[MD] continental and analytic philosophy

[ARLO J BENSINGER JR]

[John]
See, the professionals are stuck.  It's a logical problem known as "recursion"
and funny that those stuck in the defining of it can't see that they're in one.

[Arlo]
Okay, I'll bite. I see the problem a bit differently. I read that Goethe was
the "last man to know everything" (although I see such a charge has also been
attributed to Francis Bacon and Thomas Young (viva Google!) among others. The
point is that "at that time" knowledge was general and inter-connected in such
a way that such a "feat" was possible (if only rhetorically). 

Today, information has exploded, to the point where modern "professionals" are
experts of ever-decreasing bodies of minutia. Philosophy (as a branch of The
Academy) is no different. The concept of a "liberal education" has been
steadily replaced with ever-increasing demands on specificity, narrowness and
technicality. What is valued, economically and socially, is incredibly narrow
bands of expertise.

Its not that "professional philosophy" is unique in "moving away from 'real
life'", but that it is simply following the same path as every other discipline
(or domain). The genome specialists, who spend full days unraveling the genetic
code, are no less removed from "real life" than the philosopher who spends full
days arguing for an interpretation of a line in a book by Nietzsche. 

But there are, as I mentioned there, economic (and social) reasons this is
heading in this way. Economic and social capital is a function of carving out
niches that get smaller and smaller as competition and population grow. In the
trades, we see "handymen" typically earn far less per hour than the specialist
who does nothing but repair a certain brand or washing machine. Its the same
everywhere, philosophy (as an academic department) is no different.