Philosophy, Culture, Politics

Philosophy,  Culture,  and Politics   The importance of an understanding of philosophy in having a firm grasp of competing ideologies within culture and politics cannot be stressed enough.  I am always surprised at the naivete   of those who are college educated,  but did not go beyond the Intro.  to Philosophy requirements in their reading.  I admire Lou Marinoff for his setting up of a philosophical "cafe society"  in  New York in the 1990s, and his heroic attempt  -  largely successful  -   to make inroads into the general culture for philosophical practice and applied philosophy in general.  

One of my bloggers,  who has full author's rights on this site,  Eric Bryant,  is a philosophical counselor;   a talented philosopher and writer,   who has experienced the typical problems which all practicioners go through in getting  a client base.   But I think the idea of philosophical discourse in the cafe-style may be just as important a venue for a philosophical practitioner,  particularly in this time of "the changing of the guard".  We now have a president who is highly literary,  and strongly philosophical.  Steeped in the writings of philosopher Reinhold Niebuhr,  Obama's ideas are ideologically grounded;  thus  his "Change"  mantra  goes beyond  political rhetoric. 

I can think of no more important cultural exersize,  than to examine philosophically the problems that our culture faces nationally and globally,  and to understand that there is a coherent philosophy to Obama's policies.  Thus,  the questioning of them ought to be just as coherent and philosophically grounded.  Thoughts for future projects.  A couple of interesting items:  in Spring 2008 Hypatia,  Haslanger's Changing the Ideology and Culture of Philosophy:  Not by Reason (Alone) ,  available for pdf download.  Also an informative site:  http://www.comm.umn.edu/foucault/ppc.html  
and an excellent compendium of the works of Lasch :  http://www.bigbrother.net/~mugwump/Lasch/