Unsolved Problems in Philosophy
Did you know that Wikipedia has a “List of Unsolved Problems in Philosophy” page? It lists only 20 problems (philosophy’s doing better than I thought!) including: “the problem of the criterion,” “the mind-body problem,” “the hard problem of consciousness,” and “the problem of induction.” Ironically, mereology and universals are left off of the list. (Admittedly, it is pitched as a list of “some” of the major unsolved philosophical problems.)
Is this a Wikipedia page worth having? And if so, what should be added to it?
(via Dale Miller)
My nomination: “How to achieve work/life balance.”
What about “How to achieve [adequately paid] work?”
Also: “Where did I leave my keys?”
There’s also the problem of picturing philosophy as trying (and often failing) to answer a set of well-defined, well-understood, and well-motivated questions. But then that’s not really an unsolved problem of philosophy, in the sense in which the list would want it to be.
My nomination: “What belongs on a list of unsolved problems in philosophy?”
The adjunct problem.
So, the easy problem of consciousness has been solved? 🙂
There doesn’t seem to be a “List of SOLVED problems in philosophy” page. Presumably this would be much shorter – but not empty! What about Zeno’s paradoxes?
Chris
I think not. Some solutions for Zeno have been claimed but not everyone would accept them. His paradoxes are not to be solved, they would say, but are to be understood as telling us something about time and space. With the appropriate view of time and space his paradoxes evaporate.
So the list of ‘solved’ problems would probably be empty. Unless we include the solution offered by nondualism, in which case the ‘unsolved’ list would become empty. But that solution is off-limits.
The Wiki page seems useful, but I would like to see it worked on to be more comprehensive and clear.