Highlights of False Wisdom

Here is a list of  “highlights” — or features of False Wisdom —  that are of particular interest and that distinguish it from other books on philosophical methodology and the natures of philosophy and pseudo-philosophy:

• Explanations and illustrations in early chapters of the fundamental concepts of philosophy used in the remainder of the book  —  together with a thorough account of what philosophers have said about pseudo-philosophy throughout history. No prior knowledge of philosophy is assumed.
  
•  A focus on the questions “What is a philosopher?” and “What is a pseudo-philosopher?” rather than the more abstract and amorphous “What is philosophy?” and “What is pseudo-philosophy?”
• A thorough consideration of philosophy as a skilled trade rather than as an esoteric academic discipline largely unrelated to the everyday world of non-philosophers. This includes a discussion of what the philosopher’s products and services are, how these relate to the identification and treatment of pseudo-philosophy, and how — on practical grounds — the success of a philosopher or his work can be judged.
• An objective discussion of professional standards in philosophy, why clear statements of these seem to be absent in the university context and in academic philosophy, how this affects a comparison of the genuine philosopher with the pseudo-philosopher, and so how it affects our understanding of both pseudo-philosophy and philosophy.
• A careful account – in Chapter 5: Philosophy, its Relatives and Imitators – of  how philosophy overlaps with (but is critically different from) other disciplines such as history, religion, theology, rhetoric, science, literature, poetry, and psychology.
• The use of models and personas to characterize and contrast the genuine philospher with the pseudo-philosopher. This is coupled with the use of markers of philosophy and of pseudo-philosophy, and analogies are drawn to markers used in biomedicine, forensic science, and business and finance. This approach to distinguishing philosophy and pseudo-philosophy yields a Pragmatic Model of pseudo-philosophy that is historically accurate, conceptually sound, and directly applicable to cases of pseudo-philosophy encountered in the real world.
• An emphasis on the dangers and consequences of pseudo-philosophy – illustrated in the final three chapters by an examination of Nursing Theory, Keith Raniere and NXIVM, and Ayn Rand’s approach to Objectivism and self-interest ethics.
• A thorough treatment of Ayn Rand’s approach that is sympathetic to her goals while being critical of her methods as undercutting those goals. Some new insights are also provided into why Rand approached philosophy as she did, and why she felt compelled to.