Tired of being told that philosophy was just opinions, one guy set about collecting all the “philosophical facts” he could find. He got 200

Philosophy has a reputation for discussing everything and the truth is that it is a reputation that has been hard-earned. However, it is not a matter of saying the first thing that comes to mind. It’s not even a matter of opinions, no matter how informed they may be. At least, that is the opinion of philosopher Bryan Frances.

In fact, Frances is convinced that, in reality, philosophers only discuss details and minutiae: in substance, they agree on almost everything. But of course, it is not enough to say it: it must be defended.

So he began to do something strange for a philosopher: instead of arguing it, he began to compile this enormous core of shared truths. That is, to make a list.

But let’s start at the beginning. Frances’s thesis is that, as I say, there is great agreement among philosophers about the truth of many substantive claims. What’s more, he is convinced that, in philosophy, there is progress equivalent to that of any other science. That is, “based on facts.” The thing is that discipline — for better or worse — tends to revolve around the controversial.

The curious thing is that he realized that not even the philosophers themselves were aware of this.

And what a list… So, neither short nor lazy, he published ‘Philosophy as Fact-Based Discipline: 200 Philosophical Facts, published in Philosophical Studies‘: the list. A list of elementary truths pedagogically comparable to introductory science material. “It’s not the deepest,” but it’s (definitely) something cumulative and useful to understand.

But, beyond that, it is also a way of reclaiming the discipline in a climate that repeatedly questions the role of the humanities in the body of knowledge.

And what truths are those? Once we have made it clear that it is not about talking about deep truths (Does free will exist? Why being and not nothingness? etc…), the question becomes evident: what are they then?

They are simpler things like, for example, what beliefs are (which come in many formats, they can be about almost anything or they can exist even if we are not aware of them), what evidence is (which are not just tests), what biases, emotions or faith are.

It’s very interesting review the 200 facts because there are very interesting things about things that one had not asked: does believing in something make it true? Does the evidence have direction? Is suspending the trial a rational thing to do?

Thought in action. But beyond the facts themselves, Frances’ idea is intelligent because it points to something singular: there is cognitive progress, an ultimate structure of reality to describe, a philosophical ‘holy grail’ to find.

It’s not much, I admit. But the idea that the universe is not the horrible chaos it seems is (in its own way) comforting.

Image | Alan Dela Cruz

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