Doubts.
Academic philosophy consists mainly of knowing what other philosophers have said, to which its more lively adherents may, if they choose, add some speculations of their own on subjects similar to those treated by previous philosophers. There is no reason why people subjected to this discipline should be specially wise or specially noble. Nor is their work, as a rule, of any specially great importance. There is no reason to expect, from the majority of teachers of philosophy, a higher standard of wisdom or of courage than is to be expected from teachers of other subjects.
Nor have the admittedly great philosophers of the past shown any special aptitude in regard to public affairs. Thales of Miletus, the father of philosophy, rested his reputation on the statement that “all is water”, which was no great help in government. Plato was virtually a Fascist. René Descartes, the founder of modern philosophy, took very little interest in political questions. Thomas Hobbes thought obedience to the Government constituted the whole of virtue in an ordinary citizen. David Hume had only two maxims in politics: that a Scotsman is better than an Englishman; and a Tory is better than a Whig. Georg W. F. Hegel believed in absolute monarchy. None of these great men offered us any thought which is useful in the present day. A modern philosopher faced with the problems of the present day will find little to help him in the dicta of his predecessors.
There is, however, one exception among great philosophers of the past, namely John Locke. Locke came at the end of a period of unrest in England and of civil war brought about by the rivalry of fanatics. This caused him to seek a temper of mind which would make it possible for men to live together in peace. The temper of mind that he recommended was one of tolerance, and tolerance was recommended by him on the ground that all opinions in social matters are questionable. His teaching was so successful that there has never again been civil strife in England. Unfortunately, his disciples in France did not adopt this part of his philosophy.
What, then, can a modern philosopher preach? I think, perhaps, the first thing that he should teach is that everything good is bound up with life and that in a lifeless universe there would be neither good nor bad. Good and bad, alike, are confined, so far as our experience goes, to man and the higher animals. I do not know which of them is preponderant.
— Bertrand Russell, The Duty of a Philosopher in This Age (1964)
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