Category: “The Nature of Philosophical Problems and Their Roots in Science”

Conjectures and Refutations, pp. 87-129

Not subjects but problems

Disciplines are distinguished partly for historical reasons and reasons of administrative convenience (such as the orga­nisation of teaching and appointments), and partly because the theories which we construct to solve our problems have a tendency to grow into unified systems. But all this classification and distinction is a comparatively unimportant and superficial affair. We are not students of some subject matter but students of problems. And problems may cut right across the borders of any subject matter or discipline. [88]