78 upvotes, 2 direct replies (showing 2)
View submission: what makes someone a philosopher?
Thousands of dollars in student loans?
More to the point and less joking, I’ve always thought of it as a distinction of formality. Sort of like the distinction between a person who thinks critically about the world and a scientist. There is something more structured and intentional about being a philosopher. It isn’t just sitting down and asking questions but it’s engaging in a program that stretches back through time and across the world and involves certain kinds of methods and practices. The average Joe approaches the same subject matter but they don’t do it in as informed, careful, and scholarly way.
Comment by polymathictendencies at 26/01/2025 at 18:48 UTC
8 upvotes, 1 direct replies
do you think processes of legitimization in this case have been used as codes of exclusion in professional academic philosophy? what makes legitimization the determining criteria for whether or not someone is a philosopher? non-phd’s have contributed just as much if not more to philosophy than those who are professionalized in the narrow sense.
Comment by [deleted] at 27/01/2025 at 01:20 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
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