Because of the failure of religion to offer satisfying answers to an increasing number of people, it's time for philosophy to address forcefully these questions that everybody is wondering about.
Rebecca GoldsteinPlato conceived of philosophy as necessarily gregarious rather than solitary. The exposure of presumptions is best done in company, the more argumentative the better.
Rebecca GoldsteinPlato worried that philosophical writing would take the place of living conversations for which, in philosophy, there is no substitute.
Rebecca GoldsteinOne of the peculiar features of philosophical questions is how eager people are to offer solutions that miss the point of the questions. Sometimes these failed solutions are scientific, and sometimes they are religious, and sometimes they are based on what is called plain common sense.
Rebecca GoldsteinWe need science. We need empirical evidence. We can't just use mathematical reasoning to deduce the nature of the world.
Rebecca GoldsteinI think one reason is that philosophers are more insecure to speak accessibly because non-philosophers are skeptical that philosophers have any special expertise. After all, all people - not just philosophers - have attitudes and points of view on various philosophical questions, and they rather resent being told that there are professionals who can think about these things better.
Rebecca Goldstein