PHILOSOPHER'S "STONE"

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 170, 21 July 1942, Page 6

PHILOSOPHER'S "STONE"

EXPLAINING HIS BUBJECT At the weekly luncheon of the Auckland Rotary Club, Dr. R. P. Anschutz, Ph.D. (Edin), M.A., lecturer in philosophy at Auckland University College, tried to explain his subject. He told first of his embarrassment when asked by acquaintances what he did for a living. He would say, "Oh. I lecture at the university," and hope to get away with that. When the further question was put —what was his subject?—he would say "Philosophy." "There are two answers to that," said Dr. Anschutz. "Sometimes they say, 'Oh,' and change the subject. Sometimes they say 'What is philosophy'—and then 1 change the subject. In his address to the club he tried to answer that question. He told of the constant questing nature of the subject; how philosophers throughout the ages had constantly been subject to suspicion—and he explained how the controversies, the "philosophical inquiries" that were constantly being raised were not created by philosophers but in other subjects.

It was sometimes said that it was dangerous for students to study philosophy, as it was liable to unsettle their minds. It was not a trivial objection, he said. If it raised curiosities and crfanks—in time of war that was a serious charge.

If philosophical inquiry could not be stopped outside the university, it would be fatal to try to stop it inside the university.

If everything was presented to students as proven, without possibility of question and without appreciation of the fact that there were two sides to every question, they were apt to jump to extreme conclusions and to accept "quack" solutions.