The progress of philosophical thinking consists not so much in the discovery of new truths as in shedding new light on the existing, already known truths; This is because the power of philosophy does not extend to the field of creation and creativity, as much as it focuses on analysis, interpretation and understanding. With his own powers, new knowledge.
She thought that if the mind exercises its effectiveness on itself alone in philosophical thinking alone, it would be sufficient to extract from itself sufficient knowledge of the world, given that the end of these past eras was a sign of the return of the mind to its senses, and the realization of philosophy of its limits and its true nature, which is that it is a clear light that the mind casts on the phenomena They pre-existed, or were drawn from, one of the many sources of human experience.
Since then, our minds have been accustomed to measuring each new philosophy according to its ability to explain various aspects of the human experience, or to shed light on different aspects of human activity.
Thus, in each era, philosophy directs its questions and identifies its problems in the appropriate manner for that same era. As for its responses to these questions or its solutions to these problems; It is not, in fact, the “core” of the philosophy of the age.
The way the problem is set and formulated, I mean the way of looking at the previously known facts, determines the spirit of philosophy, and expresses the genius of the age. Its difference from what is authentic in the spirit of each era.
Each major period of philosophical thought has its own fertile ideas capable of generating, and these ideas are not solutions to problems, but rather the framework in which problems are formulated and the parameters of the philosopher’s thinking are defined. In the Greek era, since Socrates, the idea of “the ultimate” and “the ultimate good” was the centerpiece around which thinking revolves. .
And the known facts acquired a color that was not known before, and it was necessary for the solutions to be affected by this new direction in which the mind walked thanks to these prevailing ideas. A variation on this dominant note, or playing on this major chord.
Current Era Ideas
What are the guiding ideas prevailing in the current era, and what are the new templates by which man shapes his familiar experiences in this era, in order to practice them in a manner that is compatible with the nature of his new life? On this subject revolves the book of German-American origin, Susan Langer, entitled "Philosophy from a New Perspective".
The book first appeared during World War II, and the fame it has gained since then is proof that it did point to a new perspective on philosophy or a new angle if we looked at our familiar problems, heralding a new era of fertile, creative thinking.
In order to understand the nature of this new perspective, we must first reflect on the nature of the intellectual trend prevailing in our time. Our civilization in this age is a scientific civilization above all, and in this scientific civilization the guiding idea that dominates the minds has become the idea of “the fact.” And the observations of the senses, which the ancients rejected and considered as the basis of deception of knowledge, became our main tool for communicating with the world. It is an age dominated by empiricism, and expressing its spirit are those philosophies that return everything to what can be observed or achieved by experience.
Hence, logical positivism expresses everything essential in the life of modern man: his refusal to acknowledge anything but what is clearly observed, or what can be decisively achieved by experience; Everything that cannot be achieved or refuted is - in her opinion - meaningless words, or "alleged issues" that we cannot describe as wrong or right; Because it is impossible to think about.
