2026-05-11
28 分钟Hello, everyone.
I'm Stephen West.
This is Philosophize This.
Patreon. com slash Philosophize This.
Philosophico writing on Substack at Philosophize This on there.
I hope you love the show today.
So in Chapter 7 of Alistair McIntyre's book, The Tasks of Philosophy, he asks us to imagine a scene of a few friends
that decide they 're going to get together one day.
They're sitting at a table in a diner, ordering food, having a very normal conversation.
He says, imagine if in this moment, one of the people speaks up and they ask their friends,
what is the real point of even existing?
Why shouldn't we all just give up on trying to do anything when we're in this world?
You know, a philosophical question.
The other people at the table hear this person, and they understandably feel a little uncomfortable having to answer it.
Maybe one of them feels embarrassed to even have to talk about something so personal.
Maybe to another friend, this is the very kind of question they're constantly trying to find ways to avoid.
It's an abrasive moment, this moment in the diner is what I'm saying.
But then McIntyre asks us to imagine a different scene side by side with this one.
Now imagine there 's a philosopher who 's standing up in front of a room
of other philosophers at a seminar among academics.