Problem & Philosophy A Metaphilosophical Approach

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The present work is an attempt to evaluate the position of philosophy as an activity of intellectual enquiry in a rapidly changing world of fast-developing scientific knowledge. 'Problem', in its philosophical sense, has been set apart from 'question", and sought to be affirmed in the history of philosophy, as well as in the knowledge-situation. The acceptance of the concept of problem as central to philosophy leads to the recognition of the 'philosophical sentence' as a special kind of sentence indispensable for determining the position of philosophy. The normally accepted meanings of sentences of different kinds have been probed to see how far they are 'permanent', and the conventional views of 'proposition and 'value-judgement' have been reassessed to accommodate the 'philosophical sentence as 'sentence proper, bearing 'problematic meaning. Emphasis has been laid on the importance of 'mainstream philosophy characterized as science- concerned, and distinguished from shorestream philosophical activities indifferent to the post- Renaissanace 'Scientific Revolution' Philosophy aims to realize the ideal of 'total consistency', the highest of all values, and becomes of itself in that process of trying to be thoroughly consistent with the problematic position unique to itself. The long history of Western philosophy has been brought in in support of the pursuit of "total consistency' as the guiding philosophical ideal.

Philosophy is neither definable, nor even describable, but it is 'speakable". When philosophy is spoken of, it is actually self-spoken and thus self- losophized so as to become an exercise etaphilosophy".

The author, formerly a Lecturer in Philosophy at F.C. College Diamond Harbour, West Bengal, has brought out the present volume- his first published philosophical work, well after his retirement from active service. The inspiration was to arrange, in a systematic manner, his long-held views about issues arising mainly from the uniqueness of philosophy as a discipline of intellectual enquiry, and to place the same before the interested public so as to provoke criticism and discussion. The delay in publication, if it can be called delay at all, has been caused by his taking a rather extended time, with the intention to be thorough, in dealing with a subject matter unusual in its depth and dimension.

The present volume is a precursor to his next work on the nature of the moral problem and on closely related ethical issues, awaiting publication.

The process of discussing philosophy proper is the same as the one through which philosophy speaks of itself, ie, is self-spoken. Historians of philosophy construct such models of philosophic thought as are devised to represent problem conscious philosophizing as one or another finished product, rather than as a process. The historical approach showing the interconnections among such model products in terms of ideological or system related affinity helps philosophy take the shape of a subject, and an enormous one for that, with topic wise divisions and sub-divisions. But philosophy as the philosophizing process actually lived is very much of the nature of a pursuit that refuses to be tamed into the model of a system. Philosophy being essentially an activity carried on with the philosopher's personal commitment to the ideal of total consistency, does not actually make a 'subject' of itself, suitable for a grand introduction. Hence whether philosophy should or should not be treated as amenable to introduction is itself a problem of philosophic importance.

There can, however, be a 'preface' to the following discussion, instead of the problematic attempt at a full- fledged 'introduction'; and the service required of the preface may be like that of the hotel receptionist informing the intending customers what services they were to expect and at what prices, and what services were not available at all.