Philosophy and Its Future

The developments of philosophy are caused by internal forces, external forces and a mixture of these forces. Internal forces are those exerted from inside a philosophical tradition itself, and the internal developments of philosophy tend to be unpredictable. External developments are those caused mainly by external forces. The developments of philosophy may be influenced by politics, economics, culture, religion, history, literature, language, and so on. The role of external forces can be illustrated from the history of analytic philosophy. Since the 1980s, one of the most obvious global philosophical trends has been the spread of analytic philosophy. Analytic philosophy has tended to benefit from the trends that English is currently the most international language, the scientific aspect of analytic philosophy, and the formal areas of analytic philosophy. In this connection, analytic moral philosophy, political philosophy and applied ethics also flourish, and analytic philosophy is more closely related to cognitive psychology and artificial intelligence. But this does not mean that analytical philosophy will gain a dominant position in philosophy. The future of philosophy is likely to be increasingly international, with increasing interaction between different traditions. But philosophy also faces serious dangers, both from internal and external. In the long run, its best strategy in the face of these threats is to encourage innovations and not to compromise its high standards.