Hi Nathan

Thanks for your reply.  I was however thinking specifically of philosophy and, as the title of the thread says, major issues in philosophy.

I was interested in your comment that "...as Joachim Horvath pointed out--but that fact may not necessarily be too worrying for philosophy, since every time we shoot down a competing hypothesis, we're (hopefully) that much closer to the "best" solution."  "

"Best" worries me a bit, and the scare quotes don't take the worry away.  "Best" does not mean "correct". Can we say that an issue has been "conclusively solved" if it is only regarded as the "best" (scare quotes) solution?

Also, the underlying thought here seems to be either that (a) philosophy is like science - always getting closer to the correct solution (assuming we can even use "correct" for science); or (b) that there is a kind of Hegelian thing going on (my option 4) and philosophy is assumed to be in a state of continual progress towards a final goal.  I don't know Horvath but I am guessing he would be in the (a) camp? - which incidentally should perhaps be another option on my list. It would be something like:

(6) Philosophy is a scientific study and, like science itself, it is always edging towards the correct solution, and in some cases this has been reached.

There is, I imagine, a 7th which would be based on your final comment that "a conclusive philosophical solution might be one that has existed all along" but perhaps as you suggest we can leave that one aside.

(Personally I still do not find any of the options attractive.)


DA