Why write philosophy on medium?

Heroes in the Seaweed
6 min readAug 12, 2023
Image in public domain. From stock-free.org

I recently came upon an article by Douglas Giles, PhD on why he, someone with academic training, writes on medium. It is an excellent piece, with which I found myself in deep sympathy. I warmly recommend it, if you’ve made it to this page, or read what it contains from time to time.

Giles tells us that he is a trained philosophy academic. He has published in academic journals. He has spoken at academic conferences. Nevertheless, he writes:

here’s the thing. Even the lowest-read article that I publish on Medium is read by more people than articles published in academic journals. Also, unlike academic journals, Medium leads to conversations …

If the purpose of writing is to reach people, and start discussions, that would be enough. Today’s universities for instance talk about ‘impact’ or ‘engagement’, so: tick.

Giles’ article also observes that nevertheless, the academy, today as perhaps always, isn’t primarily about starting conversations with a wide reading public, who might be interested in what philosophical ideas can do for them, outside of building a professional career.

Giles comments:

my readers on Medium give me the sense that when they think about philosophical ideas, they are thinking in terms of real life and how to make society a better place. Sadly, I…

Heroes in the Seaweed
Heroes in the Seaweed

Written by Heroes in the Seaweed

"There are heroes in the seaweed", L. Cohen (vale). Several name, people, etc. changes later, the blog of Aus. philosopher-social theorist Matt Sharpe.

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