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Article: The decline of philosophy? (Correspondence).
- Article from:
- First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life
- Article date:
- October 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Institute on Religion and Public Life. 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. (Hide copyright information)
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I very much appreciated Peter Simpson's essay on "The Christianity of Philosophy" (May). I agree with the author's viewpoint that modern and contemporary philosophy is much more like a worldly profession than what philosophia used to be in its ancient context. I would like to comment on three points in Professor Simpson's paper.
First, it should be noted that not even Greek philosophy understood philosaphia as something ultimate. According to both Plato and Aristotle, philosophia does not only purport to reach wisdom; as Prof. Simpson rightly notes, it strives too to reach "salvation." Philosophical salvation, in accordance with their views, cannot be "reached" ...