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You, then, are an optomist. Although for many years I would have agreed with you that most simply lack the will to think seriously, as I have gotten older I have become convinced that fear of both the uncertainty and the work are only a small part of the problem. Most people are simply do not have the required horsepower to study philosophy. In this, I fear I part company with the Enlightenment's celebration of reason and the underlying idea that human nature may be improved. [Note that the idea of progress, much maligned, is most often fundamentally misinterpreted as suggesting the inevitabilty of progress and perfectability of human nature, rather than mere holding (contrary to many cyclical or eschatalogical views) that progess is not possible and that human nature is fixed].

BTW, I looked at Ms. Hesieh's website and the link to a book list that ostensibly was a good overview of what one needs to know. If a graduate student of mine had suggested a list with so many unscholarly works and so much second and third rate stuff, I'd have seriously reconsidered their status. But, then I was an intellectual historian in my callow youth and expected people to read 2-3 serious secondary works and a fair chunk (say 2-3 hours) of some meaty philosophy every day. We did not think this at all excessive, unless the works were not available in English translation (e.g. Ernst Cassierer's Kant's Leben und Lehre, now available in a very nice translation as Kant's Life and Thought).

Cheers!

Most people are simply do not have the required horsepower to study philosophy.

I agree completely. I do not believe everyone must be a philosopher, however, to seek as much truth as they are capable of learning and to live according the truth they can understand. I find evasion of the truth is the dominant psychological state of most individuals, regardless of their intellectual ability.

human nature is fixed

Absolutely. But, that nature is unlimited in terms of what it can achieve by choice, which is the fundamental nature of every human being.

Just curious, where did you find, "a book list that ostensibly was a good overview of what one needs to know," on Diana's site? You may be selling her a little short; the only "book list" I know of are some books she reviews which she reads mostly for pleasure. If there is a serious list, I would be interested in seeing it.

Hank

Most people are simply do not have the required horsepower to study philosophy.

It may have has less to do with horsepower than it does with economics. There is also the snoot factor in that philosophers are far too full of themselves considering the fact that their work produces little if anything of immediate value to society as a whole.

One of the best definitions of philosophy is the one that I coined in response to an essay question on the final exam in a philosophy class I took back in college many years ago. The question was "what is philosophy?" and my response was "simple concepts made overly complicated by tenured egomaniacs with far too much time on their hands." The second question was "what is courage?" and my response was "see answer to question number one." I got an A+ on the exam.