We Don’t Solve Philosophical Problems, We Just Get Over Them.

Old ideas give way slowly; for they are more than abstract logical forms and categories. They are habits, predispositions, deeply engrained attitudes of aversion and preference. Moreover, the conviction persists – though history shows it to be a hallucination that all the questions that the human mind has asked are questions that can be answered in terms of alternatives that the questions themselves present. But in fact intellectual progress usually occurs through sheer abandonment of questions together with both of the alternatives they assume - an abandonment that results from their decreasing vitality and a change of urgent interest.

We don’t solve them: we get over them.

– John Dewey, The Influence of Darwin on Philosophy and Other Essays (1910), p. 19

The philosophical approach known as Pragmatism, of which John Dewey was a famous proponent, holds that not every philosophical questions is a good question. In fact, philosophical questions should not be seen as timeless logical problems which demand to be solved, but as issues which arise for a specific people, at a specific time. Philosophy should address the actual felt needs of a society.

In reading this quote it occurred to me how this could be a helpful insight into a possible relationship between Christian theology and philosophy. If we follow this pragmatist kind of method, Christians are free to reject many questions which philosophy may wish to bother it with. Next time a pointy-headed person presents you with a tangential problem which distracts from the actual felt need which Christianity addresses, tell them that you are so over answering questions like that.

This way of thinking is helpful in keeping Christianity from attempting to provide comprehensive answers to every philosophical question – some of which are ridiculous and outdated – and reminds it to keep focused on the present needs of real people. People that Christianity claims to have good news for.