Philosophy as a specialized academic discipline, then, is viewed with a mixture of reverence, perplexity, and distrust. Somehow, philosophy when practiced by amateurs seems preferable to philosophy practiced by professionals. It is high praise for a specialist in some other field (a Schrödinger, or a Toynbee) to say that his work has “philosophical implications.” Among professional philosophers, we are happiest with those who first won distinction in other fields (as, for instance, Russell and Whitehead in mathematics). Like athletic skill or personal beauty, philosophy seems an excellent
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December 8, 2020. Page 400.
