Are you more Socratic, or Academic?
- Academic
- Socratic
We have two competing images of the philosopher, although that is not to say that there can be no others - the socratic and the academic. I choose these labels for pragmatic reasons, not absolute definitions. Here is my explanation of the two:
(1) On the one hand, we have the image of the philosopher who lives his philosophy, who is personally invested in his ethics, his metaphysics, his ontology, and lives his life according to that philosophy. I label this type “socratic” because, for me, it goes along with the image of socrates engaging in philosophical discourse with all classes of people. “The unexamined life is not worth living”. Socrates wanted us to examine our lives and our assumptions philosophically, to go through a process that made the most common man a philosopher, and gave him the intellectual stability to live his life according to a fully-formed, philosophical view of the world.
(2) And on the other hand, we have the more modern image of the academic philosopher, who is not personally invested in his philosophy, although he may be professionally invested in it. His personal life and his philosophical life are separate. His philosophy is not built to help guide his life, its goal is not to define the good life. His philosophy mainly has the purpose of academic battle and achievement.
These two images are not meant to be perfect. I do not mean to say that every philosopher is literally and exclusively one or the other. I do not mean to say that either of these images tells the whole story. But I do think they are true enough, and that asking ourselves where we stand in the spectrum between the two can be useful.
I want to ask the members of this forum: What do you think about these two images of the philosopher? Do you think we have lost something by removing philosophy from our personal lives? Do you have a personal philosophy that actually guides your choices in life?
This is meant to be an open discussion, please make any comments about this that might occur to you. The only thing that I ask is that you do not spend time questioning whether the distinction is completely true, or meaningful. I recognize the limitations and simplifications inherent in these images. This is intended merely as a jumping off point for constructive discussion.
