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3 responses to “The MacArthur Drought in Philosophy”

1. 

   Clement Loo

   September 18, 2014

   Does it bother anyone else that philosophy is generally believed to be relatively irrelevant? I actually find myself quite troubled by it. It makes me worry that our field, which historically has had more in the past to say to the general public, has become insular and esoteric to the extent where I’m concerned that the general public is correct in its perceptions of our field.
   I’m aware that the general response to the above worry is something akin to, “so what, theoretical physics and pure math are just as inaccessible and irrelevant to the average lay person.”
   But is that something that our field, which I like to pretend has a grand history of figures such as Socrates, Hobbes, and even Bertrand Russell making a public nuisance of themselves, ought to aspire towards?

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2. 

   Guest

   September 26, 2014

   It does, a bit, when people aggressively dismiss it. Probably as I take it as an aggressive dismissal of something I poured thousands of hours and pounds into, and was in love with at one point.
   Now I study in a mathematics department and work in clinical research data, I can say that here at least, it is relatively irrelevant.
   FWIW: Based solely on the popularity of the math-based tv show Numb3rs, and The Big Bang Theory – to say nothing of the popularity of books and documentaries or any other show (Dr Who anyone?) – I would say pure math and theoretical physics are far more accessible and relevant to the average lay person.
   While neither are, nor claim to be, documentaries or even really about math or physics – as opposed to crime drama and comedy – I wonder why no such show has, to my knowledge, made it to air, about a philosopher helping the FBI solve crimes, or two socially-clueless philosophers making their way through life.
   The average layperson will recognise Stephen Hawking, even just by picture. Half a billion people watched Carl Sagan’s ‘Cosmos’. People recognise the terms, ‘light speed’ and ‘black hole’ and ‘quantum physics’. Could the average layperson name you a single living philosopher? Recognise their photo? Recognise current technical terms in philosophy (that do not have a different lay meaning)?
   Try telling the average layperson that a recent paradigm of what you do was giving permission to say that the statement, ‘The present king of France is bald’ is false, without thereby having to believe that there is a king of France (or a round square, or unicorns, or…) Then tell them that in math, someone came up with an equation to help track down where a serial killer lives, even when that serial killer is trying to make their killings seem random – and you can learn all this from a TV drama. Then you’ll see what is accessible and relevant.

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3. 

   Mark Johnson

   July 22, 2016

   Thanks

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