In his essay “Philosophy Professionalized: How We Killed the Thing We Loved,” Robert Hanna defines “real philosophy” as follows: By real philosophy, [I] mean authentic, serious, synoptic, systematic reflection on the individual and collective human condition, and on the natural and social world in which human and other conscious animals live, move, and have their … [continue reading]

(Hanna and Paans, 2020: p. 35; diagram created by Otto Paans) In a companion-piece essay to his essay “Running On Empty: Why Hasn’t Professional Academic Philosophy Produced Any Important Ideas in the Last 50 Years?,” namely, “How To Make Two Neglected Brilliant Ideas into Important or Even Revolutionary Ideas,” Robert Hanna identifies two of those … [continue reading]

“The Death of Socrates by Means of the APA,” by Q, after “The Death of Socrates,” by Jacques-Louis David, 1787 (APP, 2013) By a brilliant philosophical idea, Robert Hanna means a philosophical idea that manifests great intellectual creativity, insight, and originality, opens up a new way of looking at a large domain of concepts, facts, … [continue reading]

(Philosophics, 2022) In “The Philosophy of Limits and Life-Shaping Philosophy,” Robert Hanna argues that, bracketting the issue of transcendental idealism, Kant’s 18th century philosophy of limits can be smoothly exported to our contemporary 21st century philosophical situation. Considered superficially, one might think that this exploration is essentially negative and skeptical. But on the contrary, upon … [continue reading]

(GPC, 2019) In Voltaire’s Candide, the scathing critique of abstract, world-alienated, self-alienating, sanctimonious theoretical philosophy in general, and of professional academic philosophy in particular—specifically exemplified by 18th century Leibnizian/Wolffian rationalism and theodicy, or “theo-idiocy,” satirically represented by that iconic moralistic idiot of professional academic philosophy, Dr Pangloss—equally evocatively and provocatively concludes with the phrase “il … [continue reading]

(Murphy, 2021) In “The Analytic-Continental Divide, and How to Transcend it,” Robert Hanna argues that The Great Divide between Analytic philosophy and Continental philosophy is essentially an artifact of the social-institutional structure of the professional academy in the latter half of the 20th century and the first three decades of the 21st century, and if … [continue reading]

(Russell, 1912/2009) In “The Eleven Fundamental Problems of Philosophy and How to Solve The Hyper-Fundamental Problem,” Robert Hanna formulates a list of the eleven fundamental problems of philosophy, then identifies one of them–the problem of rational anthropology: what is the nature, meaning or purpose, and value of individual and collective rational human existence in a … [continue reading]

(Williams, 2021) In “Can Philosophers Change Their Minds” Robert Hanna argues that as many as 99% of all contemporary professional academic philosophers, after they’ve completed their PhD dissertations, as much as 99% of the time don’t read anything outside their AOS, as much as 99% of the time don’t work on anything outside their AOS, … [continue reading]

“The Death of Socrates by Means of the APA,” by Q (APP, 2013a), after “The Death of Socrates,” by Jacques-Louis David (1787) In “Philosophia Longa, Vita Brevis,” Robert Hanna correspondingly argues that philosophia longa, vita brevis. That neologized Latin aphorism means: “philosophy is long, life is short.” Of course, Hanna riffing on the classical aphorism … [continue reading]

 Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)  Timothy Williamson (1955-present) In “Kant, Williamson, and the Future of Analytic Philosophy,” Robert Hanna points out that it’s a truth not generally acknowledged, that all Anglo-American-&-European philosophy since Kant—i.e., since the end of the 18th century—is post-Kantian. This is of course trivially true, in that all Anglo-American-&-European philosophy since the end of … [continue reading]