Direct engagement or discursive impact?: Public philosophy in the United Kingdom and Germany

The role that philosophy can and should play in public policy has become increasingly fraught in recent years. In addition to the disagreements that have emerged within the discipline itself – particularly between continental and analytic philosophers – approaches also differ depending on the national context. In this paper, I examine the dominant modes of public philosophy in the United Kingdom and the Federal Republic. Whereas practitioners of the analytic approach that dominates philosophy in Britain favor direct engagement with politicians and the policy process more generally, continental philosophers in Germany usually apply their theoretical insights more indirectly, seeking to influence broader societal discourses as public intellectuals. While both of these approaches to public philosophy are viable, I argue that the working through debates in the public sphere is more democratic, as it respects the equality of all citizens as potential participants in public politics discourse.