Philosophy Belongs to Those Who Practice It

Why the Human Right to Think Cannot Be Credentialed

This is, after all, a philosophy blog.

Recently, someone told me it's “off-putting and self-absorbed” to call oneself a philosopher without academic credentials. This dismissal—delivered with the unquestioned certainty that only institutional validation confers legitimacy—illuminates not just a personal prejudice, but a profound historical theft: the capture of philosophy by the academy.

This isn't merely about who gets to claim a title. It's about something far more consequential—who gets to participate in humanity's oldest intellectual tradition. Who gets to ask fundamental questions about truth, meaning, and how we should live. Who gets to contribute to our collective understanding of reality.

Philosophy began not in lecture halls but in marketplaces. Not in peer-reviewed journals but in public dialogues. Not as a specialized discipline but as the birthright of thinking humans confronting existence. Socrates walked the streets of Athens questioning citizens from all walks of life. The Stoics taught in open colonnades. Diogenes lived his philosophy in the streets, confronting convention with embodied critique. For most of human history, philosophy was not an academic specialty but humanity's shared intellectual heritage—a way of examining life, questioning assumptions, and pursuing wisdom.