PHL 201 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Modern Philosophy

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHL 201
• Professor: David Checkland

Document Summary

Those who are new to philosophy often come to it with certain misconceptions. Misconceptions are also common because philosophers themselves cannot give straight and definite answers to questions about the nature of philosophy. However philosophy is to be defined, two ideas are widely agreed upon: the concerns, methods and styles of philosophers have changed considerably since the inception of philosophy roughly 2600 years ago, and they continue to change. At any one time, different schools of philosophy use different methods, write in different styles, read different authors, and focus on different issues. In all cases, the study of philosophy involves learning to philosophize and not merely learning about the philosophizing that has been done by others, just as learning to play a musical instrument requires practicing the instrument. Two approaches in describing philosophy: how philosophy differs from some other disciplines, define philosophy. Modern philosophy is only understood when it"s seen as descended from this earlier conception.