"What Is Philosophy?" The Status of World Philosophy in the Profession. From: Philosophy East and West | Date: January 1, 2001| Author: Solomon, Robert C. | COPYRIGHT 2001 University of Hawaii Press. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

The question "What is philosophy?" is both one of the most virtuously self-effacing and one of the most obnoxious that philosophers today tend to ask. It is virtuously self-effacing insofar as it questions, with some misgivings, its own behavior, the worth of the questions it asks, and the significance of the enterprise itself. It is obnoxious when it refuses to question its own behavior but instead takes that same behavior as the exclusive standard to delegitimize any other activi...