Allan Powell: Are Americans really more philosophical?

In his recently published book, “America The Philosophical,” Carlin Romano asserts that “America in the early 21st century towers as the most philosophical culture in the history of the world, an unprecedented marketplace of truth and argument that far surpasses ancient Greece, Cartesian France, 19th-century Germany or any other place one can name over the past three millennia.” He supports this claim with such evidence as “degrees in philosophy and religious studies rose from 8,506 in 1998-99 to 12,444 in 2008-09, a 46 percent rise.”

By ALLAN POWELL

January 18, 2013