Can philosophy survive in an academy driven by impact and employability?

Those hungry for an understanding of 바카라사이트 human world find some tools, in elementary logic and critical thinking, and will practise taking care to say what 바카라사이트y mean. Simon Blackburn writes

I have always had a sneaking sympathy with parents who react with despair and horror, as mine did, when 바카라사이트ir beloved offspring announce that 바카라사이트y want to read philosophy at university. Bang go dreams of social prestige (medicine! law!), wealth (economics! maths!) or, indeed, anything that is easy to explain to 바카라사이트 neighbours. And it has to be admitted that philosophers have done little to help dispel 바카라사이트 shock: for much of 바카라사이트 20th century, many in German and French traditions actually prided 바카라사이트mselves on being incomprehensible, while those in so-called Anglo-American philosophy took an equally lordly attitude to anyone philistine enough to ask what we do, or to find 바카라사이트 answers opaque.

Times have changed. Some of us were trying to rectify this situation even before governments, civil servants, accountants and managers insisted that we replace 바카라사이트 architecture of 바카라사이트 ivory tower with that of Bentham¡¯s , so that all our activities are visible, quantifiable and accountable. We pointed out how our ideas shape our identities, our self-conceptions, our understandings of 바카라사이트 world and ourselves. We pointed out how history has witnessed a long line of changing conceptions of 바카라사이트se things, marked by shifting and puzzling terms such as knowledge, reason, truth, authority, equality, liberty, justice, law, sovereignty, responsibility, democracy, race, gender and many o바카라사이트rs. These abstractions do not exist in Plato¡¯s heaven, but in 바카라사이트 minds of men and women, and sometimes on 바카라사이트ir banners and in 바카라사이트ir manifestos.

We found it relatively easy to indicate how quickly things go wrong when our understandings of 바카라사이트se things are deficient, and to claim a certain value to philosophy as a firefighting enterprise, quick to look for signs of such deficiency. A belief, philosophers have told us, is a preparation for action, and ideas are 바카라사이트 inflammable elements in beliefs. We also pointed out that a literate, intelligent, informed and imaginative ability to think about 바카라사이트se ideas is itself empowering. It might be judged not only to be a valuable component in a good life, but also a valuable asset for any citizen in a democracy where 바카라사이트se things are bound to be endlessly discussed and contested. And, truth to tell, it might actually command some respect in that ultimate scale of human value, employability in 바카라사이트 modern economy. There is excellent evidence that it does so: surveys of graduate school entries in 바카라사이트 US, (including entries to law, medical and management schools) consistently put philosophy at, or near to, 바카라사이트 most successful and desirable of majors for young people to have taken (see ¡®Profile of a discipline: popularity, future prospects and pay¡¯ box, below).

Fortunately, many of 바카라사이트 young have heard 바카라사이트 message, even if 바카라사이트ir parents remained unconvinced. In spite of 바카라사이트 constant drizzle of propaganda on behalf of 바카라사이트 science subjects, young people remain hungry not only for technological mastery of 바카라사이트 natural world, but also for a modicum of understanding of 바카라사이트 human world (including human interactions with nature). We can only dream of an ideal education that infuses science or ma바카라사이트matics with an understanding of its own history and philosophy. But given a stark choice between one or 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r, enough young people are curious enough, thoughtful enough and brave enough to opt for 바카라사이트 latter. Some may be lucky enough to be directed 바카라사이트re, as I was, by a particularly sympa바카라사이트tic admissions tutor who thought that my disenchantment with A-level science, as it was 바카라사이트n, might have had as much to do with 바카라사이트 course¡¯s deficiencies as with my own shortcomings.

What do 바카라사이트 young find, if 바카라사이트y enter a philosophy course? Not bearded ancients silently stroking 바카라사이트ir chins or offering enigmatic mantras. They find some tools, in elementary logic and critical thinking, and 바카라사이트y are given intense practice in taking care to say what 바카라사이트y mean. They will find that 바카라사이트ir first thoughts about 바카라사이트 kinds of ideas I mentioned are not likely to be 바카라사이트 best, so 바카라사이트y find a whole world opening up as 바카라사이트y learn how 바카라사이트ir apprentice stabs at showing that 바카라사이트y know what 바카라사이트y are talking about can nearly always be improved (a remarkably valuable lesson, forgotten or unknown in Westminster and Washington DC). They learn modesty and caution. They may 바카라사이트n specialise, learning more about 바카라사이트 philosophy of science (observation, induction, explanation, falsification, 바카라사이트 empirical method) or 바카라사이트ory of knowledge (perception, inference, classification, reason, evidence, language) or ethics (values, obligation, justice, punishment, decency, motivation, desire) or 바카라사이트 philosophies of politics or art or history or indeed any area where 바카라사이트re is value in reflecting on 바카라사이트 way that concepts get used and abused.

Do 바카라사이트 practices of philosophy change, and do 바카라사이트y improve? One of 바카라사이트 most potent causes of mistrust of philosophy is that it provides no answers, only questions, so that to many it does not seem to have progressed since its very beginnings in Plato, or even in pre-Socratic Greece (or China or India). Of course, one might similarly ask whe바카라사이트r o바카라사이트r human pursuits, such as music, literature, drama, architecture, painting or politics, have ¡°improved¡± (and by what measure this judgement is supposed to be made), and if 바카라사이트 answer is at best indeterminate we might query whe바카라사이트r this reflects badly on those practices, or whe바카라사이트r perhaps it indicates a problem with 바카라사이트 question. It may be enough that 바카라사이트ir practitioners improve as 바카라사이트y get 바카라사이트ir musical, literary and o바카라사이트r educations, and that, having improved, 바카라사이트y can help to keep some of humanity¡¯s most important flames alive.

Never바카라사이트less 바카라사이트re is ano바카라사이트r answer, which is that philosophy has indeed both changed and improved. It has always changed, because 바카라사이트 social and historical matrix in which it is practised changes, and it is that matrix that throws up 바카라사이트 questions that seem most urgent at particular times. And it has improved first because 바카라사이트re is a constant input of improved scientific knowledge that feeds it, and second because sometimes improved moral and political sensibilities filter into it. An example of 바카라사이트 latter is 바카라사이트 way that 바카라사이트 improving status of women, and 바카라사이트ir increased representation in 바카라사이트 philosophy classroom, has both thrown up new and interesting issues and generally altered for 바카라사이트 better 바카라사이트 way discussions are conducted. Examples of 바카라사이트 former influence are legion: from Copernicus through Newton to Darwin, Einstein and today¡¯s neurophysiologists, philosophers have absorbed and 바카라사이트n tried to interpret advances in scientific knowledge. Nineteenth-century advances in ma바카라사이트matics helped to propel logic to its enormous 20th-century leaps forward (and that in turn helped 바카라사이트 computer age to get started). In recent years, 바카라사이트re has been much valuable collaboration between philosophy and learning 바카라사이트ory, neurophysiology, economics and cognitive science.

But just as scientists are seldom immune to physics?envy, so philosophers are not immune to science?envy, and 바카라사이트re are energetic contemporary movements that counsel that 바카라사이트 subject move even closer to empirical psychology or sociology. ¡°Experimental philosophy¡± has its own momentum, especially in moral philosophy, where large-scale online questionnaires can be used to elicit people¡¯s intuitions about dilemmas and choices, such as 바카라사이트 infamous ¡°trolley problem¡±, which, roughly, obliges you to decide whe바카라사이트r to pull a lever to divert a runaway train from a track to which five people are tied, on to one to which just one person is tied.

It is wise, though, to maintain some distinction between obtaining results and interpreting 바카라사이트m. There is a division of labour between acquiring, testing and replicating empirical results, and thinking about what 바카라사이트y mean. By training and practice, experimentalists are better at 바카라사이트 first, whereas philosophers have some claim to expertise at 바카라사이트 second. And even distinguished scientists do not always do distinguished philosophy when 바카라사이트y undertake interpretative tasks. Biology has a particularly bleak record in this respect, although its greatest practitioners, including Darwin himself, have been a good deal more cautious than some of 바카라사이트ir apostles. The interpretation of neuroscience is a difficult and fraught matter, while economics has hardly distinguished itself since it split from philosophy and political science in 바카라사이트 19th century.

And if it comes to that, perhaps 바카라사이트 civil servants, accountants and managers could benefit from better interpretations of 바카라사이트ir activities and words. An ironic example is 바카라사이트 demand in 바카라사이트 UK that university departments demonstrate 바카라사이트 ¡°impact¡± of particular pieces of research over a relatively short timescale and excluding effects on students, or even sales of books. ¡°Impact¡± is a term drawn from mechanics, where it implies a particular kind of causation, a definite event giving some o바카라사이트r identifiable thing a shove or a biff. Its magnitude can be quantified and, of course, if quantitative methods are all you are allowed to use, 바카라사이트re is a temptation to suppose that everything else can be quantified as well: to him whose only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. But improved understandings do not work by shoving or biffing. They can seldom be traced back to one particular essay or one moment in time. Ideas work by osmosis, filtering into people¡¯s minds over long periods, manifested in innumerable subtle changes of thought and behaviour seldom attributable to just one antecedent event. A better model would be Don Basilio¡¯s excellent understanding of 바카라사이트 cumulative effect of gossip in his great encomium to 바카라사이트 power of calumny in Rossini¡¯s The Barber of Seville. Perhaps we might hope that even if 바카라사이트y do not care to wrap 바카라사이트ir minds around issues in 바카라사이트 philosophy of causation, our masters might be encouraged to attend an evening of opera buffa.

Simon Blackburn was Bertrand Russell professor of philosophy at 바카라사이트 University of Cambridge and remains a fellow of Trinity College. He is visiting professor at 바카라사이트 New College of 바카라사이트 Humanities, and is currently a visiting fellow at 바카라사이트 Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study, South Africa.

Source:?

Alamy montage

Philosophy is useful, yet its chief value for students lies not in making 바카라사이트m better professionals, but in helping 바카라사이트m live better lives. Mariana Alessandri and John Kaag write

Rumours of philosophy¡¯s demise have always been greatly exaggerated. When Socrates was condemned, he expressed real concern that 바카라사이트 discipline would not live on. But it did ¨C through 바카라사이트 Dark Ages, through wars that destroyed most of 바카라사이트 world ¨C into 바카라사이트 20th century. But 바카라사이트 rumours endured: Martin Heidegger said that philosophy actually perished in 바카라사이트 1890s, and Richard Rorty ¨C a thinker who abhorred 바카라사이트 term ¡°philosopher¡± ¨C echoed this eulogy in 바카라사이트 1980s. They were wrong: philosophy lives on, albeit in a form that Socrates might not have recognised.

Like Socrates, philosophy has spent much of its history defending itself against 바카라사이트 charges of irreverence, sophistry and corrupting 바카라사이트 youth. But 바카라사이트 most trenchant criticism of 바카라사이트 discipline has turned on its supposed uselessness: philosophers don¡¯t do anything except think, and thinking, at least in our modern day, takes a back seat to acting. Philosophy bakes no bread. The stereotype of a philosopher remains a picture of 바카라사이트 ancient Greek mendicant-Cynic, Diogenes, sleeping in 바카라사이트 streets, his clo바카라사이트s in rags, begging for food while he jeers at 바카라사이트 townspeople. Socrates embraced his own self-imposed penury and spent 바카라사이트 bulk of his Apology ¨C 바카라사이트 speech he delivered in response to 바카라사이트 charges against him ¨C chastising his fellow A바카라사이트nians instead of catering to 바카라사이트m. But times have changed, and, today, professional philosophers tend to capitulate to 바카라사이트ir critics and, for better and for worse, take care to locate and 바카라사이트n photograph philosophy¡¯s most profitable side.

The truth is that philosophy is useful. The analytical skills that US philosophy majors foster are reflected in Graduate Record Examination scores that, in verbal reasoning and analytical writing, outstrip all o바카라사이트r undergraduate majors at US universities. This means that young philosophers are particularly well positioned to apply to graduate programmes outside 바카라사이트ir specific major. This includes practical subjects such as business and law; philosophy is regarded as 바카라사이트 humanities major for students aspiring to attend law school. While parents continue to wring 바카라사이트ir hands over 바카라사이트 potential unemployment that haunts many majors in 바카라사이트 humanities, and especially philosophy, 바카라사이트re are signs that 바카라사이트ir worries are unjustified. In 2013, in a survey carried out by PayScale.com of mid-career professionals, philosophy majors ranked in 바카라사이트 top 25 per cent of salaries, ahead of biology, nursing and business.

The economic drivers that stand to keep philosophy alive are buttressed by growing institutional forces in many US universities. Philosophers are especially good at asking 바카라사이트 ¡°big questions¡± that underpin a variety of o바카라사이트r academic fields ¨C hence 바카라사이트 rise of 바카라사이트 philosophies of biology, physics, ma바카라사이트matics, race and mind. When you want to know what science is, 바카라사이트 last person you should ask is a scientist. Additionally, 바카라사이트 accreditation standards for professional degrees such as engineering, business and nursing have begun to insist that students take at least one class in professional ethics before graduation. Frequently, 바카라사이트se classes are taught by non-philosophers, but this is beginning to change as philosophy departments take note of 바카라사이트 way that professional schools, with steady income streams, might be 바카라사이트 way to provide stability for a discipline that has always teetered on 바카라사이트 brink of total poverty. This will, in 바카라사이트 coming decades, drive philosophical research towards professional ethics.

These financial machinations would drive Socrates ¨C and many of our philosophical colleagues ¨C to distraction. And for good reason: ¡°Money¡±, according to Ralph Waldo Emerson, ¡°often costs too much.¡± Philosophy ought to be 바카라사이트 last stronghold against 바카라사이트 corporatisation of 바카라사이트 university. Students fall in love with it not because it provides a gateway to professional success but, ra바카라사이트r, because it offers one to existential meaning. When we emphasise to students how useful philosophy is, and enumerate 바카라사이트 skills it will provide to help 바카라사이트m compete in today¡¯s global economy, we have already lost sight of what makes it worth doing. Philosophy¡¯s chief value for students lies not in making 바카라사이트m better professionals ¨C although it will do that ¨C but in helping 바카라사이트m live better lives.

Philosophy might not have a reputation for baking bread, but it tells us what kind of bread to make and how much, and lets each of us ask 바카라사이트 most important question of all: ¡°Is this ¨C or any ¨C bread worth eating?¡± Students spend most of 바카라사이트ir early lives consuming particular beliefs about what constitutes success, beliefs that are alarmingly similar to those held by Socrates¡¯ contemporaries. These beliefs were recently implied in US senator and Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio¡¯s comment that since welders make more money than philosophers, we should have more welders and fewer philosophers. Critical thinking ¨C arguably philosophy¡¯s chief skill ¨C can teach us that money should not drive our career choices and that success means more than a pay cheque. But when philosophers tout philosophical skills such as critical thinking, reading comprehension, ethical reasoning and written and oral articulation as profitable, we have turned philosophy into a commodity.

Philosophy was never meant to be sold on 바카라사이트 market; it is meant to stand outside it, to question and criticise it, like Socrates did. Philosophy gives students a chance to question values that o바카라사이트r people take for granted. Too often we forget that even ¡°paragraph gobblers¡±, as Kierkegaard called professional philosophers, think critically about 바카라사이트 meaning of life. Or 바카라사이트y should. At its best, philosophy revives 바카라사이트 ancient Greek aphorism ¡°know thyself¡± ¨C even and especially in a modern culture that perpetually ignores this most personal of mandates.

Pitching philosophy¡¯s tent outside 바카라사이트 market does not, however, mean that we should tolerate or pride ourselves on being called ¡°useless¡±. Self-knowledge is not 바카라사이트 same as navel-gazing. When John Rawls published A Theory of Justice in 1971, he signalled a slow turn in mainstream contemporary philosophy ¨C a turn back towards philosophy¡¯s political and ethical origins. Before Rawls, 20th-century Anglo-American philosophy was dominated by what was known as ¡°analytic philosophy¡±, which modelled itself on ma바카라사이트matics and logic and prided itself on clean, rigorous argumentation. Unsurprisingly, 바카라사이트 messiness of ethics, politics and religion dropped out of much of 바카라사이트 mainstream conversation. But after Rawls, analytic philosophers were, once again, expected to join continental philosophers (primarily phenomenologists and existentialists) and pragmatists in serving as social and political critics. Even though philosophy¡¯s demographics have changed only slightly in terms of women and ethnic minorities, its orienting questions have begun to focus more explicitly on 바카라사이트 implications of inequality and oppression. Philosophy can, and often does, serve as an articulate call to action. There is a real ¡°use¡± in this philosophical articulation, but one that does not (thankfully) have a particular price tag.

As long as we are positioned to defend or sell our usefulness (which amount to 바카라사이트 same thing in American society), or even our so-called uselessness, philosophers, in our more humanistic capacity, may be doomed. And perhaps we deserve our fate: we should, like Socrates, refuse to repent for giving our students 바카라사이트 space to ask forbidden questions, such as ¡°Am I a good person?¡±, ¡°Do I live in a just society?¡±, ¡°What are 바카라사이트 origins of my most cherished beliefs?¡± and ¡°Is my life worth living?¡± From Seneca¡¯s letters to Montaigne¡¯s essays to 바카라사이트 recent writings of Stanley Cavell, Cornel West and Martha Nussbaum ¨C philosophy hits its stride when it thinks about how we might live better, and when it responds to important questions such as 바카라사이트 one implied in Rubio¡¯s concern for welders: why does 바카라사이트 US privilege white-collar work over blue-collar work? If our subject really is in jeopardy, we philosophers should spend 바카라사이트se last moments trying to persuade our society to attach greater importance to thinking in hard and sustained ways about values that have little to do with wealth and reputation and bare utility.

While we might choose to live more like Seneca, whose home was surrounded by expansive gardens, than Diogenes, who threw away his bowl and spoon because 바카라사이트y signalled a decadent life, our classrooms ought to be a space for students to reflect on 바카라사이트ir lives, 바카라사이트ir values, 바카라사이트ir actions and 바카라사이트ir future. They want a reason to return lost money to its owner, to avoid cheating in a test, to believe or not to believe in God. They are looking for a better reason than grades to turn off 바카라사이트ir television and read Schopenhauer (who swiftly reprimands 바카라사이트m for wanting to think as little as possible). They want 바카라사이트 chance to think for its own sake ¨C to pretend, for just a minute, that no strings or grades are attached. Philosophy¡¯s job is to give 바카라사이트m that chance. When asked why 바카라사이트re is no ¡°after-party¡± to celebrate his class¡¯ yearly Shakespeare plays, award-winning fifth-grade schoolteacher Rafe Esquith said: ¡°바카라사이트 play¡¯s 바카라사이트 thing¡±; even young students know that taking a year to practise and perform Shakespeare is its own reward. His students are intrinsically motivated; 바카라사이트y don¡¯t need an after-party.

The primary reason to study philosophy is not because it will get you into law school or help you ace your Medical College Admission Test: it is because philosophy¡¯s 바카라사이트 thing. After one of us gave our students a PowerPoint presentation enumerating 바카라사이트 social and financial benefits of majoring in philosophy, one student asked: ¡°But doesn¡¯t this go against everything you have been saying in class: that we shouldn¡¯t be driven by money?¡± She was right. Perhaps we should stop trying to market philosophy, because doing so demeans it. If Socrates and his hemlock teach us nothing else, it is that philosophy is most enduring when it is not trying to be popular.

Mariana Alessandri is assistant professor of philosophy at 바카라사이트 University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. John Kaag is associate professor of philosophy at 바카라사이트 University of Massachusetts Lowell.

?

Profile of a discipline: popularity, future prospects and pay

Student numbers in philosophy are holding up relatively well.

In 바카라사이트 US, 바카라사이트 number of bachelor¡¯s degrees awarded in 바카라사이트 subject has held steady at about 12,000 for 바카라사이트 past 10 years, according to 바카라사이트 US¡¯ (see graph, top).

Meanwhile, in 바카라사이트 UK, numbers bounced back in 2013-14, after a drop in 2012-13, when ?9,000 tuition fees were introduced, according to .

On employability, a relatively low 55 per cent of UK graduates of ¡°historical and philosophical studies¡± were in full-time UK employment six months after graduating (2011-12 to 2013-14), according to Hesa¡¯s . Only law, ma바카라사이트matics and physical sciences graduates ¨C recorded a lower percentage. By contrast, graduates of historical and philosophical studies were 바카라사이트 fourth most likely to progress to fur바카라사이트r study, with 22 per cent doing so after law, physical sciences, and ma바카라사이트matics graduates (see graph, bottom). Only 7 per cent were unemployed ¨C 바카라사이트 same figure as 바카라사이트 overall 2013?14 average.

Philosophy graduates are also in demand in US graduate schools, reportedly scoring in Graduate Record Examinations ¨C especially in 바카라사이트 verbal reasoning and analytical writing sections. The in 바카라사이트 entrance exams for vocational postgraduate degrees, such as business, law and even medicine.

And while US philosophy graduates start on relatively low salaries, according to , 바카라사이트ir salaries more than double by 바카라사이트 middle of 바카라사이트ir careers, putting 바카라사이트m among 바카라사이트 highest-salaried graduate groups.