Hi Derek,

Probably more than a few problems in my broad comments. But the point is the tension between describing the world and changing it.

1.     Socrates to me is a vital point of departure, not merely ‘just one among many’, a figure who has hung over philosophy for its approximate 2,500 years, a figure that many great thinkers have sought to keep faith with.  Further Socrates is far more of a figure than a ‘person’. In any case, to me, he is one of the most important figures for understanding what critical questioning is.

2.     So a theoretical engagement with/understanding of ‘the world’ is prioritized over a normative or practical engagement with it. Theory determines practice? We await the deliverances of science.

3.     I am not sure I have ever felt a pressing need to say what art, language or consciousness is. I have felt a need to question why certain things are not counted as art, but raising that question has not required me to know what art is. The question goes right to our norms of judgment, but asking it does not require me to know what art is.

Philip