As the origin of the word might imply, pragmatist philosophy tends to emphasize the relationship of praxis to theory, experience over idealism, a posteriori truth over a priori. As a school, it is anti-hierarchical and anti-dogmatic, and places a high value on the relationships among things: multiple persons, an individual and his or her environment, theory and reality, thought and action. Pragmatist thought resists abstraction and seeks rather to delve into the actualities of a given situation and, following reflection, change it to a more desirable one. Whilst modern analytic philosophy models its form on physics, pragmatist philosophy takes its shape from biosciences, especially ecology and evolution. Pragmatism also does not fear to admit ethics into its theories, rejecting positivist neutrality. This shows particularly in its interdisciplinary approach to philosophy, making use of the social sciences but questioning their claim to neutrality.[1]
It Is Perspicuous is intended to be a blog about philosophising life. As a student of philosophy, I have over the years sought to understand my own experiences through philosophical concepts and to understand philosophical concepts by drawing on my own experiences. It is the intersection of philosophy with daily life that has always interested me the most. The world may be made of monads, but what does this mean? Can it explain why I lose my socks in the drier and misplace my pens? Philosophy is, to my mind, the involving and accommodating science that does not lay claim to facts (as the natural sciences do) but to truth and doubt. When it is practiced, and practiced well, philosophy reveals meaning and understanding and possibility. It is a force that opens up rooms in our house that we did not know were there.
It Is Perspicuous, then, is my way of remembering to look at life and to think about it. I miss the pub and coffee house discussions, I miss the presentations and conferences of my student days because I miss the opportunity to do philosophy in public. I want to carve out a corner for it and all are welcome.
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