Could we get a Philosophy of Language Subforum?
- Ophiuchus
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Could we get a Philosophy of Language Subforum?
Better yet, perhaps a subforum devoted to "analytic philosophy" might be good as well. I just think it would be nice to have a place where thinkers of the "scientific" or "precise" trend could gather to talk.
- Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
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Re: Could we get a Philosophy of Language Subforum?
There are a lot of other traditions besides analytic philosophy, and not just continental philosophy. If I was going to create an analytic philosophy subforum, I might as well create not only a Continental philosophy subforum but also subforums for at least Marxism, Thomism, Eastern philosophy, which especially if is to distinct from analytic might need to be subdivided into things Indian versus Chinese philosophy. I would at least like to add a detailed informational page (with more sourced and more philosophically relevant content than Wikipedia) on PhiloPedia for those who want to learn about what each different tradition is. Also, a page about philosophical traditions that sort briefly ties them all together would be nice. With those as a backbone for factual questions/answers about what each of these traditions is and the history of it and the ideas of it front thinkers, maybe we could create somewhat restricted subforums for each tradition, such as one that only declared members of that tradition can post in which would still presumably be publicly viewable. This would help avoid situations in which a Analytic subforum is used for Analytic and Continental philosophers to argue with each other about the pros and cons of the Analytic or Continental tradition, for instance, and then the Continental subforum would be used for the same, which would make all the subforums for every tradition redundant since they would be used for inter-tradition debate as opposed to the unique kind of discussion from people between the same tradition.
The point of having all sorts of forum categories and subforums is to make it easier to navigate the website. But that requires maintaining a certain indefinite ratio of new posts to forum categories. If there are too few forums, it's hard to sift through all the new posts, but if there are too many it's hard to find much of any of the new posts because you have to go through a bunch of forums. When there are too many subforums in ratio to activity, it becomes a hassle or chore for the user to switch between forum categories or subforums. However, maybe having each subforum as a semi-restricted forum for only the members of that tradition would make it as if this new big list of subforums for every tradition in philosophy only felt like one to each person because they can only post in one.
-- Updated 21 Jun 2012 09:37 am to add the following --
Also, if we have a analytic philosophy subforum is a philosophy of language forum necessary? It seems redundant, since philosophy of language only seems to be a big field of philosophy for analytic philosophers.
There are also several ways to create a semi-restricted sub-forum. For instance, one way is to have it so only members of that tradition can post in that tradition's special subforum at all. Another way is to make it so anyone can post a reply, but only members of that tradition can post a new topic, giving the members of the tradition that ability to determine which discussions are relevant and starting them on their preferred footing. Yet another way is to make it so anyone can post a new topic but only members of the tradition can post replies, which would turn it into an almost Q&A format approach sans any debate with people from outside the tradition. I think I am leaning towards the first method of simply restricting all posting, both new topics and replies, to members of that tradition, so each person can choose a tradition and then they and everyone else of that tradition has a special forum in which they can all post together when they don't want an inter-tradition discussion.
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