Nice essay and just a great topic. You did point to a few challenges and frustrations of academic philosophy. Point. . .you did more than point. Part of me is sympathetic, but like others I also felt you might have missed something. That said, I abandoned the vocation or profession of philosophy shortly after my bachelors. and in part because I knew how daunting it would be to find a job once I completed a Masters or PhD.

I am afraid there is just too much going on here though . Here being the study of Philosophy. There is the romance of philosophy, of Socrates and the truth and so forth. There are the various intellectual puzzles, whether they be analytic or continental or ancient. Your puzzles circled it seemed around consciousness. Lately, mine buzz around nominalism. Then there is the reason one’s parents want you to typically go to college. . . to find a career, or a husband. And all of these fall under the heading of education, and at least in our cases, philosophy.

I do not think any philosopher makes a whole lot of money. Than again you simply ask for some retirement cash. There is I believe a price to be paid for pursuing academic philosophy. It is not valued vocation. People do not know what to do with it. And that includes, it seems, both you and I. That is part of the problem. Philosophy is kind of lost. Why study philosophy? It is nothing like computer science, though if I recall, Turing was in fact a student of Wittgenstein.

Lastly, a comment on academic philosophy. Perhaps as some suggest here, pursue philosophy, but just avoid the academy. Do it on your terms. Do it your way. Stay true to yourself. Is that really possible? Philosophy, though it requires a good amount of time quietly reading and reflecting, requires engagement. If not through or with the academy, than who? I look at popular culture today and say maybe that is not the solution. All of us are here now experimenting online, today with the Medium.

I don’t know. I did and continue to try and do it my way. My way, however,is never to far from those in academia proper. And today after 20 plus years there are some regrets. Aren’t there always. . . Going back to the economics, maybe the publishers of academic journals do alright. Maybe.