important to ignore. Philosophers at Oxford who studied philosophy with classics have to spend a good deal of time boning up on science later if they are to be properly educated (Austin used to read a lot of mathematics). If you don’t know a science quite well, you are at a disadvantage. A great many of our most distinguished philosophers have a scientific background, or made every effort to acquire one. I don’t think it matters much what science it is, so long as you are immersed in some kind of scientific study. I also don’t think it’s a good idea to go straight from school into studying philosophy at university, unless you have studied a good amount of science at school, and even then your immersion will not be deep enough. English literature and history are not preparation enough.

The scientists among us will all be vigorously nodding their heads—those philosophers are all ignorant of science! But now I want to urge that they return the favor: they should all study philosophy. That is, they should follow their scientific studies with some serious immersion in philosophy, or concurrently with studying science. Because otherwise scientism will be their fate and folly. They will be intellectually cramped, narrow, prone to dogmatism and worse. I am talking about ideals here; of course, there are practical problems with adding some philosophy to the scientific curriculum. I am engaged in a Platonic enquiry into the ideal form of education. Properly educated people need to know philosophy and science—that is, people who study either should study both. What about the unwashed rest? What about the historians and literature professors? They too, ideally, should have some science and philosophy under their belts, though they need less than their scientific and philosophical colleagues. I myself think that philosophy is a science, and a lot of so-called science is philosophy, so it makes sense to study them together. The current curriculum is far too atomistic and segregated.