Open Philosophy: accessbility short and sweet

"Why is philosophy no longer loved to-day? Why have her children, the sciences*, divided her inheritance, and turned her out of doors, like another Lear, with ingratitude unkinder than the winter's wind?"**

The second branch of Open Philosophy is accessibility as it pertains to comprehension, as opposed to publishing. All too often the meat and potatoes of philosophy is lost on the general public for any number of reasons. The most fixable of these is the use of language.

Some (if not most) philosophers are in the business of creating language. This can be appropriate, however, a lot can be lost in over complicated florid language. Let's start with a term like "qualia." Qualia can be a tough to define term, but its existence is necessary for a huge chunk of discussions in the philosophy of mind. The term qualia refers to the personal experience of any given moment.

Let's say I am looking at a red ball. While looking at the red ball I know what it is like for me, Tim, to experience looking at a red ball. In contrast, a digital camera could be "looking" at a red ball but it would not have the cognizance to say "I am a camera looking at a red ball." Experiencing what it is like to experience something is qualia. Thomas Nagel wrote a fantastic essay on qualia, even though the term was coined after his essay was published it is a good read.

Having to define a concept like qualia every time you are talking about qualia would be a trying task. I am not going to propose that philosophers stop inventing words. As new concepts arise so will new terms to describe those new concepts - so it goes in slang and science. However the muddying up of philosophical thought with unnecessary language is just unfortunate.

A lot of this boils down to the fact that philosophers are notoriously bad writers. This is not the only case, I would argue. With a tinge of condescension often amateur and tenured philosophers alike are guilty of over complicating concepts.

The crux of the issue for me is this: When writing philosophy you must use language as a tool of conveyance for your concept. In doing so you must use the most appropriate means possible. You would not use a Hummer to transport an apple, or a bike to transport a cheetah.

That is what the accessibility of open philosophy is. That is the goal for the website that this is a precursor to.

Next up, open money plausibility.






*All of the sciences as we know them: biology, mathematics, psychology, and so on, were all considered a branches of philosophy before they were accepted as academic fields of their own.
**Will Durant The Mansions of Philosophy 1929