n>Four years ago, philosophers Robert Frodeman and Adam Briggle published an article with the New York Times’ Opinionator Blog entitled “When Philosophy Lost its Way.” The fundamental argument of the piece is that from the 19th century on, specialization has ruled the discipline: “If philosophy was going to have a secure place in the academy, it needed its own discrete domain, its own arcane language, its own standards of success and its own specialized concerns.” Not long after, Scott Soames’ forceful response argued that philosophers are still contributing to the physical, biological, and social sciences, as well as ethics, law, and politics–much as they have been from the time of the pre-Socratics. In his recently published The World Philosophy Made: From Plato to the Digital Age, Soames offers a book-length treatment of this theme.Read Full Article »
