The making of mindsという特集。まず、ブラックバーン。ケンブリッジ大での先生はCasimir Lewy。彼の弟子はIan Hacking, Edward Craig, Crispin Wrightなど。
The Cambridge of my youth was certainly colourful, with larger-than-life figures like Richard Braithwaite and John Wisdom always likely to add to the sense of circus. The ghost of Wittgenstein was felt everywhere, although Casimir was unusual in having a healthy scepticism about him. So did CD Broad, a mischievous presence, long retired but often seen amiably pottering around Trinity College. p. 42
Braithwaiteって、ぜんぜん知らないのだが、彼の影響でブラックバーンは蓋然性と倫理に関する表出説を検討し始めたそうだ。CD Broadの影響が次の一文に表れている。
My general creed is that if something can be said at all it can be said clearly enough for anyone of good will and moderate education to understand it. p. 43
intelectual masturbation
Alain de Bottonのルサンチマンあふれる文章もおもしろいが、時間がないので最後のNigel Warburtonの一文を。彼はJ. Glover, P. Singer, A. Flewの本に影響を受けたと述べたあと、次のように書いている。
I remember a fellow student who had been discourged by his schoolteacher from studying philosophy at university on the grounds that it was a form of masturbation without ever achieving orgasm... Sadly much of the peer-reviewed "research" that gets published in philosophy journals today is a kind of intellectual masturbation. I don't see the value of footnotes to footnotes and Soduku-like (sic) problem-solving when philosophers could be engaging with ideas that matter, nor why this sort of activity is given such prominence in academia. p. 66
これもやっぱりアウトサイダーだから大声で言えるんだよな。王様は裸だ。哲学者は知的自慰をしている。『哲学のなぐさめ』ならぬ『哲学の自慰』か。
