Michael Walzer, The Struggle for a Decent Politics: On “Liberal” as an Adjective

Excerpt

At the outset of my first undergraduate class in epistemology, the lecturer offered a distinction to aid us through the melange of thinkers we would soon encounter. There are two ways of regarding the philosopher, he opined. In the first sense, we might adopt the position advanced by John Locke in his Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689) and see the philosopher as an “under-labourer” engaged in the difficult task of clearing our conceptual landscape of obstructions so as to ease our route to a higher plane of enlightenment. According to this view, the scientist, historian, literary critic, and political theorist all owe their conceptual tools to the philosopher, and depend on her for sharpening or replacing these when they corrode or obsolesce. Without her essential preparatory work, her commitment to resolving the conceptual muddles that arise in the cut and thrust of much scholarly deliberation and debate, they would find themselves (in Immanuel Kant’s phrase) groping around in the dark with respect to what can be known and how they might come to know it. In short, the philosopher provides the light so that others may pursue their work in peace. …