Philosophers frequently complain that they are edging towards extinction. As philosophers Robert Frodeman and Adam Briggle noted in a piece in January in The New York Times : “…Having become specialists, we have lost sight of the whole. The point of philosophy now is to be smart, not good. It has been the heart of our undoing.” They make the point that many domains of philosophy — what constitutes knowledge, the structure of the natural world, how we can distinguish science from non-science, ethics — have been taken over by physicists, economists and ecologists. However a less-discussed aspect is that philosophers were once also known for their eccentricities. Their quirks made it to pop culture and made their ideas, their writings, better known to a wider audience.
Wittgenstein’s Poker , a quirky book by David Edmonds and John Eidinow, recounts a 10-minute confrontation between two of the most famous philosophers of the 20th century: Ludwig Wittgenstein and Karl Popper. The debate between them was if philosophy had real problems to solve or whether its purpose was to clear the confusions that cropped up because language was used imprecisely. Very heavy, yes, but the pop culture moment was when Wittgenstein apparently pointed a red, hot poker at Popper’s face and finally left in a huff — within 10 minutes — banging the door on his way out. Edmond and Eidinow investigate whether this really happened, and through this take us to ideas about scientific knowledge and how the experience of being Jewish influenced the philosophical outlook of these two giants of Western philosophy.
The most famous philosopher now alive, Slavoj Zizek, who churns out a book every two years, is referred to as a ‘rock star’ philosopher. With his scruffy beard, he is as much an authority on the European refugee crisis as he is on cinema. However his new book, Refugees, Terror and Other Troubles With The Neighbours, may not be as popular as his psychoanalytic take on several Hollywood classics called the The Pervert’s Guide To Ideology that is a YouTube hit.
Philosophy, to stay alive, sorely needs its pop culture moments.
jacob.koshy@thehindu.co.in
