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> Smarter philosophers could say things that would permit more people to gain greater understanding, wouldn't you say. This contains the assumption that the pu
by jplayer01 7y ago
> Smarter philosophers could say things that would permit more people to gain greater understanding, wouldn't you say.
This contains the assumption that the purpose of philosophers is to convey philosophy to the masses. I'm not sure why it should be. An electrical engineer's job isn't to convey electronics to lay people. A mathematicians' job isn't to convey his work to laypeople. There are people of those disciplines who take up that as their purpose, and this is an important, crucial role, but to pretend that the goal of every great engineer, scientist or philosopher is to do it is absurd.
- dr_dshiv 7y agoExplaining to the masses is one thing. I'm saying the smarter philosophers are able to understand concepts well enough to explain clearly to other smart people. Like, say Richard Feynman in physics. He is smarter, I'd say, for being able to develop concepts and communicate them. I agree it is a different job to do promotion. But it's an issue if Wittgenstein couldn't communicate comprehensibly to the greatest philosophers of his time -- or experts of today.