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Neil Sinhababu's avatar

Though there are other good answers, this seems to me the best answer to the question about the point of academic philosophy:

"Questions that philosophers figure out how to answer get relabeled as “science.”"

If you find an answer – as natural philosophers like Newton and Einstein did – you might found a new realm of science. That can be an epic victory for human knowledge, perhaps the biggest victory possible in any academic endeavor.

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Chris K. N.'s avatar

This is good.

I wonder if there isn’t something important missing, though?

I have sometimes flippantly said that my impression as an outsider is that “academic philosophers are philosophers in the same way sports commentators are athletes”.

I.e.: They know everything there is to know about philosophy, and can talk about it all day long, but most are essentially spectators, not participants, and their remarkable performances are few and far between.

I’m not entirely sure, however, whether that’s a feature or a bug. I can see both sides, though I lean towards one.

My question, then: Shouldn’t the point of academic philosophy include something about striving to actually perform “public thought work”? Which to me would mean something like asking and attempting to answer big questions in public? (At least the corner of the public that wants to engage.) Using their powers to be public thought provokers?

Good, high-profile examples would be Peter Singer or Nick Bostrom, but the bar for influence doesn’t have to be quite so high.

This (getting attention, being fresh and controversial and true to one’s philosophy all at the same time) is obviously hard. Conversely, it will be easy to feel like a “failure” (as for athletes who don’t make it). And that is why I think it’s important to prod and ask. I don’t know whether most(?) academic philosophers don’t consider it “the point” because they’re secretly (even to themselves) afraid of failing, or because they actually don’t think it’s important to their work.

What do you think?

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