Philosophers

What makes one an official philosopher?

Comments

Having an office?

But really, this is the wrong question. There's no such thing as an "official philosopher". There are just people now writing on philosophical issues whose work is taken more or less seriously and is respected by other people seriously working on philosophical issues.

True, nearly all of these people are employed professionally as teachers and/or researchers by universities, and hence have offices! -- so I suppose they might be said to be "official" in an uninteresting sense . There are not many these days who are like Bertrand Russell with a private income. But of course it isn't that sort of professional status that matters about a philosopher, but whether they are any good.

So what makes it the case that this writer's work is taken more or less seriously and respected, and that writer's work isn't valued so much? I think I can recognize good philosophy, and hence a good philosopher (I have to say that, having edited one of the philosophy journals for a long time). But what criteria do I use? Now that's a good question!

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