Public Philosophy
In recent years, the term “public philosophy” has gained prominence in English-speaking philosophical circles. It denotes a range of endeavours through which professional philosophers engage with a broader, non-philosophical audience. These activities encompass public lectures on topics of general interest, the publication of more accessible books, various online initiatives such as podcasts, video content, philosophical magazines, interviews, blogs, and contributions to newspapers, radio, and television shows. In parallel with the intensification of the public presence of philosophy, more and more people are thinking about the very meaning and significance of public philosophical engagement and its most appropriate forms. It can be said that “public philosophy” has become a kind of movement within philosophy. Thus, in 2017, the American Philosophical Association (APA) issued a statement on the importance of public philosophy, which, among other things, states: “The APA encourages departments, colleges, and universities to recognize public philosophy as a growing site of scholarly involvement. To that end, the APA encourages institutions to develop standards for evaluating and practices for rewarding public philosophy in decisions regarding promotion, tenure, and salary, so that faculty members who are interested in this work may, if they choose, pursue it with appropriate recognition and without professional discouragement or penalty. Although peer-reviewed scholarly publications remain central to the profession, the APA applauds philosophers’ contributions to public policy, to consultation with government, medical, business, and civil society institutions, and to public opinion in general..“
The idea underlying the movement of public philosophy is a kind of return to the roots. The proponents of public philosophy remind us that philosophy was a public matter from its beginnings: Socrates practised his philosophical activity in the squares of Athens, in conversation with the so-called “ordinary” people, and ancient philosophical schools devoted an important part of their activities to influencing the public. In addition, many prominent figures from the history of philosophy, especially early modern philosophy, were not professional, academic philosophers but people with extensive interests, often with public involvement (e.g. René Descartes, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz or David Hume). After all, engaging with the public is an important part of the life and work of a number of philosophers of the 20th and 21st centuries (e.g. Bertrand Russell, Elisabeth Anscombe, Jürgen Habermas, Martha Nussbaum). The advocates of public philosophy emphasize the fact that philosophy considers issues that are of inherent interest to the broader public and society (critical thinking, understanding human nature, various social and technological challenges, social justice, etc.) so that philosophy cannot only be an academic discipline.
The movement of public philosophy today is primarily associated with the USA and, to a lesser extent, Great Britain, less with continental Europe. This is somewhat understandable, given the different historical and cultural circumstances of the development of philosophy in those parts of the world. In countries such as Germany or France, the relationship between philosophy and the public is somewhat different than in English-speaking countries. Nevertheless, the forms of public engagement in philosophy, as well as the need for it, are globally the same. To that extent, they transcend historical, cultural, linguistic, and other types of diversity.
This project is conceived as a contribution to the thematization of the public role and presence of philosophy. It will consist of two main parts: theoretical and practical.
In the theoretical part, we will consider the following questions:
Why is the public presence of philosophy as an academic discipline important or necessary?
What is the meaning of “public philosophy” anyway?
How does the public role of philosophy today differ from the one we find in past times?
In what sense can a philosopher be a public intellectual? Etc.
In the theoretical part of the project, special attention will be given to the history of philosophy as a publicly engaged discipline in Croatia. Several philosophical treatizes written in the Croatian language from the second half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century will be considered as exemplary cases, which, although primarily of academic philosophical content, contain a strong component of public (popularization and enlightenment) activity.
These are the following writings: Gjuro Arnold, Etika i poviest [Ethics and History (1879)], Franjo Marković, Etički sadržaj naših narodnih poslovica [Ethical Content of our folk proverbs (1886)], Bogoslav Šulek, Područje materijalizma [The Realm of materialism (1888)], Skender Fabković, Nešto o ponosu i njegovih srodnicih [Something about pride and its relatives (1892)], Albert Bazala, Filozofijska težnja u duhovnom životu Hrvatske od pada apsolutizma ovamo [Philosophical aspiration in the spiritual life of Croatia since the fall of absolutism here (1936)], Albert Bazala, O ideji nacionalne filozofije [On the idea of national philosophy (1938)]. These debates are examples of public philosophy insofar as their authors address a much wider audience than the scholarly circles and, what is more important, insofar as starting from the thematization of some specifically philosophical topics they actually try to directly influence the Croatian debates about science, culture, education and politics.
In addition, new editions of writings by Gj. Arnold, F. Marković, B. Šulek and S. Fabković will be prepared, with accompanying introductions.
In the practical part of the project, we will systematically work on popularization, i.e. a stronger presence of philosophy in public life in Croatia. We will establish a Center for Public Philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy. We will launch a popular philosophy review that will bring interviews, book reviews, philosophical news, popular essays, interesting and current content from other sources, etc.