Why So Boring?
Why is so much philosophy so boring? Most of us wisdom lovers got into the game because we found ideas exciting, right? So howcome when you go to a philosophy conference, nine times out of ten, it’s some guy with a beard droning on and on about something you (well, at least me) can’t keep your (well, at least my) eyes open to?
Yesterday, I attended a talk that had an interesting title and was given by a fellow of some renown in his field. Ten minutes after he started in, I was doing the head nod: my eyes were heavy and I was drifting in and out of sleep. Soon, I had to leave before I gave myself whiplash.
A couple weeks ago, I saw a guy who’s probably one of the top 5 thinkers in his field; admittedly, his field is esoteric, but still: couldn’t have been half as provocative as he was soporific?
Sure, some it’s me. Perhaps if I were better-versed in the material being explicated and critiqued, I’d be better able to hang with it. And if I weren’t so biased in favor of applied over purely theoretical philosophy, then I’d probably have more patience with material that rarely touches the ground.
But still: don’t philosophers have some responsibility to their audience to connect? Is it enough to put the ideas out for consumption? Shouldn’t they be served up in a slightly more appetizing way?
I know my students make the same complaint about all the greats. They think Descartes, Plato, even Mill, are all as boring as software documentation. While I’m roaming around the classroom singing the praises of Mill’s prose, they’ve got their heads on their desks and are sawing wood. I want to shake them and tell them that this is great stuff, but they just want to sleep.
So there’s tradition here: philosophy puts people to sleep when what it’s really supposed to do is wake us up.
Yesterday, I attended a talk that had an interesting title and was given by a fellow of some renown in his field. Ten minutes after he started in, I was doing the head nod: my eyes were heavy and I was drifting in and out of sleep. Soon, I had to leave before I gave myself whiplash.
A couple weeks ago, I saw a guy who’s probably one of the top 5 thinkers in his field; admittedly, his field is esoteric, but still: couldn’t have been half as provocative as he was soporific?
Sure, some it’s me. Perhaps if I were better-versed in the material being explicated and critiqued, I’d be better able to hang with it. And if I weren’t so biased in favor of applied over purely theoretical philosophy, then I’d probably have more patience with material that rarely touches the ground.
But still: don’t philosophers have some responsibility to their audience to connect? Is it enough to put the ideas out for consumption? Shouldn’t they be served up in a slightly more appetizing way?
I know my students make the same complaint about all the greats. They think Descartes, Plato, even Mill, are all as boring as software documentation. While I’m roaming around the classroom singing the praises of Mill’s prose, they’ve got their heads on their desks and are sawing wood. I want to shake them and tell them that this is great stuff, but they just want to sleep.
So there’s tradition here: philosophy puts people to sleep when what it’s really supposed to do is wake us up.
posted by Professor Dave at 10:57 AM
2 Comments:
I agree. Philosophy is boring.
I love you for this post. I'm one of those sleeping philosophy students...well, almost. I'm really passionate about philosophy but sometimes I think philosophers go out of their way to make their work as painfully boring to read as possible. So if i ever write any philosophy it'll be full of clever analogies, humor, and other interesting stuff.
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