The Future of Philosophy: A Manifesto

Abstract

The future of philosophy is the philosophy of technology. It is argued that, using Wilfrid Sellars’ aim for philosophy as “seeing how things in the broadest possible sense hang together in the broadest possible sense”, contemporary philosophy is nothing more than a fragmented set of abstract and irrelevant activities. Philosophy, it is suggested should be about mankind interacting with the world, which is, on my account, the nature of technology. The role of philosophy should be to help us accomplish those interactions in a thoughtful and productive manner. The philosopher should be seen as part of a team of individuals seeking to accomplish something – she is a critical facilitator – Socrates reborn. To make philosophy a useful feature of the contemporary intellectual scene, we must disengage from minor analytic exercises that have little or no bearing on one another or the world and try to understand mankind interacting with the world, which would be to do philosophy of technology. To accomplish this goal I suggest that we reject the traditional taxonomy we appeal to when trying to make sense of philosophy. Instead of the old division of the field into Epistemology, Metaphysics, Value Theory, History of Philosophy, and Logic and Philosophy of Science, I urge that we first see the aim of philosophy to be assisting humankind to make their way in the world. The point is successful action. The traditional areas of philosophy and numerous subfields that don’t fit easily into the traditional taxonomy such as aesthetics, philosophy of law and philosophy of technology, are now seen as areas to appeal for assistance in achieving the proposed goal. Every area of philosophical interest should be appealed to as a tool, not as a specialized area of “research”.