[MD] Philosophy and Abstraction

[Matt Kundert]

"I think at the heart of the difference between philosophers attracted 
to the classical pragmatists but repelled by Rorty is the thought that 
radical empiricism returns us to the scene of life, a counter to 
abstract philosophical sterilities. I can empathize with the 
formulation, to the idea of pragmatism "returning us to the scene of 
life," a formula I've grown fond of. However, what I think we should 
rather say in most cases, is that philosophy is abstract by nature--that's 
what it is--and returning to the scene of life is something that people 
need to figure out how to do, not necessarily philosophies, or other 
abstract activities. For instance, why would we necessarily want 
theoretical physics to do so? Philosophy is Dewey's indirect 
experience--returning to life is knowing, as Wittgenstein put it, when 
to put philosophy down."

--from "Quine, Sellars, Empiricism, and the Linguistic Turn"
http://pirsigaffliction.blogspot.com/2009/04/quine-sellars-empiricism-and-linguistic.html