Plan B Forum

Was a time when philosophy and philosophers were regarded in the highest esteem. You hardly hear of them today.

Apart from the headline grabbing and attention seeking of Richard Dawkins, are there any well known philosophers today?

And, while I'm on the subject*, has there been a movement in philosophy since post-modernism and/or the rise of feminism?


*and starting a sentence with a preposition.

Peter Singer? Well-known, at least in academia - certainly controversial.

Oops, yup, forgot him

S'okay - fact is, I don't think philosophy is discussed in society today as it might have been in the past. (But I wasn't there, so I'm not sure if Joe-Sixpacks were really talking about Socrates back in the day.)

Singer's ideas are deeply thought-provoking, especially as they address the questions surrounding the 'value' of human life. In an over-populated world with limited resources, I think they will become more and more relevant as time passes and he will be discussed in the years to come.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Singer

People today are More interested in being right than seeking truth. TO be a philosopher you not only have to know your position but the opposing viewpoint in detail. It's much easier to knock down the low hanging fruit and seek applause than to open yourself up to a thorough understanding of an opposing viewpoint and chance finding that your arguments are lacking or even wrong.

The fact is the only way to make a living philosophizing these days is in writing. Then again no sooner than it's published it becomes obsolete.

That's why I debate on message boards.

Nice summary C-P, I cannot disagree with any of that.

Personal philosophy now tends to be reduced to "like ...whatever..." for the masses.

I think there are least two reasons.

One is that for a very great part, reality is far more interesting than philosophy.

Second, we live in an increasingly esoteric world. No philosophy is going to attract a mass audience.

And then there are all of those other reasons.

We have television.

Who needs to ponder the possibilities after the sun goes down...

I bow to a greater wisdom.

tyro wrote:
Second, we live in an increasingly esoteric world. No philosophy is going to attract a mass audience.

Unless something revolutionary comes along, I agree with you.

The rise of far right politics in Europe may be a catalyst.

My understanding of Philosophy is that it questions existing 'truths' and 'ideas' and, in some cases, projects theories for future consideration. The two most inportant concerns in Philosophy center around morality and ethics and how they relate to the human condition in all aspects. Based on my understanding Mel Brooks could be a Philosopher as could Colin Powell. One of my Philosophy professors in college considered Gandi to be one of the most incitefull human beings of our time.

Philosophy does not pay. It's the kind of major that has you working at McDonalds.

That's likely the cause in the decline.

You like fries and Immanual Kant with that?

My philosophy classes were attended by mostly pre-law and pre-med students. The premese was that it taught you how to comprehend and how to formulate intelligent questions in order to learn the true meaning of a given situation.

My philosophy classes were attended by mostly pre-law and pre-med students.

I never took a class in Phylosophy mostly because it wasn't required.

However those that did were mainly "heads"...

I double majored in college. Psychology and Philosophy.

One of my closest friends at Georgetown Law was a philosophy major undergrad, and I knew several other law students there who majored in it as undergrads. It's an excellent foundation for further studies and/or a career in argumentation.

I never took a formal class in philosophy at university and regret that fact very much (along with not having taken an art appreciation class - I've pursued the study of both independently, but it would have been nice to have had a structured introduction).

I did an existentialism module at degree level, just out of interest.

I remember looking for an arts elective and finding that a philosophy course was available to me (given my credits), it was called “The Meaning of Meaning”.







My then girl friend talked me out of it. Wise I guess.