Philosophy Departments, Cost-Benefit Analysis, and the Seen and Unseen

In the past few days, philosophy bloggers have been writing with concern about how more philosophy departments around the country are closing, and how various Republican state legislators are trying to pass bills that cut many philosophy faculty. Most of the bloggers I’ve read seem to assume, unreflectively, that such cuts are a bad thing.

To my surprise, philosophers rarely seem to reflect on the opportunity cost of funding philosophy departments. Let’s say East Podunk State spends $2 million a year funding a small philosophy program, which graduates 10 majors per year. Suppose (contrary to fact) that this was funded entirely through taxes on corporate profits, with free tuition, room, and board for all philosophy majors. Is this a good deal? To know, we’d need to do some cost-benefit analysis. The problem here is $2 million spent on philosophy is not $2 million spent on all the other things worth spending money on.

http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2015/04/philosophy-departments-cost-benefit-analysis-and-the-seen-and-unseen/

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Philosophy Departments, Cost-Benefit Analysis, and the Seen and Unseen

Philosophy Departments, Cost-Benefit Analysis, and the Seen and Unseen

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