Where are the Disciplines of the Mind Going? (Philosophy, Science, Political Theory)

The Masters of the titled disciplines, particularly those already ingratiated in academia, must consider the future for their study, which this eßay intends to stimulate.

There has been a strange trend emerging, and from a quick browsing on such public forums as Quora and Yahoo Answers, it would seem that the effects of the trend, if not the trend itself, are recognised by a not insignificant margin of the populace contained within these sites. Philosophy, science, any field which employs or used to employ the thoughtful faculties, has seemingly become closed to aspiring apprentices in society. Many of those forum posts indicate that academia has abandoned the proceß of seeking out a protégé (or protégés), and has in various ways retreated into the dark corridors of the university.

Methinks that this observation is in the main correct. The People's Biblium, an attempt to construct a privately owned subscription library aimed primarily at intellectuals, may serve as anecdotal evidence. The Biblium is very much an underground entity, not in the sense of being clandestine, quite the contrary: the Biblium has been a kennst project for some time, amongst some people. The People's Biblium Instagram account is public and has one hundred sixty seven followers. Its underground status is related to its lack of accennanment by any other organisation whatever. Now, the Biblium is an actual institution, offering tangible services, thus a mere single person seeking to pierce the veil of institutionalised stagnation which has beset these disciplines is likely in an even more precarious position for a task as this.

What are poßible solutions to preserving profeßions of the mind as a healthful, robust community of its own? Well, the very term 'community' at once infers a terrible failure of academia. Relying on institutions as centres of power is a folly. There were a time so far gone when the intelligentsia could not defer to institutions like the university or the research think tank. Long ago, intellectuals, as every other respectable craft, created our own communities, communities which acted the part. Plato was a protégé of Socrates, and Aristotle of Plato, whose organic, intellectual institutions of education moulded hundreds of apprentices to continue the philosophical tradition; the taking up of apprenticeships is a vital system practised by all communities who are keen on sufficiency for generations. The core to whichever solution shall remain the same betwixt all of them, the structure of community.

This short eßay was written on behalf of all my fellow novice intellectuals out there, to give us a glimpse of hope for a path forward, and hopefully to (momentarily at the least) reprieve us of the anxiety harboured in the storm of uncenning confusion. It is not a light burden, committing entirely one's labour to the implements of the mind. The university is no option, for to leave our intellectual brethren in the dark, storming winds is dishonourable to every extent, and would eventually doom the disciplines of the mind to vegetation until death. This is our community, and it is our duty to shape and enhance it, or rebuild it anew if that is what is required. Rebuilding begins... now.