Unlike people with common sense, I pursued academic philosophy far longer than was good for me, or for anyone else. My aborted 'career' ended in 1978, but the characteristics of academic philosophers you describe match my almost antediluvian experience of the tribe. My PhD work was done in Britain. When I arrived to start the degree, my thesis supervisor suggested we meet in one of the local pubs. At the time, I didn't drink at all. In my generation, you either smoked cannabis (and sometimes dropped acid), or you drank. The two subcultures had no time for one another in Canada. But in the UK, drinking while philosophizing was an unwritten requirement if you wanted to get ahead in the department's highly competitive pecking order. Since I have a competitive streak, I soon became a journeyman level drinker, able to down 5-6 pints of an evening without stumbling while attempting to walk, and without slurring noticeably more than my colleagues. In terms of producing value-free hot air, we were exemplary. But not one of the discussions - more blabber fests than discussions, if I'm honest - ever produced anything of value to anyone, except the value to one's career in being able to best an opponent in an argument about points so trivial that no one remembered anything about the content of the verbal jousting the next morning. All that mattered was the points scored while hammered. Eventually, I realized that I would never hold an academic job even if I were to get one. So, like you, I left academia for good, and regret only that I didn't do so sooner.
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