Why our public sphere needs the practice of philosophy

Comment published on New York Times blog in response to opinion essay by (University of Chicago Philosophy Professor) Agnes Callard, “Why philosophers should not sign petitions,” August 13, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/13/opinion/philosophers-petitions.html#commentsContainer&permid=101983505:101983505:

The practice of philosophy, which in our society is limited to experts, holds a key to the survival and health of our republic. We would do well to take a cue from France, where philosophy is a required subject for high school graduation, and is linked to the use of the essay exam, which asks one to think, not know.

There is an idea of reason and discussion without which democracy dies. And indeed, American society is far more liberal than democratic. It is sophistical, because Sophism reduces thought to opinion, and that means it ceases to function as thought. A democracy where "the people" rule but based only on the expression of will rather than reason will become a totalitarian tyranny, a lie sustained by demagogues, or both.

Our democracy is based on shows of superior force reflecting will, as determined and numerous, the numbers representing force. Petitions are like demonstrations in this respect, and so is voting. Appeals to authority on the one hand, ad hominem attacks on the other: It is as if argument has been replaced by advertising spots.

There is little sign that reason has value in our culture, yet taste and capacity for it are universal. Opposed to it is a culture of management, which includes therapies and "spiritualities," and needs, via administration. The political is reduced to the personal, or to wants. Authoritarianisms grow in soils of truths of importance; they are ever moralistic. Reason is, like beauty, impersonal.