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Setting aside the Presidential race itself, one of the candidates expressed a sentiment last night which, in my opinion, captured the spirit of a movement we discussed a couple of months ago...anti-intellectualism. Some say it doesn't exist, and that it is the creation of the "liberal media". But here was a statement which appeared to be crafted (although somewhat inartfully) to appeal to a certain segment of the American public. Inartfully? Well, it was a non sequitur. He said, to the best of my memory, "Welders make more than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers." One doesn't follow the other, unless one assumes as a given that making more necessarily means one is worth more. Second, welders don't make more than philosophers. Individuals with philosophy degrees make substantially more, mid-career, than welders. And shouldn't it be "fewer" philosophers?
But the meaning was clear...America would be better off with more people who tote hot sticks and fewer people who sit around pondering the meaning of life. Personally, I doubt that the candidate had a lot of training in Ontology or Epistemology or even basic Logic. Personally, I don't want to rely on the theory of knowledge espoused by Donald Rumsfeld. ("There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.") Personally, I think it is a good thing to have a mind which is trained to construct logical arguments based upon facts and to recognize flaws in the arguments of others.
Why, do you think, the candidate got such a rousing round of applause when he said yes to welders and no to philosophers? When else in our history did our populace hold those who value the search for pure knowledge in such disregard? Our founding fathers revered the great philosophers, the same thinkers who are revered today. What has changed? Why have philosophers become the enemy?
But the meaning was clear...America would be better off with more people who tote hot sticks and fewer people who sit around pondering the meaning of life. Personally, I doubt that the candidate had a lot of training in Ontology or Epistemology or even basic Logic. Personally, I don't want to rely on the theory of knowledge espoused by Donald Rumsfeld. ("There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.") Personally, I think it is a good thing to have a mind which is trained to construct logical arguments based upon facts and to recognize flaws in the arguments of others.
Why, do you think, the candidate got such a rousing round of applause when he said yes to welders and no to philosophers? When else in our history did our populace hold those who value the search for pure knowledge in such disregard? Our founding fathers revered the great philosophers, the same thinkers who are revered today. What has changed? Why have philosophers become the enemy?