> As an ex-asst.-prof-of-philosophy, I heartily agree. The Straussians,
> English-department pomos, etc., are not great shakes as philosophers.
> But the problem as I see it is that real philosophy is awfully hard for
> the general public, who have not had the necessary training, to
> understand, and that includes even more or less educated folks like
> writers in the New York Times. Let's face it -- who takes philosophy
> courses in college unless they're forced to, and how many even of the
> students who take them, except for the philosophy majors, really
> understand what the prof is trying to impart?
About half of my (non-major) friends have taken a philosophy course of their own volition. One and done, though: once they took intro, that was enough.
-- Luke