Future of Philosophy

Future of Philosophy

The future of philosophy in America looks dismal. I am not going to sugar-coat it. The root cause is job scarcity—a matter of supply and demand. There are very few jobs for too many people and it’s not going to change any time soon (probably never). Not many new people can get into the field. The result is that fewer people even try to. It just makes no prudential sense. A brilliant person with employment options will not risk a lengthy education in philosophy—he or she will go into law or tech or show business or journalism or physics. Thus, mediocrity is the likely outcome: lower quality and less quantity. Mediocrity breeds mediocrity. Mediocre teachers, mediocre researchers, mediocre writers—a general lack of spark. This mediocrity will put off brilliant people more. The public image of philosophy will suffer; it will be seen (correctly) as a sleepy dull field. No more articles about philosophy in intellectual publications. This process is already well underway: the intellectual level of the subject has dropped significantly during my time in it. At present some good people are still toiling in the vineyard, but they are old, past their prime, and ready for retirement. No one of comparable quality is there to replace them. Imagine the level in ten or twenty years from now! I also think there has been a noticeable decline in the moral quality of people in the profession—a lack of integrity, decency, courage. The field is full of cowards and moral fools (I told you I wouldn’t hold back). And morality and intellect go together. I won’t name names but I have been startled by the stupidity and spinelessness of younger members of the profession. Instead of creativity there is careerism. Academic politics has replaced hard work and inspiration. I wouldn’t be surprised if in a few years philosophy in the universities has become largely history of philosophy, or else intolerably pedestrian. The subject is just not what it was in the old days—up till about the turn of the century. But my point is that this will only get worse because of the job problem. No doubt other factors are at work such as a decline of intellectual standards, the forces of conformity, the lack of real literacy, the sheer brainlessness of culture at large. People are just not interesting anymore, not worth knowing. Dim, dull, depressing. Do I care? Not really—I’m no longer part of it.