The lack of sociohistorical context within the study of
Philosophy bothers me as much as when I see it in Science and
other fields.
Philosophy is something that starts from the time we're
children. That curiosity needs to be allowed to live and
survive.
An analogy is to the study of art. Something that happened to
me, and just happened to my 10 yr old nephew last year or so.
He was asked to draw an owl in school. 3rd grade. He did.
Teacher said he obviously wasn't trying hard enough. Said he was
doing it wrong.
In her mind, she was offering constructive criticism.
In his? "I can't draw."
He was trying his best: she was wrong. And to say, "Your art is
wrong" is like saying, "Your question is not good enough for me
to answer".
Well, he stopped drawing recreationally for about a year. He
would draw what he had to in class, but not at home.
Finally, about a year later, he started again but only after a
year's worth of on and off encouragement from me. Light
encouragement, mostly rational thinking.
"Ok maybe you can't draw an owl face, but you *can* draw other
animals right?"
"Well, yeah, I can draw any animal but an owl".
Stuff like that. Took forever to undo the damage two sentences
from a teacher he previously respected did to him. He also lost
his respect for teacher opinions after that. Might be partially
the disillusionment that happens around that time anyway... but
still... it bugged me that this teacher had this effect on him.
