(Gabriel Marcel, Being and Having, 112)
In discussions, I sometimes want to say: “It is not so much that I disagree with them; I am rather inclined to say that they don’t really have a view (nothing to agree or disagree with).” It’s impolite to say this. I know. What can be said politely in the first person cannot always be said politely in the third or second, even if it can be said. But worthwhile philosophical discussions tend to be like that. It’s a consequence of doing philosophy: of sticking out our necks and talking even when we are not certain that what we say makes sense. And like Marcel, we have to be willing to also say it in the first person.
Discoveries in philosophy are often of absence of view—of mindlessness.
Discoveries in philosophy often catalyze the growth of mind--the emergence of a mental space. (The sense of depth in philosophy)
To do philosophy is to be aware—even if dimly—of the possibility that we might not have a view, e.g. that what we think is our view is not even a view. To do philosophy is to be a skeptic about the existence of one’s own mind (soul).