I think there is an equivocation being made between the various usages of ‘philosophy’, primarily between a type of thought and a profession, and my observation is that those who are professionals supposedly dedicated to that type of thought rarely even try to engage in it, and when they do they’re not very good at it. If ‘philosophy’ is ‘what philosophers do’, I hold that philosophy is useless in every sense. If ‘philosophers’ are ‘those that practice philosophy’, the professionals are almost universally undeserving of that title. In that light:
I think there is an equivocation being made between the various usages of ‘philosophy’, primarily between a type of thought and a profession, and my observation is that those who are professionals supposedly dedicated to that type of thought rarely even try to engage in it, and when they do they’re not very good at it. If ‘philosophy’ is ‘what philosophers do’, I hold that philosophy is useless in every sense. If ‘philosophers’ are ‘those that practice philosophy’, the professionals are almost universally undeserving of that title. In that light:
Yes to #1, YES to #2, no to #3, yes to #4.