THE PHILOSOPHER IN THE MARKETPLACE: THE RELEVANCE OF LOGIC TO COMMERCIAL VIABILITY DEMANDS IN THE ACADEME

Abstract

This work examined the relevance of philosophy to commercial viability concerns that play out in the academe. Logic is the tool of philosophy and philosophy is a humanities discipline. The humanities disciplines have come under a great deal of pressure and are wrongly regarded as pursuits that are incapable of addressing real life problems. In Nigeria for instance, with academic institutions being increasingly underfunded and a growing insistence on the commercial viability of research, it is clear that any research that cannot be converted into short term market-based applications are not regarded as useful. The humanities disciplines, of which philosophy is a part, appear to be at the receiving end of the growing skepticism about the value of university education. The path this work followed was to first elucidate the metaphor of the marketplace. Secondly the work looked into the nature of logic and acknowledged the service role it plays in philosophy. The final point which is the conclusion and recommendation of this paper was to state ways that logic and philosophy generally can equip the learner with useful skills that are still relevant, even if our educational concerns get narrowed down to market instrumentality. The skills this research focused on were those that can translate into cognitive, emotional and imaginative intelligence for the learner.