LA ACTITUD CONTEMPLATIVA EN LA FILOSOFÍA ANALÍTICA. (EL FILÓSOFO ANALÍTICO ANTE "EL ERROR DE DESCARTES", DE ANTONIO DAMASIO)

Abstract

In "Filosofía y análisis del lenguaje" (1985) I put forward the thesis that, taken in its strict sense. 'Analytical philosophy' designates a contemporary philosophical trend that arrived at its end in the early sixties. In the first part of this chapter I try to fix this assertion by distinguishing between Constructive and Contemplative analytical Philosophy. A contemplative analytical philosopher - and the later Wittgenstein was the classical model - has it that understanding an solving a philosophical problem is not a matter of building a more complex product, i.e. a more complex theory. It is a matter of reaching a clearer understanding of its conceptual basis. Falling short of such a conceptual insight, no true understanding is gained at all. My former thesis cab now be stated in the following way: Contemporary Analytical Philosophy has become predominantly constructive for the las four decades. In the second part of this chapter I resort to Antonio Damasio's recent ideas on emotions, as unfolded in "Descates¡s Error" (1996), to illustrate both the kind of misunderstandings Wittergenstein tried to clear up and the king of strategy one should abide by in order to get rid of them.