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A REALITY CHECK TO FORM YOUR PHILOSOPHY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 December 2015

William Irwin
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Abstract

Your philosophy consists of your beliefs and your reasons for your beliefs. Beliefs form a garden; we need to learn to weed out the dandelions and water the flowers. The readiness to weed out a previously held belief takes courage and is the sign of a true philosopher. In particular we need to avoid committing the aesthetic fallacy, the mistaken idea that what is true is necessarily pleasant, good, or beautiful.

Type
Research Article
Information
Think , Volume 15 , Issue 42 , Spring 2016 , pp. 97 - 104
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Philosophy 2015 

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References

Notes

1 Gettier, Edmund L., ‘Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?’ Analysis 23 (1963), 121–123CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 This essay is inspired by Ayn Rand, Ch. 1 ‘Philosophy: Who Needs It’, in Philosophy: Who Needs It (New York: Signet, 1984), 1–11.