I wonder whether it’s because they don’t realize the problem with not being specific, or whether they are aware of it, but they do it anyway as a part of some signalling game. And what specifically would be the rules of the signalling game?
It is merely: “If you don’t understand me, it means I am deeper thinker than you?” Or something more sophisticated, like: “You can understand me, but to do that you have to read a lot of my texts very carefully. People who admire me are more likely to do it than people who don’t, which is how I increase the ratio of people who agree with me among those qualified to discuss me”?
Yet another option would be that philosophers use multiple channels for communication. Maybe they speak clearly and define their terms when speaking in person, but have a taboo against doing so in writing.
I doubt any of those are good guesses. They think they are operating at the right level of abstraction, and they think that they meaningfully contribute to the body of human knowledge, and they don’t have any secret communication channels anymore than mathematicians do. They definitely play the status games, but no more than any other group.
They definitely play the status games, but no more than any other group.
I’d expect that the local janitor considers status games and their personal status less than the philosophy students that he or she cleans up after. I’d argue that working in higher education is itself a sign that someone pays more attention to the status-game than most, and that philosophy in specific attracts higher-status-seekers than other fields.
There are some selection pressures going on, here (tenure, costs, limited availability, the selection processes favoring status).
I doubt it’s the biggest cause, or even a big cause, but I’d not dismiss it entirely.
I wonder whether it’s because they don’t realize the problem with not being specific, or whether they are aware of it, but they do it anyway as a part of some signalling game. And what specifically would be the rules of the signalling game?
It is merely: “If you don’t understand me, it means I am deeper thinker than you?” Or something more sophisticated, like: “You can understand me, but to do that you have to read a lot of my texts very carefully. People who admire me are more likely to do it than people who don’t, which is how I increase the ratio of people who agree with me among those qualified to discuss me”?
Yet another option would be that philosophers use multiple channels for communication. Maybe they speak clearly and define their terms when speaking in person, but have a taboo against doing so in writing.
I doubt any of those are good guesses. They think they are operating at the right level of abstraction, and they think that they meaningfully contribute to the body of human knowledge, and they don’t have any secret communication channels anymore than mathematicians do. They definitely play the status games, but no more than any other group.
I’d expect that the local janitor considers status games and their personal status less than the philosophy students that he or she cleans up after. I’d argue that working in higher education is itself a sign that someone pays more attention to the status-game than most, and that philosophy in specific attracts higher-status-seekers than other fields.
There are some selection pressures going on, here (tenure, costs, limited availability, the selection processes favoring status).
I doubt it’s the biggest cause, or even a big cause, but I’d not dismiss it entirely.