The Philosophy of Inquiry and Global Problems : The Intellectual Revolution Needed to Create a Better World

Universities have long been dominated by a philosophy of inquiry that may be called knowledge-inquiry . This holds that, in order to do justice to the basic humanitarian aim of helping to promote human welfare, academic inquiry must, in the first instance, seek knowledge and technological know-how. First, knowledge is to be acquired; once acquired, it can be applied to help promote human welfare. But this philosophy of knowledge-inquiry is an intellectual and humanitarian disaster. It violates three of the four most elementary rules of rational problem solving conceivable, and as a result fails to give priority to the task of helping humanity resolve those conflicts and problems of living, such as the climate and nature crises, that need to be resolved if we are to make progress to a better world – a world in which there is peace, democracy, justice, liberty, and sustainable prosperity, for all. Very few academics today are aware of this rationality scandal. We urgently need to bring about a revolution in universities around the world, wherever possible, so that academic inquiry puts all four rules of rational problem solving into practice, and becomes rationally devoted to helping humanity learn how to make progress towards a better world. Knowledge-inquiry needs to become wisdom-inquiry , rationally devoted to helping humanity create a wiser world. Preface Contents About the Author List of Figures 1: Bad Philosophy, the Climate Crisis, and Other Global Problems Introduction Rationality From Knowledge-Inquiry to Wisdom-Inquiry: Problem-Solving Rationality From Knowledge-Inquiry to Wisdom-Inquiry: Aim-Oriented Rationality Cultural Implications of Wisdom-Inquiry The Impact of Bad Philosophy Everywhere in Life 2: Bad Academic Philosophy Responsible for Global Problems 3: The Post-Cartesian Blunder, and the Failure to Develop Philosophy as Critical Fundamentalism Philosophy Creates Modern Science The Human World/Physical Universe Problem Cartesian Dualism The Post-Cartesian Blunder Consequences of the Post-Cartesian Blunder What If the Cartesian Blunder Had Not Been Made? The Post-Cartesian Blunder and the Mind-Body Problem Objections 4: The Post-Newtonian Blunder, and the Failure to Develop Aim-Oriented Empiricism The Post-Newtonian Blunder Refutation of the Post-Newtonian Blunder 5: The Post-Enlightenment Blunder, and the Failure to Develop Academic Inquiry so as to Become Rationally Devoted to Helping Humanity Create a Civilized World Knowledge-Inquiry and Wisdom Inquiry Compared and Contrasted Objections to Wisdom-Inquiry 6: What We Need to Do Recapitulation Global Problems We Must Solve to Create a Good World: The Climate Crisis The Nature Crisis Nuclear Weapons Is Philosophy Responsible for the Climate Crisis? 7: Appendix 1: How to Solve Hume’s Problem of Induction Does Aim-Oriented Empiricism Solve the Practical Problem of Induction? 8: Appendix 2: How Aim-Oriented Empiricism Would Benefit Science How Aim-Oriented Empiricism Benefits Science Newtonian Theory Maxwellian Electrodynamics Quantum Theory Special Relativity General Relativity Implications of Aim-Oriented Empiricism for Science References Index