But his book was nearly fifty years ago. Is that still the state of things?
I was in a terminal MA program, and that was very much the case. Entire courses were taught on the works of specific people, e.g. “David Lewis,” and much of the focus was on exegesis of written works, ranging from the Greeks to the mid 20th century. There were certainly exceptions to this, but philosophology was very much alive and well where I was. I don’t know how it is for PhD programs, and I’d bet it varies considerably.
There’s a recent trend towards formal methods, and you’ve had some movements like experimental philosophy that have also deviated from these trends. I myself went into a psychology PhD program since I thought there’d be more tolerance for my empirical approach to philosophy there (I was correct), and because philosophology isn’t my thing. I’ve noticed that almost all of the papers and work I deal with in philosophy was published in the last 30 years or so, with an emphasis on the past 15 years or so. But I’m an advocate of “exophilosophy”: doing philosophy outside the formal academic setting of philosophy departments, so I have limited insight into the state of philosophy PhD programs proper.
Pirsig’s remarks seem a bit pessimistic. I’ve seen plenty of dissertations or articles generated from philosophical work that are very argument-centric. I don’t know what an exhaustive search of the literature would reveal, but people can and do succeed at focusing on doing philosophy and presenting arguments; there isn’t some universal demand that everyone focus mostly on history. I’d like to hear from some people with more direct experience in these programs, though.
I was in a terminal MA program, and that was very much the case. Entire courses were taught on the works of specific people, e.g. “David Lewis,” and much of the focus was on exegesis of written works, ranging from the Greeks to the mid 20th century. There were certainly exceptions to this, but philosophology was very much alive and well where I was. I don’t know how it is for PhD programs, and I’d bet it varies considerably.
There’s a recent trend towards formal methods, and you’ve had some movements like experimental philosophy that have also deviated from these trends. I myself went into a psychology PhD program since I thought there’d be more tolerance for my empirical approach to philosophy there (I was correct), and because philosophology isn’t my thing. I’ve noticed that almost all of the papers and work I deal with in philosophy was published in the last 30 years or so, with an emphasis on the past 15 years or so. But I’m an advocate of “exophilosophy”: doing philosophy outside the formal academic setting of philosophy departments, so I have limited insight into the state of philosophy PhD programs proper.
Pirsig’s remarks seem a bit pessimistic. I’ve seen plenty of dissertations or articles generated from philosophical work that are very argument-centric. I don’t know what an exhaustive search of the literature would reveal, but people can and do succeed at focusing on doing philosophy and presenting arguments; there isn’t some universal demand that everyone focus mostly on history. I’d like to hear from some people with more direct experience in these programs, though.