Mind: A Brief Introduction (John R. Searle) / quote 87 of 138
Philosophy is full of apparent contradictions
We ended the last chapter with an apparent contradiction of the sort that is typical in philosophy. On the one hand we accept a view that seems overwhelmingly convincing—the universe is material—but that seems inconsistent with another view that we cannot give up—minds exist. This pattern occurs over and over in philosophy. We will see in chapter 7 that the free-will problem exhibits the same sort of conflict or contradiction: we think all events must be causally determined, but we experience freedom. In other branches of philosophy, similar inconsistencies arise. In ethics we feel there must be an objective moral truth but at the same time we feel there cannot be that kind of objectivity in morals. Some people find these contradictions in philosophy exasperating. Others, like me, find them fun and challenging.