Philosophy: What is to be done?––Bleak prospects

Abstract

Culturally, America is well overdue for a Second Enlightenment, but since the dominant majority of its citizens are regrettably both symbol-minded and star-craving mad, and since the mass media are generally inaccessible to us, the chance that contemporary philosophers could contribute to such a thing, much less help instigate it, is near vanishingly small. As educators, in contrast, we can perhaps make ourselves useful by beginning to clear the extensive muck out of at least some of our students’ minds. In any event, the discipline of philosophy as such is in serious need of renewal, but that, should it unexpectedly happen, will be matter of luck rather than a result of deliberate action.