Benjamin Cain
2 min readOct 16, 2022

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Well, I'm certainly simplifying here and there's much more to say on this topic. It's complicated and it depends on what you want to emphasize. I'm sure you're right that everyone engages in some philosophical reflection, if we're defining that term broadly. And I'm encouraged by how some nonphilosophers have enjoyed reading my writings.

But what I think I'm focussing on is the bigger picture. Even on Medium, as I've written about in numerous articles, the bigger picture is that philosophy doesn't do so well here, not compared to sophistical substitutes such as the self-help and startup genres. Philosophy isn't even one of the categories a writer can excel in by being a "top writer," at least not since I last checked, a few months ago. Most readers even here, then, actively shun philosophy--not just the out-of-touch acadmic kind, but popularizations. They prefer to read more flattering fluff pieces. Of course, in the even bigger picture, we prefer not to read anything at all, but to watch videos which are just a mouse click away.

So when you say this is regrettable, I agree with you. It's lamentable even, but the problem isn't that I'm arbitrarily drawing a line in the sand. You may be more reflective than others, but the vast majority of young, liberal, professional readers here have no interest in reading anything like what I'm providing. (Of course, it's not about me, but about the genres.) Like "lemmings," they read only the most popular, superstar writers for fear of missing out. That's understandable but it indicates there are big problems with consumerism and the internet. Partly, that's the fault of intellectuals for not being willing to degrade themselves or to betray their principles, but mostly it's a structural problem: there's been a cold war between these hidden social classes for thousands of years.

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Benjamin Cain
Benjamin Cain

Written by Benjamin Cain

Ph.D. in philosophy / Knowledge condemns. Art redeems. / https://benjamincain.substack.com / https://ko-fi.com/benjamincain / benjamincain8@gmailDOTcom

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