Quote:
Originally Posted by WT Sharpe
To be fair, I'm speaking of the general population; among whom there's not a great deal of interest on this side of the pond in philosophy. I have no idea about Denmark, but I suspect British students are much better versed in the subject than American students. I couldn't imagine American comedians coming up with a comedy sketch such as Monty Python's Philosophy Football and having the general population relate to it. If they did, it would probably only be appreciated by a niche audience.
George Lakoff is not a household name, but there is a good review of his The Political Mind: Why you can't understand 21st-century American politics with an 18th-century brain at newscientist.com. They also have an interview with Douglas Hofstadter you can read here. |
I guess it does depend on how general one takes the general population to be. In a snobby and elitist sort of way I suppose when I think of the general population I'm thinking of "people like us" - reasonably well-educated middle class folk who are generally interested in in the cultural life around them. And to be honest I suspect that doesn't describe the general population either in Denmark, where I live, or in the UK, where I'm from.
As for Monty Python, they were the epitome of elitism - Oxbridge educated, middle class chaps. Hilariously funny and ground breaking for all that. But it's still a mystery why "Heidegger, Heidegger, was a boozy beggar" was thought to be a funny line by most people - who presumably had never heard of Heidegger!