Socrates Tenured

Socrates Tenured argues that academic philosophy has abandoned its roots and lost its way—it is sterile, insular, and largely unengaged with issues that the public cares about. Frodeman and Briggle (both, Univ. of North Texas) are less worried about whether this is defensible than they are about the likely practical upshot of this turn of events. They believe philosophy as currently practiced is unsustainable because the cost cannot be justified to state legislators and administrators at private schools; funds are bound to be cut for philosophy programs and shifted to areas thought to be more relevant, such as STEM programs. But the authors believe the situation is not hopeless. Philosophers can revive their discipline by addressing issues that society cares about and writing about those issues in language that nonspecialists can understand, though that language may be less rigorous than is currently required by professional standards. This process requires philosophers to engage in what the authors call "field philosophy"—to become more interdisciplinary and inter-institutional (by working with state legislatures, hospitals, and local governments, for example). Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty. * CHOICE *
[A] lively and provocative new book … Socrates Tenured offers a bold diagnosis of philosophy’s malaise and a proposed means to escape it: whatever your view of the proposals, they are worth exploring and debating * LSE Review of Books *
Bob Frodeman and Adam Briggle pose a fundamental problem in Socrates Tenured, wondering whether "academic philosophers are ready to help society think.” For the sake of the discipline, to be sure, but more importantly for the sake of society, I hope readers take up the challenges posed in this important book. -- Michael S. Roth, President, Wesleyan University
We have not had such a reflective and thorough study of the institutional setting for philosophy affects since John Dewey’s Reconstruction in Philosophy. Frodeman and Briggle show that academe shapes how philosophy is received as much as how it is practiced. -- Paul Thompson, W. K. Kellogg Chair in Agricultural, Food and Community Ethics, Michigan State University