Today we have a very special edition of Filosophy Fridays for all of you Daily Quoters out there.
Philosophy os a strange kind of profession - it can be undertaken by anyone, is undertaken by everyone in a huge chunk of our conversations, yet it is widely dismissed as a real profession.
How can something to widespread, so retrospectively influential to our ideologies and social systems, be dismissed as such? What kind of people become philosophers by profession?
Today's Daily Quota comes from contributor Nick - a close friend of mine, an philosophical sparring partner, and the perfect man for the task.
Take it away!
Philosophy os a strange kind of profession - it can be undertaken by anyone, is undertaken by everyone in a huge chunk of our conversations, yet it is widely dismissed as a real profession.
How can something to widespread, so retrospectively influential to our ideologies and social systems, be dismissed as such? What kind of people become philosophers by profession?
Today's Daily Quota comes from contributor Nick - a close friend of mine, an philosophical sparring partner, and the perfect man for the task.
Take it away!
When looking back at human achievement, one can see that we stand on the shoulders of giants. Appropriately, humans have become more
interested in “higher” aspirations -Water from a tap, electricity from a
socket and shelter built by contractors (called contractors for very good
reasons); all for the purpose of achieving other things.
Education has pushed
and pulled this idea along, creating opportunities to produce better planes,
medicine, and bridges, though arguably at some cost to our self worth. What has
been taken by universities and morphed into an idea?: University = Job. True to
say Lawyers, Doctors, and Engineers cannot operate in their chosen field unless
they are qualified.
This weeks article is related to the debate of philosophy as a
profession versus hobby. The
Philosophers’ Magazine recently published an interview it conducted with
Nigel Warburton, a newly resigned Professor of Philosophy at the Open
University UK, and co-creator of Philosophy Bites podcast.
Other than discussing the mediums Warburton has used over the last
few years, it talks about his experience as an academic and why he has left.
The question I want raise on this week’s Filosophy Fridays is: Who ought to do philosophy? Is it simply a matter for academics to ponder and squabble over
minutiae, or is it an activity for all of us?
The most recent advances in
philosophy have tended to rely on mathematics and logic, descended from
Aristotle and slightly harder for mere mortals to comprehend, though not out of
reach. What really is in question is people’s commitment to philosophy i.e. how
interested they are. As Socrates said, “the
unconsidered life is not worth living”. Socrates was supposedly untrained, but
did establish his own school in his later years.
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