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The philosophical examination of philosophy itself—its methods, purposes, history, and self-understanding. Metaphilosophy asks: What is philosophy for? Is it making progress? Are philosophical questions answerable, or just endlessly debatable? What counts as a good philosophical argument? How does philosophy relate to science, to art, to life? Metaphilosophy is philosophy's self-reflection, its attempt to understand its own nature. Without metaphilosophy, philosophy risks becoming either arrogant (claiming to answer everything) or irrelevant (failing to ask why it matters). Metaphilosophy keeps philosophy honest by forcing it to confront its own foundations and purposes.
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