It’s a bit surprising to see Timothy Williamson (2024, Philosophia) start his rather critical review of Philip Kitcher’s (2023) What’s the Use of Philosophy? with a reference to Aristoxenus’ account of an anecdote often repeated by Aristotle about Plato’s lecture on the good.
I'm not a huge fan of the military-industrial complex. But I'd assent to the implicit judgement that, on the whole, the US Air Force has been a source of net benefits to humanity, relative to the alternative that its opponents, such as the Luftwaffe and the Soviet Air Force, had prevailed.
So, I don't think a failure to interrogate this point is a decisive argument against a consequentialist view of the role of philosophy, and academic inquiry in general.
I'm not a huge fan of the military-industrial complex. But I'd assent to the implicit judgement that, on the whole, the US Air Force has been a source of net benefits to humanity, relative to the alternative that its opponents, such as the Luftwaffe and the Soviet Air Force, had prevailed.
So, I don't think a failure to interrogate this point is a decisive argument against a consequentialist view of the role of philosophy, and academic inquiry in general.