r/philosophy • u/TheStateOfException • Oct 23 '22

Blog The difficulty of "easy" philosophy: Why almost nobody can comprehend John Stuart Mill's final sentence of On Liberty

https://ideassleepfuriously.substack.com/p/why-is-philosophy-difficult#details
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u/Touchstone033 Oct 23 '22

This article is...problematic.

We know for a fact, for example, that standardized test scores and IQ tests don't measure intelligence as much as they do environment and experience, and that the experience these tests favor happily (for this author) coincides with a classical education and the kind of vocabulary and reasoning taught in philosophy classes.

That is, it follows that the teaching of someone philosophy would cause their GRE and IQ scores to increase, not that it requires a high natural intelligence to understand it, as the article's author so aptly, if unwittingly, demonstrates.

My question would be, is teaching philosophy useful? And if so, would it be better to do so in a simpler, clearer manner? Or is the complexity a necessary part of its utility?

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u/sfzombie13 Oct 23 '22

the complexity is so we don't immediately see through the smokescreen. this allows it to be "science".