Hermes, I don’t write in order to gather followers or claps, but to help me and others think. Criticism is always welcome, so long as it is constructive and respectful.

If suggesting a mandatory course in an educational setting strikes you as authoritarian, then you need to reject the entire educational system, which already includes a number of mandates, including on subject matters. So we more likely disagree only on what should be mandated, not whether there should be any requirement at all.

As for the poor press of philosophy and the alleged hyperbole in my suggestion, you’d be surprised how philosophy actually is these days. A number of high schools have introduced the teaching of philosophy in the US. So what I propose is not exactly a science fiction scenario.

Your reference to post-modernism is out of date. The so-called science wars were a feature of the ’90s and they are pretty much over now (in academia). And postmodernism has never been a major feature of philosophy departments throughout the US.

To “jump” from Greek philosophy to philosophy more generally is not a non sequitur, but a recognition that the Greeks, as important as they were, represent only a fraction of philosophy. In a multicultural society we shuld teach other traditions as well, including Indian and Chinese philosophy, for instance.

If it is self-serving for a professor of philosophy to suggest more teaching of philosophy, do you think it is self-serving for a doctor to advocate universal health care?