The Recovery of Practical Philosophy

 

The Recovery of Practical Philosophy Author(s): STEPHEN TOULMIN Source: The American Scholar, Vol. 57, No. 3 (Summer 1988), pp. 337-352 Published by: The Phi Beta Kappa Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41211544 . http://www.jstor.org/stable/41211544 . Accessed: 29/04/2014 13:01 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at  . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

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The Recovery f Practical Philosophy STEPHEN TOULMIN

a letter written in 1932, Albert AlbertEinstein Einstein spoke of the "nakedness and poverty"of philosophywith regret,but also some cientificields ikephysics, e said, affection.eople workingn serious cientific ieldsike should treatphilosophy kindly,because all of their subjects are its philosophykindly, Mother fScience seems to be not ven though, y now,the Mother offspring,ven just aged, but barren oo. attention o an odd feature f philosophy, Einstein's letterdraws letterdrawsattention which sciences no better betternow than wrote.People wrote. People who work n the Butthe r esshe tasks.But tasks. theagenda morewhen natural share shanow re nthanwhen agreedupon agreed upon ofphilosophy s alwayscontested: ts scope and credentials ave never been agreed upon, even by its classic authors. hose self-doubts ave never been more striking r severe than n our century. n his 1929 Giffordectures, or xample, Dewey argued hat, ince the 1630s JohnDewey xample,John human ofthehuman has rested n too passive a view ofthe ebatehas thephilosophical ebate forgeometrical ertainty.n the emandsfor mind and on inappropriate emands endemicconfusions ver 1940s, gain, gain,Wittgenstein Wittgensteinried o show how endemicconfusions us intovacuous speculations.Far misleadus the "grammar" f anguagemislead from eing profound, hilosophical uestions onlydistract s from he uestionsonly aying, f a colleague in Wittgensteinaying, importantssues in life. recallWittgenstein him hink e understands makeshim Whatmakes iteraturett Cambridge, What English iterature doesn'teven understand hilosophy " WilliamBlake? William Blake? Why,he doesn'teven EdmundHusserland Husserland Martin MartinHeidegger Heidegger lso wrote austically bout the nherited hilosophical nterprise;nd RichardRorty, Rorty,urveying urveyinghe whole debate,concludesthatphilosophers ave nothing eft o do but found t, havefound theworld world s theyhave onversationbout boutthe engage n a personal onversation each as a separate ndividual. utting own Rorty's ssays, cany away Rorty'sssays, NorthwesternnivertheHumanities t NorthwesternniverО STEPHEN TOULMIN is Avalon rofessorn theHumanities with e studied studiedwith A nitial udwigWittgenstein udwig Wittgensteint Cambridge nd raining, sity. physicist y has writtenxtensivelyn ethics, hephilosophyf cience, nd thehistoryf deas. He is AlbertJonsen, f the new book The Abuse of Causistry University f ithAlbert co-author, ith California ress).

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THE AMERICANSCHOLAR

the mageof group f x-soldiers isabled n the ntellectual ars,who are sharingmemories ver a glass of wine wine of "old, forgotten,ar aroff off things, nd battles ongago." So philosophy's genda is as problematics ever. ever.What What an we do? Mustwe Must we agreeto regard ll philosophicalwritings writingss "autobiography"? Or, fnot, an we piece togethern alternativegendafromhewreckage left your ourparents' parents' nd ndgrandparents' grandparents'emolition emolition ork? shalltry, shalltry,n n this essay,to give at least a partial nswer o that uestion. This problemdoes not respondwell to head-on attack, o let me itfrom ehind, y ooking tthehistorical sneakup on itfrom thehistoricalontext. ontext. ere the currentritique ivesus a lotof lotof lues. For a start,hephilosophywhose radilegitimacyhecritics hallenge s always heseventeenth-century tionfounded tion foundedprimarily but not entirely) pon René Descartes: what primarilybut English nd American hilosophy epartments, ith nconscious rony, usually all "modern" hilosophy. hough houghWittgenstein's Wittgenstein'shilosophical hilosophical Investigationstarts rom passage n Augustine nd criticizes ositions from lato'sTheaetetus lato's Theaetetus nd Cratylus, is arguments like Dewey's and argumentslike Heidegger's)are directed t one particular particulartyle tyleof philosophizing a "theory-centered"tyle, "theory-centered" tyle, which poses philosophical problems,and frames olutionstyle o them, n charms timeless nd universal erms.ofrom rom1650, 1650, this charmswere were to those linkedto linked whose particulartyle particular Dewey's "quest for ertainty") as taken s defininghevery genda ofphilosophy. we need to ook ookback backfurther furthern time nd Yet,ust Yet, ustbecause of hisfact,we ask, "How fardid, or could, could,any any one style xhaust he whole scope of thisdefinition thatthis definitionff the philosophy?"To the contrary, will argue that thathad had been subject sets on the sidelines a good halfof the topics that discussed,as philosophy, hroughout hroughoutntiquity ntiquity nd the Middle Ages: from ristotle's icomachean thics, ofCicero's Cicero'sDe De Officiis,nd thics,by bywayof leftthisneneright p to thé Renaissance.The current ritiqueshave leftthis halfof ofthe thephilosophical ield what shallhere shall herecall "practical glectedhalf s thoseneglected opics philosophy" quiteuntouched. nd, ndeed, t sthose that re showing resh ignsof ife oday, t thevery ime imewhen whenthe themore more familiar,theory-centered" familiar, theory-centered"alf fthe thesubject subject s languishing. I What ssues, ssues,then, then,did seventeenth-century hilosophers et aside? hilosophers In four foursets sets of topics and spheres of thought, hey were especially uninterested:he uninterested: he"oral,"the"particular,"he"local," and andthe the "timely." These topics re connected, ut utwe we can usefullyook at at them n turn. To begin with he "oral": E Ever ver since Descartes, ll questions bout the soundness or validity f argumentsre understood s referringo soundnessor 338

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THE RECOVERY OF PRACTICALPHILOSOPHY

their ndtheir nd enseof chains fwritten fwrittenropositions," "arguments"n the enseof elationsmong hepropositions. soundnessss seen odepend nformal soundness formalelations The question,Who ddressed his rgumento whom,n what orum, ddressedhis atter.ss for and usingwhat xamples?"s no longer philosophical atter. hemerits merits f rgumentso more est n £uch uman acts han Plato, he those fa geometrical geometricalroof roof est n theaccompanyingiagram,ven whendrawn when drawn y a master raftsman.o "modern" hilosophygnores ealing argumentation among articulareople, among articulareople, n specificituations,ealing with oncreteases,with ifferent hingst stake in favor f proofs" nd udged s written capturedn writing,nd Ashistory,his his evelopmentxplains xplains hat appened ext. latonists heworse worse rgumenteem hebetter"; ut opposed hetorics "makinghe Aristotlead Aristotle adrejectedhis ibel, eeing the onditionsn, nd heways ould inwhich in which rgumentsarry arryonviction"s an ssue hat hilosophersould the ate sixteenthentury,hey tothe addresswith lear onsciences. p to hey irrational.he discussed hat ssue without ny sense that t was irrational.he seventeenthentury ndidthatgood work, einstatinglato's ibel the word hetoricoo successfullyhat he colloquialuse of theword against hetoric hemerits meritsff onsciasbeendeprecatoryver ince, rhetoricas rhetoric ince,gnoring gnoringhe entious rofessional ndhinting nd hintingt tpersuasive persuasivericks ricksor or till f hetoric tudentsf erioustudents erious ndishonest dishonestral ral rgumentation, ebate. o this ay, use rom he he erms erms notnecessarilynsulting.rom hathe feel ound o xplain hat Out. asOut. 1630s n, n short,ormal ogicwas n, Rhetoric as cite the French As to the second ssue,the "particular," shall citethe handled cholarshandled and Renaissance cholars Medievaland mathematicianascal. Medieval ommon those n Anglo-American ikethose methodsike moral ssuesby case methods thics. The Good," ristotle'sthics. Once again, heywerefollowing ristotle's law.Once law. matterrr Aristotleaid, has no universal orm, egardlessfsubjectmatter detailed ircumstancesf hedetailed situation:oundmoral oundmoraludgment espectshe udgmentespects hepracticefCatholic ourishedhe ases."That nsight ourished specific inds f ases."That andAnglicanasuists p tothe eventeenthentury; ut, n the1640s, entury;ut, defenseffAntoine Pascalpublished series f nonymousamphletsndefense wasaccused howas accusedbytheJesuitsfheresyn the cclesiastical Arnaud, ho court tParis. tParis. ascal's arget as asthe themethods methodsffmoral moralnalysis nalysis sed sedby by ofconscience" conscience"casus consciencasesof concretecases theJesuits,ased on concrete with uchferocious uch ferocious hemwith tiae),and his Provincial etters idiculed hem hathe he brought he whole enterprisef "case ethics" or sarcasm hat "casuistry")nto asting iscredit. thics urnedthics latonists,hilosophers hilosophersurned Starting ith heCambridge latonists, heconcrete concrete roblemsfmoral ractice. into bstractheory,gnoring gnoringhe Mind nd The modern hilosophersssumed hatGod and Freedom,Mind and Justice,re governed y timeless, niversalprinoodand Matter, ood nparticularases, r ypes f ocusedn ho ocused ritersho ciples," ndregarded riters 339

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THE AMERICANSCHOLAR AMERICAN SCHOLAR

cases limited yspecific onditions,s either nphilosophical rdishonest. So, seventeenth-centuryhilosophy hilosophy gain limited ts own scope, heexamination examinationff"particular ractical ases" by excluding he bydefinition. definition. In a phrase,General Principleswere In, Particular ases were Out. Likewise for he third ssue, the "local." I use thisword this wordlocal local as Clifford eertzdoes eertz does in his book Local Knowledge. Knowledge.Early Early in the Discourse courseon on Method, Method,Descartes Descartesreports reports vercomingmethods earlyfascination early fascination withhistory nd ethnography, heregeometrical misethods re of ittle it broadens he mind, power:"History power: ravel," e says, itbroadens "History s like foreign foreignravel," but tdoes tdoes notdeepen it." Ethnographersollect ollectfacts facts bout ll the ocal hatGeertz Geertz xamines, ut utthe thetask task fphilosophys to bring jurisdictionshat to the surface he general fields.For For generalprinciples principlesholding holding n any and all fields. notcome Descartes, uriositys a human rait, ut understandingoes notcome from ccumulatingheexperience fparticularndividuals nd specific cases. Reason alwaysseeks for bstract, eneral deas and principles o connectparticulars particularsogether. ogether. Plato saw malfunctioningities as having pecific athologies, ike ndhistorians historians ere erefree free o study hem, f Tolstoy's unhappy amilies," nd thatwas that was their nclination. he philosopher's askwas, rather,o study families nd ities and and to find f "happy" health healthbehind behind "healthy" all local idiosyncrasies. or eneralprinciples eneral principles uman political Aristotle, affairs ere open to no such generalization,o the diversityfpolitical affairs as legitimate rist or hephilosophicalmill, itremained ight mill, s itremained up to the sixteenth entury. y dismissing dismissinghistory history nd ethnography, modernphilosophy hus husexcluded excludedaa whole realmof realmof previously ecognized issues. Fromthen Fromthenon, Abstract xiomswere xiomswere In, Concrete ConcreteDiverDiversitywas Out. hefourth fourthssue, the "timely."Descartes Descartesand and his successors Finally, he do not notdiscuss discuss ssues ssuesthat thatnvolve nvolvegivenmoments momentsn n time:now,not ater, yesterday, ot today.Earlieron, concrete ssues of legal and medical which"time "time s of ofthe the essence") had an equal billingwith practice in which abstract, heoretical ssues; practical ssues were all decided as the occasion required pros to kairon, n Aristotle's hrase).A navigator's decisionto decision tochange changecourse courseten tendegrees degreesto tostarboard, starboard,ay, ay, s as "rational" as n when t s put nto anythingn mathematics; mathematics;et et tsrationalityests nwhen effectss much s itdoes effect itdoes on anyformal omputationsnvolved. For sixteenth-century cholars, aw was the model "rational ntercholars, universalnatural naturalphilosophy eemed prise," and the possibility f a universal heshoe shoe is on the other oot. hilosophy problematic. century ater, he centuryater, focuses n the permanent nderlyingtructure tructureffNature: he hetransient transient affairsffhumanbeingstake econdplace. As affairs Asaa result,ssues ssuesof ofpractical relevanceand relevance and timeliness re sidelined as not being beingproperly properly philoAfterhe he 1630s, aw and medicineplay sophical" at all. After playonly onlymarginal marginal

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PRACTICAL HILOSOPHY THE RECOVERY F PRACTICALHILOSOPHY

parts n the debate; philosophers ocus heir ttention,ather, n timeat utat timerather rather han nother, ut less principles olding oldinggood, good,not t one time Permanents In, theTransitorys all times.From times.From his imeon, then, hePermanents on,then, Out. These four changes of mind from ral to written, articular o universal,ocal to general, imely o timeless were distinct. ut when seen into context,hey context, have severalthings several things n common:that pecifically,hey pecifically, hey ofpractical whole hewhole he choose s, the ssues philosophy practicalphilosophy ignoreheyhave arisingout of the clinical aspects of medicine, the proceduresand nd the orce fpersonal rgumentation,nd rhetoricalorce therhetorical practices f aw, the hecasuists. casuists. o itwas no accident hat iagnostics nd moralmethods moral methods f he sidelined weresidelined due process, ase ethics nd rhetoric, rhetoric,opics opics nd poetics,were and discreditedat discreditedat the same time. Rational udgmentsof practical not abstract, articular ot oncretenot adequacy are timelynot timeless, oncrete have roots n the whohave universal,ocal notgeneral.They They concern eople who new philosonew practical nd pastoral rts, nd the seventeenth-century hey were not practical-minded.hey phers" were theory-centered,ot practical-minded. ofcases or specific n procedures or andling imited lasses ofcases interestedn interested nstead on abstract, imeless concentratednstead they concentrated problems;they types of problems; methods fderiving eneral olutions o universal roblems. II changeso drasticallyt ust this ime? gendachange Whydid philosophy's philosophy'sgenda How can we explainthisturning way, fter 630,from he oral, ocal, turningway, thispreoccupation ndthis transient,articular transient, spectsof anguage nd life, nd articularspects writtenrguments, withwritten with eneral deas, and abstract rinciples? rguments,eneral rise of a lay culture n Europe. herise Evidently, hischangefollowed he medievalreligious eachinghad been oral preachvehicle ofmedieval The mainvehicleof n rhetoric. eformationcholars ead interestn ing,whichsupported n interest or hemselves nd became interested commentariesor the Scripturesnd commentaries in criticizing rittenrguments. s aymen, oo, heywere ess involved than heir cclesiastical orerunners.houghdiscussing in pastoral are arethan houghdiscussing ethical heory,hey heory, heywere ctively esponsible or he ure ureof of ouls. n hewerenot newnot these respects, philosopherswere the first ntelligentsian Western istory. of enturiesof But somethingmore s needed to explain why,after enturies explainwhy, to 1660 saw not ust a 1620to Aristotelian ractical hilosophy, he years 1620 n universal, bstract heory ut outright nterestn renewed nterest ejection f outrightejection for his omething lookfor houldwe we look Where hould traditional ractical oncerns.Where o takeaa page from timefor ntellectual istorians otake more? believe it s timefor historiansffearlymodern ook.All historians social historians' ook.All theeconomic nd socialhistorians' as liberal muchas Europe (high Tories such as Hugh Trevor-Roper,s much

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THE AMERICANSCHOLAR

Marxistsuch s Eric Hobsbawm) gree Marxistsuch bynowthat heyears 610-1650 greeby were a timeof soc social ial disorder nd economic cross Europe, so economicretreat retreatcross much o that hey ometimes all theearly eventeenthentury period ofgeneral risis. The origin fmodern cienceand philosophy,s I myself as taught hisgave to think, reated hem s by-productsfmercantile rosperity;his scholarsnew scholars new comfortnd comfortnd leisure to ree f leisureto bstract distractions. he picture fpursue crisismakes makes peculations that ccount worldlydistractions. worldly generalcrisis general the reverse.Early seventeenthnearerthe implausible, nd the truth s nearer century urope was far rom eing eisurely nd comfortable;rom 620 on,people on, people were ready o cut your hroat r burnyourhouse down ust because theydislikedyour pinions, s in inthe the Lebanon oftoday. o the real question is, Why, given such an uncomfortableituation, id philosophers ind "theory-centered"tyle tyle fphilosophizingo powerfully ppealing? To answer hat uestion, ermitme to takeas takeas my extJohnDonne's heWorld."Donne Donne wrote hispoem n 1611, longpoem, long poem, AnAnatomyf heWorld." had been the justafter he ssassination fKing KingHenry Henry V ofFrance,whohadbeen main agent of religious olerance n WesternEurope. (We know that Donne understood he significancefthis vent ventfrom from hings e said in 1611 nwho another oem, gnatiusHis gnatius Conclave.)With With hesensitivity he sensitivityf f writer thefeel feel ofHis his Conclave.) voices a conservative picksup picks time,Donne up the heworld s getting ut utof ofhand hand n a dozen differentays.His regret hat heworld concern s not merelythe warfare etween Protestant nd Catholic Council ofTrent, hough his s threatening zealots, specially fter heCouncilof to become unmanageable. t is not merely he decay of old political with hegrowth f rade nd cities, nd therise therise loyalties nd allegiances,with ofa class ofpeople outside hetraditional he traditionalocial ocialnetwork networkthe so-called "masterlessmen"), men"),though his,too, too, s aggravatinghe current lienthough his, ation.Nor ation. Nor s iitt ust thegeneralnarcissism narcissismffhis time, hough onne can "extremendividualism" ndividualism"s vocally s Robert ellah today.Nor Nor deplore"extreme is it, radical doubtsthatCopernicus nd the "new philosoit,even, even, the radicaldoubts bouttraditional traditionaldeas deas in astronomynd physics, phers"are spreading bout n proviconfidencen though heir kepticisms corroding he generalconfidence denceandhuman and human eason.What What hines hrough ohn onne's onne'spoem poem s his o the fact hat ll these re t once. response things happening Donne movesfrom movesfrom ivilwar ivil warto physics, rom olitics o psychology, withinust a few ines, n waysthat lmostdefy unctuation: AndnewPhilosophyalls ll Andnew indoubt, llin TheElement ffire firess quite quiteput put ut; The Sun s lost, ndth'earth,ndno ndnoman'swit Canwelldirect welldirect im imwhere where o ooke ort. .. 'Tis all inpeeces, ll cohaeranceone;

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THE RECOVERY OF PRACTICAL PRACTICALPHILOSOPHY PHILOSOPHY

All ust upply,nd nd llRelation: llRelation: Prince,ubject, Prince, ather,onne, onne,re hings ubject,ather, hingsorgot, orgot, For very an lone hinkese hinkesehath ot To be a Phoenix, nd hathen hathenan anbee bee None fthatinde,fwhich e s,but ee. ftheearly eventeenthentury as not Evidently,hegeneral risis fthe onlyaa social and only economic ne, but quite as much muchreligious religious nd nd thismakes this makes he cosmological;nd change n the genda fphilosophymore ntelligible. To people caught p in a far-reaching, ntellectual horoughgoing hemodest modestndundogmaticuggestions crisis,he uggestionsf practical practicalhilosophy" hilosophy" utbeside besidethe thepoint: iddling hile hileRome Romeburned. burned. looked, otuntrue,ut Themore rgentaskwas wasto tofind find newfoundation newfoundationor ll that ad, fter ndeven evenmore more orevitalizeosmology, all,beensound n earlierdeas, nd othof these by developing new,more ational heory f nature. othof theoreticalrogramsthe"foundationalist" heory f knowledgehat own imes,ndthe ystemfphysicalosmologyhat ourown collapsed n our IsaacNewton Isaac rom enéDescartes, hichmade he tarting Newtonnherited nheritedrom formulatedn universal, wereformulated universal,imeless, imeless, pointfor modern" hysics were mathematical ermsuite erms o theconcerns the concernsf fpractical hilosof he newphilosophy orll he foreigno rchitects henew ll thatuiteforeign ared, ut, or iven phers. of"practical hilosophy" their wnexciting ew program,hewhole hewholeof could ake back eat. Ill owdoes does It s now ime oput orthhe hemore more onstructive uestions. ow uestions. nto our lives today?And how does it practical hilosophy nter ntoour an blunt he hefutureff he ubject hat anblunt contributeo an agenda or hefuture etme forceff urrentritiques?negood uestion eservesnother,o etme force for hilosophical avecalled calledfor ask n return: return:ince ince1945,what roblems ave reflectionn reflection n the deepest evel,with ny of the same urgency hat cosmologicalheory cosmological answer heory atters ad for eople not the ooverstate seventeenth seventeenthentury? hepoint, entury?he matters matters he s, urely, fpractice: ssueshave mposed inceWorldWar I, three ets f ssueshave of ife nddeath. inceWorld medical echnology, n all reflectivehinkersnuclear hinkersnuclearwar,medical themselvesn themselves of these three ssues can be fully noneof thesethree and the environmentand and none the boutthe addressedwithout ringingack to the surface uestions bout ifeand aboutour aboutour responsibilitiesot ust to significancef human ifeand humanityut lso toNature. to authentically riseto how fardo fardo thesepractical roblems iverise Yethow Yet whodiscuss discuss hemmost ffectively uestions? he peoplewho philosophicaluestions? 343

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THE AMERICANSCHOLAR

four rfive rfive hat re-Cartesian hinkerssedfour hinkerssed today ediscoverrgumentshat centuriesgo. n analyzinghemoralityfnuclear arfare,or or xample, MichaelWalzer Michael boutthe the criteria or Walzerrevives revives medieval rgumentbout War ebate s,of ourse, ne tellingjust" romunjust" ars. heJustWar centrallement central nthe ase-ethicsraditionhat ascaldisowned;nd lementn ndwe we canscarcely ope otalk ense bout he ubjectfwe totally totallyeject eject hat tradition. In discussing discussinghe herole rolewefconfront echnology nprolonging hebiological he biologicalife ife ofdying ssues bout herelations herelationsetween etween atients,gain,we atients,gain, thepersonalitynd ndthe thebody hat evive he argelymoribundroblems ofMind nd Body.Far from eing eingpurely purely heoreticaluestions uestions bout howwe how we can distinguishsychologicalxplanations xplanationsrom hysiological ssuesnowbecome become ntensely owwe are ones, he ssuesnow nes, bout owwe ntenselyractical racticalnes, totreat eople t the rucialmomentsf momentsf heir heirives. ives.Even Evenbeforehese before hese new issues becameso urgent,t was arguable hat he Mind/Body hemiddle fmost fmost niversityepartmentsf problem utright own hemiddle ith he ddition fthis fthisnew,moral omponent,he he ssue psychiatry:ith becomes bove ll a practicalne. Asfor As for cologynd he nvironment, he ssentialhingonote notess that the ssue ssueraises raises otustutilitarianuestions,ut osmologicalnes nes oo. Thismay ot otbe be obvious, ecause ecausewe we tend ooverlook overlookhe he riginal riginaloal oal of osmologynd quate twith part f heoreticalhysics.et, hysics. et,n nboth Greek ntiquitynd eventeenth-century rderffNatureor urope, he rder ith he ixedtructure dentifiedith ixedtructuref heheavens, kosmos) asnaturallydentified whichwasa stable ackground,r tage etting,or he hangingrama of ife. Leibniz'sfiercestbjection o Newton's ccount f thesolar the solar thatttgivesno nomathematical mathematicaluaranteehat he lanets annot systems that hewhole whole ystem )ow, get ffrack,nd o disrupthe ) ow, nthe ate wentieth ur deas bout he rder fNature Naturere requitedifferent.orus, century,ur Naturess not undamentally Nature itwasfor for heGreeks heGreeksnd ndNewton. Newton. table,s itwas Farfrom Far fromeing n unchangingausalbackdroporationalumanction, Nature owhas owhas ts wn volutionaryistory;ndhuman ndhuman istorys fully intelligiblenly intelligible nlywhen ead n this arger ontext. On one evel, ur ntimateracticalives ives renow ouched ywhat o nCentral happened On a more morentellectual ntellectual greenmonkeys urbasic basic deasabout deas fricawenty frica about wentyr ocial ocialrelations r hirty hirtyears relationsnd ears go. nd evel, ur evel, re also in need ofrethinking; nstead f seeing politicalnstitutionsre thesolar solar ystem, ith lasses, society s a fixed order"modeled n the genders,ndoccupations rbits, e are earning occupationseeping eepingo heir roper roperrbits, tosee to see those hangingelations elationsnd nd nstitutions s so manymore r ess "adaptive"ways fmeeting meetinghanging hanging uman roblems.n this ense, ivesand and thoughtsre no longer onfined ithin he hefixed fixed too,our ives Newtonian orld; nd, n more espectshan re s yet ecognized,ur cosmologyodays a historicallyhangingne. 344

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THE RECOVERY F PRACTICAL PRACTICALHILOSOPHY HILOSOPHY

IV Nowadays, hen, hilosophersre increasinglyrawn ntopublic Nowadays,hen, debates bout nvironmental medical thics,udicial olicy,medical udicial ractice,r nuclear olitics. ome omeof of hem ontributeothese iscussions appily; othersear others ear hat ngagingn applied hilosophy heir alents hilosophyrostitutes rostitutesheiralents anddistracts and distractshem romheir romheir roperoncern ith uantification heory, illocutionaryorce, orce,ossible ossibleworlds, worlds,rr henature henature fErlebnis. fErlebnis. or hese reno onger purists,have special specialmessage. message. hesepracticalebates reno "appliedphilosophy": "applied philosophy":hey hey re philosophytself. o speakmore retoquote cisely, hey re legitimateeirs to quoteWittgenstein Wittgensteingain) gain)of the theoreticalnterprise nterprisehat ormerlyalled tself philosophy." philosophy."y ypurothdemolish demolish he barriers suingthese ssues,we as philosophersoth between racticalnd ndtheoretical theoreticalhilosophy reenterhevery ore hilosophyndreenterhe of echnical hilosophyrom productiveew ewdirection. direction. To illustratehis oint,et etme metake take linicalmedicines medicines the ype ase of practical todo two hings. nduse tto dotwo etmebriefly irst,etme practicalnterprise nterprisenduse hings.irst, connecthe connect he heoreticalroblemfgeneral imeless niversaishat niversaishatwas the tarting tartingoint oint f eventeenth-century hilosophyack o the ocal, oncretessues ssues hat setaside. willargue hat othkinds hattt setaside. othkinds f timely,oncrete issues re ruly rulyhilosophical. hilosophical. econdly, econdly,will willuse usethisbout xampleo xample omake some pecific bout articularity, xperience, hilosophical hilosophicaloints oints andabout ationality. ofclinical To beginwith heparticular,e may ontrast ontrasthe heaims aimsof hinkffmedical ractice medicinend medicine ndbiomedicai biomedicaicience. cience. eople ften ftenhink as "applied cience," hus oncealingheparticularity fpatientsnd theirmedical onditions. patientmay may e studied ither y clinician or by a scientist ho s researchingis or hercurrentisease.The isease. The scientist'snterest nterests in any eatureshe hepatientmay anygeneral general eatures may harewith others ufferingrom he samedisease. same disease.The The clinician's nterestss in clinician'snterest whateveran whatever anthrow throwight nthis atient,nthat ed,here ndnow. ndnow.The The clinician's nowledgef hepatient ill illbe be "informedy"biomedicai science; ut t s not, n tsdetails,entailed y" ny iomedicaiheory andtypically hat cientistsanyet ccount or. typicallyoes oesbeyond beyond verythinghat Thepatient The patientss notmerely notmerelyn n "individual" hohappens hohappens o"instantiate" a "universalaw." "universalaw."His clinical tates tate s local, imely,ndparticular,nd nd l universalheories universal heoriestt best hrownly artialight artialight n t. f Clinical nowledgehus iffersruciallyromny nyunderstanding understanding scientificheory.n the world fpractical theworld xperience, e havegreater practicalxperience, confidencen ourknowledgef pecificoncreteactshan acts hanwe have n thegeneral or hose acts.We know hat hat eopleoffer offeror generalxplanations xplanationshat chickenss goodto eat better hanwe chicken hanwe understand hy t s (Aristotle's own xample);nd ndwe we know hat spirin elpsheadaches etterhan etterhanwe 345

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THE AMERICANSCHOLAR

understandhy tdoes.Knowledgef linical articularsoesnot est ndividualinstances" instances"ff stablishedlaws," ince t only ntheir eing ndividual utrunshe hescopeof ofthose those aws.Only n strictly athematical always utruns fields avewe avewemore onfidencen theoreticalnderstanding fgeneral nderstanding n medicine principleshanna practical practicalnowledge nowledgefparticularases. nmedicine ndpractical renot not asily eparated. (tobe sure) heoreticalnd practicalnowledge nowledgere Still, nybelief hat etailed linical nowledges a simple pplication of ciencemisses cience misses heertain entraloints entral oints that nowledge nowledgef fparticular ases is prior ndmore more fgeneral cientific o, nd han,ny han, prioro, ny nderstanding ndtheories. theories. conceptsnd To turnnext turnnext o experience,he terms clinical xperience" nd thisword xperiencen an everydayollo"practicalxperience" "practical xperience" se thisword sense.For For nstance, ontaigne's ellsus us quial sense. ontaigne'sssay ssay Of Experience" ells about he hingshat appened ohim ndwhat ind fperson e has become:howhe howhe tends otalk talkwith with ismouth ismouth ull, ell ff ishorse ishorse nd sufferedconcussion,nd ndfinds finds is aging odyhelping makehim odyhelping o makehim depressed. Such ways of discussing xperiencemay mayappear appearphilosophically philosophically trivial, ut they re central o the workingf practical practicalnterprises: nterprises: clinical bservationn medicine, irect estimonyn law, venreports about n experimentalrocedures experimental o ccount rocedures or sense xperience" science.By science. Byscontrast, contrast,sk a basisof basisofknowledge, sk modern philosophers andthe and therich rich nd ndconcrete concretehronicle hronicleffeveryday atonce once everydayxperience xperiences at nd ensations. replaced y thin,bstractortegef deas, mpressions, What rewe rewetomake tomake f his act? hilosophynstructors ftenind ften indtthard to getstudents studentsven ven to see the"sense the"sensedata" data"that that re supposedlyhe tuffff hevisual visualworld: world:twas twasequally ard or . B. Tichener, primarytuff fresh romWilhelmWundťs aboratory, o gethis hisstudents studentsooperceive theyellow atches hatwere, n his theory, mind theory,resent resentn anyone'smind whoheard who heard nd understood understoodhe heword wordyellow. et everyday everydayractical ractical esidethe eside the "sense experience experiences" f perceptual perceptualheory, heory,n sensedata" data" urely reamed pafter afterhe he short,nd sense urelyppear ppear obe fictions,reamed event, omakegood hemissinginks etween pistemologicalheory andpracticalife. ife.After Afterisiting friendecoveringromurgery,saiah Berlinwas Berlin washeard heard odeclare, o declare, He's a remarkhows mere ense-datum fhisformer his self "The "The willful hisremark howsus us how farformer ncongruityfhis expen the romll llthese these heoreticalictions. ictions. rience," practicalense, practical ense, iffersrom linicaldiagnosis Finally, s for ogic and rationality,linical diagnosishelps helps us dismantlehe dismantle hebarriers barriersetween etween logic" nd"rhetoric,"argument" nd argument"nd arlier contrastedhe ormal alidityf heoretical "argumentation." argumentsith he ubstantiveoundness fpractical practicalrgumentation. rgumentation. linical iagnoses an annever never ave henecessityfgeometriEvidently,linical cal proof; n thedoctor's doctor'sccumulated ccumulatedxperience,long proof;hey hey est nthe longwith 346

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THE RECOVERY F PRACTICAL HILOSOPHY

tthe ime f he iagnosis.o hat re vailable tthe any igns nd ymptomshat they realways pentorevisionrrebuttal,s the llness nfolds,nd on, they upporttbest strong goon, strongresumption: resumption:romwhat nehastogo bestdiagnosisndtreatmentre,presumably, thebest the re,presumably,o and so. .. That s all thatwe askof venthe venthebest bestdiagnosticians;nd t s the n a legal rgument,ven ven same nother ields fpractical practicalrgument rgumentoo. na thebest the best vidence oesnot oesnot ntail ny onclusion:t upports udgment n the n fact e rebutted.nferencesithin nferences ithin annotn annot that, a theoryursue ircumstances, hedetailed he detailed mplicationsf deas; deas;practical practicalnferences So practical owto to handle articularases. ases.So use those deas to suggest ow notweaker han heoreticalnferences;hey renot weakerhan hey iffernly n judgmentsre ssues nd nreachingutbeyondbstractonceptualssues being ubstantivend tonovel, oncrete oncreteituations. ituations.imely, rgumentsependnot imely,ubstantiverguments n the on entailmentsut entailmentsut on generalizationshat re trustworthy whole kaťholou even hough ebuttablen exceptionalases. usedto toexplain Thispoint olds ven nphysics, here heoriesre heoriesreused henomena. ewtonwent o great engthsn Principia o particularhenomena. particular satellitemoving show hat, n his definitions,satellite moving reely ear massive nfluencef n nverse quare ttractiveorce irected body, nder he nfluencef must ave n elliptical rparabolic towardhat ody,must rack;ndseveral parabolicrack; such atellites oing ound he amemassive amemassive odymust o so at ust he relativepeeds relative peeds enus, hat epler adfound ad foundn thevisible the visiblehat lanets forroved xamthismean hatNewton Newton Does nthis mean nd Mars.Does Mars. Mercury,enus, ple, ple,Mercury, shown adshown hat heplanets ecessarily ove s Kepler ad mathematically hat ehad;but twas n ssumedhat Newton'sdmirers dmirersssumed move?Newton's theynfactmove? reason opresumehat he isible lanets re illusion. isproof ives s reasono proofives nversequare orces; et, racticallypeaking, satellites oving nder ndernverse henext ifty that resumptionas open ochallenge or t east henext iftyears, ears, while he heory as accumulatingther upport. thus s rethus factualphysical henomenare Scientificnterpretations rebuttalas local, local,timely, timely,nd particularas are open to revision r rebuttalas clinical eadings fpatientsndtheirllnesses. he moment e leave the realmof realmof theory or hat f practical xperience,he rebuttable rgumenteplace eplacethe formal ecessity f practicalrgument presumptionsf practical theoreticalnference.onsider,or xample,heproblemf onceptual change,o change, owhich houghtas hought asbeen beengiven givenonescientific verscientific he ast hirty hirtyears. ears. or to ustify What easons o much we need heory iving p one ustifyiving confirnductiveogicians aveoffereduasi-mathematical another?nductive another? mation heories" o answer his question; question;finding findinghese algorithms et hifts."et homas uhn aveushis heoryf paradigmhifts." unsatisfactory, hangemisses he point. he practical surely theory fconceptual conceptualhange fa decisionwhether decision whetheroo modifyn old theory r abandon t in favor fa one is itself localand timelyhoice bout particular radically ewoneis callsfor for he ame ppraisals any ther racticalecision. situationnd ndcalls 347

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Given hewhole hewhole ituationnwhichwe currentlyind urselves,s it bestto hangon to theolder heory,r give t up? Some conceptual maypresumably changemay change presumablye ustified,n practice,y all thatwe know about he cientificituation ituationn question; ut he heoreticalream ream hat one and only ne change s "necessarilyorrect" orrect"emains emainshe hedream dreamtt alwayswas. To thisday, hen, hepatternsfpracticaleasoningre rhetorical, notgeometrical. not geometrical. n thepremises ormal emonstrative ormal nd theconclusion theconclusion nference s possible nlyrefthe he f an concepts argument annever never e the ase. same; nd nclinical iagnoses,or xample,his an In such suchfields fields s medicine nd aw,we bring xperience fprevious casesto cases tobear bear n novel ituations,ndour ndour onclusions onclusionsold oldgood nly o the xtenthat xtenthatwhatwastrue f arlier ases s alsoapplicable ofuture situations.iven situations. iven his oint, ehave basis basisfor for econcilinghetoricith logic.The arguments ithin theory r conceptualystemmaybe deas to "demonstrative";ut the argumentshat pplytheoreticaldeas whicheek eek o riticize riticizehose hose heories,ook ook utside ituations,rwhich practicalituations, practical the heoriesnd heoriesndso become practical,"r"rhetorical,"rguments. rguments. V When was child nEngland, e earnedW.S. Gilbert'souplet o the ffect ffecthat hat hat'sorn ornnto nto heworld heworldlive live Everyittle oy rgirl hat's Is either eitherlittle littleiberal iberalrr lse littleonservative. little onservative. Wewere lsotaughtodivide uman eings nto wo lasses: hosewho Wewere ndthe the ther ay preferluetogreen,weets osavories,ats odogs, nd around. he blue, weet, at overs we were old also prefer lato; preferlato; thegreen, ristotle.ow ow amno amno onger lear green,avory, avory,og ogfanciersrefer ristotle. what o make f hese upposed orrelations, hough don't ule hem ut.A A fewyears ack, WilliamGass wrote wholly ut. ack,you recall,William youmay mayrecall, tastes mbracehelties perceptivessay, perceptive tastesmbrace ssay,On On Being BeingBlue; Blue;heese. and certainly yown ownAristotelian Aristotelian heltiesnd ndgreen Whats clear, Whats s that owever, fhistoricalendulumwings etweenwo wo philosophyisplays philosophy isplays series fhistorical endulumwings etween broad gendas. n oneagenda, he ask fphilosophys to aywhatever canbe can be said n anyfield f nquiryhat s entirely theother entirelyeneral; eneral; n theother whateveran anbe saidthat saidthatss as general s the agenda, he ask s tosaywhatever field ermits. ristoteliansill illnot not laimunilaimuniermits.eing eingpractical-minded, practical-minded, n advance fpractical versalityor heir iews nadvance practicalxperience; xperience;eing eingmore 348

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THE RECOVERY OF PRACTICALPHILOSOPHY

rewillingo peculatemore more reelynd nclined,latonistsre theoretically tohazard roader eneralizations. Understoodn theseterms,he seventeenth-century ransitiony whichmodern hilosophynd ndmodern moderncience ciencewere were aunchednvolved aunchednvolved oncernso oncernso a pendulum imited,ractical, ractical,ristotelian pendulumwing wing way romimited, a Platonist rogram ordeveloping eneral heories nd solutions. ndRortylaim hat h at he resentosition Conversely,henWittgenstein ofphilosophys "the End of heRoad" heRoad"for for he ubject, "theEnd ubject,hey hey verdramatize he ituation.ather, ituation.ather, e are nthe themiddle middle fyet fyet nother notherendulum endulum riented,heory-centered tyle fphiPlatonicallyriented, heory-centered swing ack, rom Platonically losophy oward here-acceptancefmorepractical, ristotelianoncerns. Sometime Some time go, wrote or erspectivesn Biology nd Medicine n that aper, heLife Life fEthics." fEthics."n How Medicine aved he paper alled HowMedicine for hilosophical evenfor outto to showhow showhow and why even setout set hilosophicalurposes, urposes,he ofthe ofethical iscussion as lately een moving utofthe primaryocusofethical heprimaryocus f hemind/body ndto tothe thebedside. bedside. imilarly,he studynd ractice;he rimaryocus odayies nthe ealm f sychiatricractice; problemoday problem n the rimindresponsibility ofproblemsbout ausality, ausality,ationality, ationality, nalcourts. become he ole avebecome To say his hisss not o uggesthat hese roblemsave ust o that nd f business handthem hand thempsychiatrists, ver o thespecialists awyers, ho udges, alone really hilosophers nderstandhem. whoaddress address he awyers,nd udgeswho sychiatrists, Quite hecontrary.sychiatrists, utof of heir espective ractices espectiveractices rising ut roblemsrising hilosophicalroblems general hilosophical ndthere nd theress importantork or hilosophers often o so ncompetently, todo in conjunctionith uch pecialists. n isolation,hegeneral heoakenn ay laim hat,f aken Wittgensteinay Wittgenstein vacuous.But, ecomevacuous. ssuesoftraditional of traditionalhilosophyuickly reticalssues retical But, hilosophyuickly ecome where omething omethingractical racticals trulyt stake, ll is changed. o quote n romnother notherffmy Wisdom,hiloeachers,ohn ohnWisdom, hilomyCambridge Cambridgeeachers, example rom sophical roblemsre ikethequestion,s a flyingoat shipor an notmatter matter hat ou doesnot ontexts,tdoes practicalontexts, airplane? aken ut f llpractical ays.)But fsomething ays.) "Have it your wnway "Wittgenstein "Wittgenstein reply."Have reply. ifthe the force f the question s, Ought he serious s really t stake if captain f aertificate, flyingoat flying oatto to have anssue airlinepilot's airline pilot's icense, master Most aw ntofocus. nto focus.Most the comes r both? mariner's the phonecall in boutthe students,ikewise, students, ikewise, now he trick uestion bout which ne udge sks nother,s a glove ompartment private ouse r a pleasure oat? hetrick hetrickss to pot he onstitutional oint bout earch warrant efore earching and seizure t issue the police need a warrantefore narcotics,ay, ay,but not before earching private ouse for llegal narcotics, f car? pleasure oat. o what bout heglove ompartment 349

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THE AMERICANSCHOLAR

VI The recoveryf practicalhilosophy,"s I have alled t,not nly rescues s fromhe fromhe nakednessnd nakednessndpoverty"hat instein omplained of nd Dewey Deweydiagnosed diagnosedn TheQuest orCertainty,talso givesus a way fdiggingurselvesut f he olipsismntowhich hilosophyas heconcepts fseventeenthhe plunged s a result f overgeneralizing century mechanics. ndBacon nd Bacon he sixteenth-century he rt f ndividual ndiv umanistsfor umanists idualelf-examination elf-examination forexample, example, Montaigne pioneered and autobiography,ut theydid so in no spirit f narcissism.hey viewed hemselvess "sample" umans umansnd ndhad hadno noproblembout ow differentuman eings nderstand nderstandne ne another. ifty ears ater, he prison oors adclosed, ndphilosophersereworkingnthe hadows and under he hreatf olipsism. his histhreat threat as still owerfult the endof end of he henineteenth nineteenthentury,hen rnstMach Machwrote wrote ie Analyse er hichwas a starting Empfindungen,hichwas startingoint oint or he work f Bertrand Russell ndmuch ubsequent ubsequentnalytical nalyticalhilosophy. hilosophy. It is from studentfMach's hat shall ake hematerial hematerialor or he codaof coda of his ssay.Robert Musilbegan s Mach'sAssistent,ut RobertMusil uthe he soon became wareof wareofthe thecurious curiousways n which hephilosophicalebate reflectedroader reflected roader ddities, otmerelyn the ocial ndcultural nd culturalife ife f Vienna, ut nall n all of hose ynastic ynastication-states ation-states ntowhich urope uropewas was nstead f remaining reorganizedn the ate seventeenthentury.nstead usilbecame became writernd writernd spent heyears philosopher,ccordingly, ccordingly,usil between heworld he worldwars warsproducing is very diosyncraticook, ook,Der Mann hne igenschaftenThe TheMan ManWithout Withoutualities a book bookwe we call a "novel"onlybecause becausethere there s nothinglse to call it. Many f ts re, n effect,essays" chaptersre, chapters essays" f latter-day latter-dayontaigne.) ontaigne.) WhatMusil aw, ndRortyails dequatelyorecognize,s that he endof end ofmodern modern hilosophyarries ith t, lso, critiquef he xtreme individualismhat nteredWesternhinkings part f he eventeenthMusil emarksnhow centuryntellectualgenda. genda. n a strikingassage,Musil far he nterprisesnwhich uman eings ngagetheir ngage their ebensformen) havenow have now aken ncommunal n communalivesof ivesof heir wn: In earlier imes ne couldbe could be an individualwith individualwith better onscience han ne can today. . . Today, Today,responsibility's responsibility'senter fgravityies not n the ndividual but in the relations etween things.Who Who has not noticedhow independent experienceshave made themselves f humans?They have gone on the stage, into books, into the reports f scientific scientificnstitutions nstitutionsnd nd expeditions, nto communities ased ased on religious rother eliefs,which which ultivate ultivateertain ertain inds f rather han s a kind of social experience others, experiment; nd insofar s not re renot n ound re experiences work, hey simply n theair. . . There merely has arisen world worldof of qualitieswithout manto them, f experienceswithout

350

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THE RECOVERY OF PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY

o

nd t almostooks s

n the deal

hem, case, anyone experience experiencehem, though, would o t nd he omforting people ongerxperiencenything xperiencenythingrivately ll, f nto f formulaeor formulae or ould issolve issolvento weight personal esponsibility system potential eanings.. . And ll atonce, nthemiddle f hese eflections,lrich lrichthe rotagonistf Musil's ook]hadsmilinglyoconfesso confessohimselfhat, espite ll this, e was afterll after ll a "character,"venwithout venwithoutaving ne. boutthe the There s nothingpecificallyutobiographical pecificallyutobiographicalr ndividual bout methods nd demandsof demandsof our collective ctivities.On On thecontrary, the contrary, e f Aristotle newas discussthem whatAristotle what can discuss them s present-day ounterparts present-dayounterparts fMolecularBiochemistrynd "special topics," ecognizinghat he rts fMolecular CriminalLaw and Drypoint Engraving re largerthan the personal DrypointEngraving artists ho andartists contributionsf ll those ndividual iochemists,udges, udges,and work.The The significance fpragmatismwhichRichard put thosearts o work. isback backon) is then wofold: butthen then urns is Rorty oucheshisforelocko,but first,he encouragementt gives us to study he practicalmethods the "topics," dialectics," nd"rhetorics"- f ll these ollective rts, n the context fthe ftheLebensformenhat mbody hem; nd, second which s the fact hat whatcrucially istinguishes ur positionfrom ristotle's thefact these Lebensformen,nd the forms f thought hat re "at home" in them, re not static, ermanent essences" that re capable of being known priori nd ndfor for ood,but ood, butchanging changing onstellationsr ave to beonstellations orms whose historically discovered, rypopulations, ooking nd volving historicallyvolving seeing, fter he event. of these collectiveartsof Only when we have finished xploring he collectivearts themdo do we reach reachaa point t which, enterprisesnd seek to go beyondthem perhaps, he move into autobiographyan no longerbe further ostwithMusil's protagonist lrich, ur personalities nd "charponed. As withMusil's rather utrather shownnotbyourparticipationn theseenterprises ut acters" re shownnot which we fashionprivate ives out of multiple in the ways in whichwe multiplepublic public roles. Whatwas What was it ike to nherit seat n theparliamentt Bordeaux, nly friend nd colleague die in his (and your) midclosestfriend to have yourclosest of emandsof thirties? ow can you reasonably eal with he conflictingemands youreasonably ifethat that uch an eventprovokes?Again,what s it to private nd public ife be a talented rganist rganistnd nd musical heorist ho s also called towork to work s that lifethat a medical missionaryn Africa?How do you piece together life alentswith ofyourmusical alentswith xerciseof off heproper xercise alancesoff reasonably alances respectforyourBeruf?These autobiographicalssues raise questions about which a Michel de Montaigne in one case) or an Albert Schweitzer in the other) an write as we say "philosophically." o include at one extreme utobiographthat xtent, hilosophymaywell includeat thatRorty alks bout. the kindthat ical reflectionsf reflectionsfthekind

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THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR AMERICANSCHOLAR

But none ofthis of thisrules rules out or discredits he morepublic,collective

hecurrent current ecovery fpractical hilosophymakes vailable agendathat he to us: all the way across acrossaa spectrum factivities, rom he problems f nuclearwar nuclear wardiscussedby a "new casuist," ofthe the geriatric ard casuist,"by way of byway and neonatal ntensive are unit, o the urisprudence fcapital capitalpunishpunishnd the ment, philosophy fquantummechanics. aking philosophy" in thispractical contributionoo the reflective esolution f sense, as a contribution practicalsense, thatface face us in enterprises ithhigh stakes even lifeand quandariesthat death Albert insteinwould insteinwould surely hink gain gainabout aboutthe"nakedness the "nakedness and poverty" fthe subject nd concedethat concede that t s time timefor for hilosophers to come out of their elf-imposedsolation nd reenter he collective worldof world ofpractical ife nd sharedhuman sharedhumanproblems.

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