By Damon Young
New Philosopher Magazine
Originally published December 18, 2013
“Philosophy,” wrote John Keats, “will clip an Angel’s wings. “This is the caricature: philosophers are brutal bastards, who cut beautiful things with logical clippers.
But philosophy is rarely malicious. Philosophy is often driven by something like love. From a comradely familiarity, to gentle romance, to manic lust, philosophers care about ideas. The ancient Greek word literally means this: “the love of wisdom”. It is a longing, not just for beautiful ideas, but for faithful ones: ideas that are true in some way.
This is why Alfred North White-head called philosophy the “critic of abstractions”: it seeks to test their fidelity.
The entire article is here.
