Is the sky really blue? On the role of philosophy and the "space of reasons" with visiting professor Dr. Willem A. deVries

Willem A. deVries advocates for more philosophy in schools, not just at higher education but at all levels. Science is constantly being presented with moral and ethical dilemmas we need to address. In its entirety, ethics may be a domain of philosophy, but the questions are also unavoidable for other disciplines. "No matter what field you're studying, whether it's anthropology, chemistry, or even sports science, you're going to confront some ethical issues." 

A simple sense of right or wrong comes from our parents, but we live in a fast-paced, ever-evolving world controlled and determined by technological progress. That raises new issues, and we can encounter problems no one ever had to deal with. "For instance, in medicine, we can now keep people alive even when there's no brain function. Ought we do that? How much alive is that person?" People gain tools to deal with such situations with proper (at least basic) instruction in philosophy. Ethically sound reasoning is then critical on personal as well as social levels.  

Starting with students who study didactics is a way to remedy the situation. Nonetheless dr. deVries also led a "Scientist as Humanist" project aimed at secondary school teachers. It was meant to open a dialog between teachers of different disciplines. To show that science is a human activity on its own. This ultimately helped by bridging humanities and natural sciences, which is also a role of philosophy, according to Dr. deVries. "Science has changed how we look at the world and how we live, and we need to think about it as a social reality, not just as a bunch of formulae."  

Dr. deVries published extensively on his mentor’s, Wilfrid Sellars, teachings. Humanity must be put into the context of the reality that we live in. Material reality is the space of causes, which is very heavy on rules, mainly physical. But humans also navigate in a social  context of crowded with thoughts and perceptions. "When we talk about what it means for a person to have a mental state, we're locating that person in the space of reasons, saying what his tendencies and propensities are, why he thinks or behaves the way he does. The sentence 'he believes the sky is blue' implies he has some notion of the sky and a contextualized perception of the color blue. We call this the 'space of reasons'."  

Science is an excellent tool for distinguishing between what's real and what's not. Dr. deVries designed a workshop for students interested in philosophical reasoning about reality. The workshop put the space of reason and the space of causes at the center of the debate. The expected outcome was not a list of things that are real and things that do not exist but rather a common perception of the boundaries that we use to determine those two realms. "Philosophy is fundamentally rooted in dialogue. I'm delighted that I could come here and learn more about the chain of thoughts local students use while discussing philosophical topics."