Lady Philosopher wrote:
I am a philosopher by trade. I think quite a bit about the way
philosophy pervades all aspects of life, and this is something I try
and get across to my students each semester. Unfortunately, we do not
live in a time of "philosopher activists" and we also live amongst a
growing movement of anti-intellectualism. These things are
disheartening to me. And with the influx of academic philosophers who
do not want to open philosophy to a wider audience, but instead remain
in their wretched ivory towers discussing picky points and arguing
about thought experiments at colloquia. It seems most professional
philosophers want philosophy to remain an esoteric discipline that
perpetuates misunderstanding about its own aims. This in itself is
contrary to the very point of philosophy. And because of this, I think
philosophy is failing contemporary culture.
Thoughts?
From the point of view of someone who is not a philosopher, but who
cares about knowledge and truth, here is what is wrong with philosophy:
1. All the good parts have been transferred to somewhere else. Usually
science. Philosophy used to be the study of everything. Then all the
interesting, practical things got shuttled off and became separate
branches of knowledge.
2. Because a lot of the practical aspects of philosophy have been sent
elsewhere, there are no real world consequences to most of the issues
discussed. For that reason, there is no need for philosophers to
compromise with each other. This leaves the field open to people with a
psychological need to assert their will and whim rather than find the
truth.
3. I don't have much contact with academic philosophy, but from what I
have seen, it does exactly what you said it does - focuses on trivial,
nitpicky issues. I assume that at least a part of that happens because
of items 1 and 2 above. In addition, when any aspect of the world
becomes professionalized, market based, there are strong drives to make
the work more standardized and conventional. You need to standardize it
so that there are objective standards of whether people are doing a
good job or not. Professional sports are a good example. Teaching,
medicine.
4. There is too much emphasis on tradition, authority. I am pretty
smart, and I've read Plato, Wittginstein, Russell, Aristotle, and
others. I can see why they are of interest in understanding our
history, how we got here. I don't understand why they are still the
foundations of where we stand today. My favorite quote is from Kafka -
"It is not necessary that you leave the house. Remain at your table and
listen. Do not even listen, only wait. Do not even wait, be wholly
still and alone. The world will present itself to you for its
unmasking, it can do no other, in ecstasy it will writhe at your feet."
Real philosophy needs to rest on each of our personal experiences of
the world.
Sorry, this is too long. Otherwise I would try to think of reasons 5
through 17.
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