LOOKING FOR A BLACK CAT

by F Richard Singer III         edition date 11/07/07

website: www.conceptualstudy.org      email: richardsinger3@sbcglobal.net

A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn’t there.

This epigram symbolizes some of my attitudes toward philosophy. It breaks down if pushed too hard, but it is a useful metaphor for my perspective. The person who provided me with this characterization was using humor to suggest the utter lack of utility in philosophy. I prefer a more of comic heroic perspective. I picture a philosopher with limited resources facing almost overwhelming odds. Is this useless, or is it the ultimate in utility? Perhaps it is such tasks that encourage us to create our most powerful tools. Let us examine the epigram in more detail.

Although philosophers are blind, they have developed other modes of perception more fully than those who can see. Thus the color of the cat and the lighting of the room while posing difficulties to those with sight, may seem irrelevant to a philosopher. Some have used their sense of hearing to listen for the cat or signs of its presence. Others, noting that cats move silently, relied on their sense of smell. A third group claimed that there is no evidence that this cat has any odor, and thus it is only the sense of touch which should be used. A few took a pluralistic approach, recommending the use of several modes of perception, and even suggesting that perhaps aid from those with sight might even be useful. Debate raged for centuries between those advocating different methodologies. Even within a particular school there were disagreements. Some who advocated hearing claimed that they had heard the cat. They described its position, but they did not all agree about where it was. Others heard these sounds, but did not interpret them as sounds of the cat. Similar remarks can be made about other schools. Frustrated by an apparent lack of progress, some positivistic philosophers suggested that previous methods were misguided, that philosophers must submit to eye operations so they could bring the sight of science into the search. However the room they were searching was very dark, and they were looking for a very black cat, so even those who opted for sight did not agree on whether the cat had been seen or where it had been seen.

Many who used their sight in the presence of light looked upon philosophers with scorn or pity. They observed the apparent confusion among philosophers and concluded that philosophy was incapable of progress. In the extreme, they noted that philosophers did not even agree on the concept of a black cat. I take a more positive perspective. We tried to overcome blindness, by cultivating other senses, by learning to see, by developing a camera that makes pictures in braille, or by a variety of other means. In the process we developed powerful tools. We did not find the cat, but we discovered that even with our tools the room remained beyond our observational powers. This changed my perspective, and finding the black cat has faded in importance. More important interests have emerged. I have turned from a search for something specific out there to the creation of greater powers for exploration, the power of a broad type of conceptual study.

My Attitude Toward Philosophy Originally I looked to philosophy for a secure external grounding for my choices, but none would satisfy me. Could I ground them in ethical principles? What would give a rationale for such a grounding? How could I cope with the apparent observation that ethical and prudential reasons might diverge? What reasons are sufficient to ground choices in either ethical or prudential reasons or anywhere else? I hoped that philosophy could answer such questions and help me solve the problem of grounding my choices. When I reflect on my previous philosophical quest the blind man in a dark room metaphor seems appropriate. It was hard to realize what value philosophy held for me, because I so desperately needed to find the black cat. Perhaps the black cat I was looking for was not there. Given the conditions of the search, this was difficult to imagine. However the search was useful. Philosophy helped me develop tools to cope with my limitations and the darkness of the room. I no longer want a philosophy which provides answers. I want philosophy to help me shape my most fundamental subceptual net. This is my focus when I study philosophy. I prefer an insecure internal grounding to a secure external grounding.

Note This paper is taken from Section 0 Chapter 3 of My Net for Understanding