The relevance of philosophy

Submitted by: Bradley

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He argues that, were a philosopher to write the perfect, unanswerable theory, the solution to life, the universe and everything, then philosophy would itself become responsible for inducing the very mental laziness which it should help us to avoid. Disagreement and debate between the adherents of rival theories is, moreover, essential to the health of philosophyJust as many major advances of science are catalysed by war, so the great intellectual insights are sparked by discussionIf there were universal agreement on one philosophical theory, then all further thought would be rendered useless(See p.319, Small World by David Lodge: "...what matters in the field of critical practice is not truth but differenceIf everybody were convinced by your arguments, they would have to do the same as you and then there would be no satisfaction in doing it.") Russell talks of three different factors involved in the formation of prejudiceEach is considered in detail below. The first type of prejudice is derived from common sense