I recently read about the death of Brain Magee the TV presenter, philosopher, broadcaster, politician and author best known for bringing philosophy to a popular audience. I never met him but I wrote to him and he replied.
In the late seventies television had only a couple of channels and the Radio Times could get all of the programmes on two pages! One day I was quickly scanning through the schedule when I came across Men of Ideas with Brian Magee. The series introduced the audience to philosophy and particular areas such as Marxist philosophy, the Frankfurt School, the ideas of Noam Chomsky and modern Existentialism; all names that sounded strange to me. During each programme, Brian Magee discussed the ideas of the philosophers with a prominent contemporary philosopher in a way that made it accessible. In the late eighties there was a follow up sreies The Great Philosophers, which discussed the major historical figures of Western philosophy with fifteen contemporary philosophers. The series covered the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes, among others, ending with a discussion on the philosophy of Wittgenstein. Both series had a big impact on me and I have read philosophy ever since.
When I read about his death I remembered that I had wrote to him about a few ideas that I had and which should be published. Looking back it makes me laugh at my naivety given how difficult it is writing this blog on a regular basis. In his reply he listed all of the organisations that I could either join or submit an article. But then he went on with some advice:
“Will you permit me to issue a warning? The great danger facing intelligent people who study philosophy alone is that they keep re-inventing the wheel. They get some very good good ideas about something of fundamental importance, which they’ve genuinely thought of themselves, and they get all excited about it and want to tell the world, when it has in fact been a commonplace in the world of ideas for two or three thousand years, and is already familiar to every serious student of the subject. To put the same point another way, if a clever person starts thinking about a particular problem seriously for the first time they are certain implications and certain explanations that will naturally present themselves to him. They are genuinely his, but they have already occurred to most other people who have given similar thoughts to the subject. One has the experience when teaching: all one’s brightest pupils, one after the other, get the same good ideas, and each one thinks he is the first to have thought of it. So think twice before you attempt to rush into publication”
Over the years I have found that his advice has been applicable in other areas other than philosophy when discovering new ideas. A large part of my career has been involved in product development and for every hundred new ideas discovered to improve a product about ninety nine had either been tried before and failed or the competition had developed a better idea. Even today when I am discussing problems and possible solutions involving a new idea a quick search on the web usually finds that it has already been found. However, it is important that people are encouraged to discover and explore ideas for themselves, even if they have already been discovered by others, because of the excitement the discovery brings.
I am indebted to Brian Magee and his TV series and the subsequent books for opening my mind to the world of ideas in philosophy and for the gentle reminder that if I was thinking about publishing any philosophy then I should be prepared for an uphill struggle. I followed his advice and never attempted to publish anything. However, I continue to read philosophy, and if I feel that I have discovered a new idea then I enjoy the moment but quickly realise that I am following in the steps of others!
To watch the BBC series Men of Ideas and The Great Philosophers click here