Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

I am inclined to think that philosophers recently have spent too much time in discussing what they should be doing rather than in doing something.

(M. Kneale, "Is Psychical Research Relevant to Philosophy?" The Aristotelian Society, supplementary volume 24 [1950]: 173-88, at 174)

Note from KBJ: I don't understand the complaint. How is one to "do" philosophy without knowing what philosophy is, and how can one know what philosophy is without discussing what it is? Not all philosophy is done by philosophers, and not everything a philosopher does is philosophy. When I ride my bike, I'm not doing philosophy. When I write poetry, I'm not doing philosophy. At some point, one must ask what philosophy is. To say that philosophy is what philosophers do is to beg the question, for we don't know who the philosophers are until we get clear on what philosophy is.