Why Do We Refute One Another So Much?

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"I think we do roughly the right amount of it in philosophy," he says. "It's sort of what philosophy is, though you refute one another." In business meetings, people aren't focused on refuting each other as much; they work together to improve their arguments. He thinks there can be quite a lot of rudeness and just nastiness in the way that people conduct themselves.

Is a written dialogue the best way to learn from philosopher Agnes Callard?

If so, what does that say about philosophy? Is Plato’s Symposium about love or mere intoxication? If good people lived forever, would they be less bored than the bad people? Should we fear death? Is parenting undertheorized? Must philosophy rely on refutation? Should we read the classics? Is Jordan Peterson’s moralizing good? Should we take Socrates at his word? Is Hamlet a Cartesian? Are we all either Beethoven or Mozart people? How do we get ourselves to care about things we don’t yet care about? To what should we aspire to?

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

Recorded March 22nd, 2018 Other ways to connect

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