Really enjoying thinking about this post and this from Justin W's website Daily Nous this afternoon and the beautiful redesigned APA site. Where is it the job of a philosopher to talk in the public discourse? As trained specialists we owe it to the world and to ourselves to make this wisdom available in the assessment of various social, political and other "real world" situations. There's a very distinctive set of skills we philosophers have. I call it my thinking toolkit. I remember my professor saying to me 'You may or may not write a good dissertation, but you need to get your thinking toolkit in order'. This impressed upon me the value of philosophy, but I wondered: does this professor just publish in journals, or does he have an active part in public life? This is when I resolved to write magazine articles and blog posts where I try to throw that toolkit out into the Agora, saying to people 'Hey! This is a fun subject and can actually help you!'. But it's a serious thing too; we need philosophy now more than ever.
Who's with me? And tell me your favourite stories in philosophy and public life in the comments.
c
c
No comments:
Post a Comment