Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T19:09:34.418Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Examined Life Re-examined

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 May 2010

Get access

Summary

In Part One of The Examined Life (Radford, 1989) I recalled certain episodes from my childhood and youth in which, as I came to realize later, I had been exercised by a philosophical problem. By so doing I hoped not only to convey to non-professionals what philosophy is—or is like—but to show them that they too were philosophers, i.e., had been exercised by philosophical questions. In Part Two I gave some examples of how such problems may be treated by a professional, in articles.

In one, for example, I tried to show that just as our being frightened by films and fictional characters in them is irrational, so is our being moved by and for fictional characters in films, plays, and novels. This tendency to irrationality is of course present in almost all of us, and is not only innocent but enhances our enjoyment of such works and the attention we pay them; so we should not regret it. But we should not—therefore, perhaps—deny that that is what it is. (None the less philosophers continue to do so.)

I did not essay a definition of philosophy or attempt to give any general account of the connected matter, namely what prompts it, relying on the examples to speak for themselves. But if I had to do so, I would say that they show that when we do philosophy we are engaged in reflective, critical thought.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×