The Diversity of Practices in Theoretical Philosophy

Abstract

In the last decades, professional philosophy has undergone a growing process of proliferation, specialization, and fragmentation that has affected all its practices. Currently, most academic careers are developed in institutions, essentially universities, where performing a multiplicity of tasks is required: teaching, research, training of human resources, management and the transfer and extension of knowledge. Given the specialization of research, and its increasingly demanding nature, it is difficult to reconcile it with teaching and other academic tasks conducted simultaneously. In this work, I examine philosophical practices in the domain of theoretical philosophy, pointing out their similarities and differences with those of the natural and social sciences. I also point out that there is no consensus on a unique method proper to philosophy.