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There's a lot of work done in analytical philosophy. There's still good work being done in all different kinds of philosophy. See Thomas Nagel.

by jtth 10y ago

Maarten88 10y ago
I did not know who Thomas Nagel is so I looked him up and read about his philosophy work. I'm not deep into philosophy, but to me that backed up the argument of the grandparent: it would certainly make me depressed if this was regarded as very prominent progress in my science discipline. Maybe I missed it, but I did not read anything on the connection between his philosophical theories and reality, using experiments or neuro-scientific analysis as proof. It seems neuroscience and evolutionary biology give much better insights what things like self-consciousness, morals, subjectivity, spirit really are, and not much has been added to philosophy since what philosophers like Daniel Dennet wrote 20 years ago.
WaltPurvis 10y ago
I don't mean to slight Nagel's recent work, which I haven't read, but (honest question here, because I don't have a clue) would you say that Nagel's recent work is generally considered as important or groundbreaking as what he did 30 and 40 years ago? Because my impression is that Nagel's most impressive work was done decades ago, which, if true, doesn't support the idea that philosophy is currently a vibrant field with lots of groundbreaking work going on.
- woodruffw 10y ago
  This isn't a direct response to your question, but people often refer to the last few decades (or even centuries) of philosophy as "current". 40 years may be ancient in experimental science, but it's practically yesterday in philosophy.
  - WaltPurvis 10y ago
    That's true, but I don't believe the vibrancy of philosophy 30 or 40 years ago would play much of a factor in professional philosophers' current job/life satisfaction. They would probably need to see lots of great work being done over the past two or five years, or at most ten years, to feel excited about the state of their profession. (With some variation based on specialty, e.g., a professor of ancient philosophy probably wouldn't care as much about recent activity as a specialist in modern analytic philosophy, who in turn would probably care less than a philosopher of science.)

There's a lot of work done in analytical philosophy. There's still good work being done in all different kinds of philosophy. See Thomas Nagel.

by jtth 10y ago

There's a lot of work done in analytical philosophy. There's still good work being done in all different kinds of philosophy. See Thomas Nagel.

Maarten88 10y ago

I did not know who Thomas Nagel is so I looked him up and read about his philosophy work. I'm not deep into philosophy, but to me that backed up the argument of the grandparent: it would certainly make me depressed if this was regarded as very prominent progress in my science discipline. Maybe I missed it, but I did not read anything on the connection between his philosophical theories and reality, using experiments or neuro-scientific analysis as proof. It seems neuroscience and evolutionary biology give much better insights what things like self-consciousness, morals, subjectivity, spirit really are, and not much has been added to philosophy since what philosophers like Daniel Dennet wrote 20 years ago.

WaltPurvis 10y ago

I don't mean to slight Nagel's recent work, which I haven't read, but (honest question here, because I don't have a clue) would you say that Nagel's recent work is generally considered as important or groundbreaking as what he did 30 and 40 years ago? Because my impression is that Nagel's most impressive work was done decades ago, which, if true, doesn't support the idea that philosophy is currently a vibrant field with lots of groundbreaking work going on.

woodruffw 10y ago
This isn't a direct response to your question, but people often refer to the last few decades (or even centuries) of philosophy as "current". 40 years may be ancient in experimental science, but it's practically yesterday in philosophy.
- WaltPurvis 10y ago
  That's true, but I don't believe the vibrancy of philosophy 30 or 40 years ago would play much of a factor in professional philosophers' current job/life satisfaction. They would probably need to see lots of great work being done over the past two or five years, or at most ten years, to feel excited about the state of their profession. (With some variation based on specialty, e.g., a professor of ancient philosophy probably wouldn't care as much about recent activity as a specialist in modern analytic philosophy, who in turn would probably care less than a philosopher of science.)