
Why are so many smart people idiots about philosophy? - MattGrommes
https://qz.com/627989/why-are-so-many-smart-people-such-idiots-about-philosophy/
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CyberTrekker
Aside from the general points in other comments as well as the article itself,
I would contend that even modern philosophers are ignorant of real and abiding
philosophy.

The contemporary conception and definition of philosophy, of what it is about
and its methodology, is directly related to the misinterpretation and
misunderstanding of the approach adopted by some of the well-known ancient
Greek philosophers from their public works. From this error of conception and
approach, over time a solely intellectual approach has been developed by the
modern pseudo-philosophers with their equally pseudo-philosophy. Academia has
never truly understood the real nature of philosophy.

As for science, well a similar paradigm exists for it in its proclivity to be
defined and developed around a partial representation of what it means and
should be, from the point of human concepts and its bias. In other words, it's
been defined entirely from one philosophical perspective of life and its
methodology oriented around that restrictive perspective. This is the reason
that, until science itself learns to extend their perspective and conceptual
viewpoint, it will never arrive at real causes or origins but rest on mere
effects.

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scryder
If "smart person" is a proxy for "scientists and engineers", the answer seems
obvious; it's not included in their education.

Not in primary school, not in secondary school, not in their major, and not in
graduate school.

If people truly believed in the importance of "smart people" learning about
philosophy, they would put more effort into making sure they were actually
taught some at some point.

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woodandsteel
The ignorance of philosophy among educated people is a relatively recent
phenomenon. It happened in part because the American philosophical community
after WWII shifted away from pragmatism and adopted a type of philosophy,
namely analytic and logical positivist, that is quite counter-intuitive and
also quite irrelevant to most real problems in the world.

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Cozumel
To paraphrase whoever said it originally about Stephen Fry 'Nye is a stupid
persons idea of what a smart person is'.

A 'truly smart' person wouldn't dismiss an entire discipline out of hand
simply because they don't know anything about it, especially not philosophy
which is arguably the 'mother' of all science.

I do think it should be a part of basic education, philosophy and programming
are two skills that really teach you to think and will last a lifetime.

