Hi, Mr Wynn P Wheldon! What an interesting question. Let me briefly sketch some possible answers!
First of all, some people might question the assumption that a philosopher should not be wealthy. Although most philosophers are not wealthy (by western standards, at least), it might be totally okay for them to get a juicy salary increase. After all, philosophers are hard workers; and they do no harm in their profession, but rather contribute to a well-functioning society. So perhaps it would be okay or even desirable for philosophers to earn more money than the modest academic pay cheque most of them receive every month.
However, I take it from your question that you think that philosophers should not be wealthy. And now we are simply looking for reasons to justify that idea. Let me outline two possible answers, coming from different angles.
Firstly, and admittedly this is a quite radical idea, maybe no one should be wealthy. In a world of large gaps between the poor and the rich, we see the terrible consequences of what happens when some people are wealthy while others are not. It leads to troubles of all kinds: social problems such as excluding the poor from having access to education; and economic problems such as the rich getting richer by investing parts of their fortunes, while poorer folks have to work 10+ hours a day just to sustain their already humble lifestyle. And these are just two examples of bad consequences resulting from some being wealthy while others are not. So, we might well be inclined to answer that nobody should be wealthy, from which it follows that philosophers should not be wealthy either.
Another, not so radical idea that wealth blurs people’s minds. Everybody knows the stories about lottery winners going crazy and spending their whole fortune on throwing extravagant parties and going to Ibiza and the Maldives for their summer vacation. So, wealth can make humans irrational. And that is a bad thing for philosophers. After all, rationality is probably the key property a philosopher should possess. Philosophers are looking to find the truth, and it is a hard task. It requires focus, effort, and dedication. And if it turns out that being wealthy distracts people from investing these resources in doing proper philosophy, then perhaps philosophers should not be wealthy. It’s very hard to do philosophy on a jet ski, after all; much easier in the office.
What do you think? Would wealth get in the way of philosophy? Let us know in the comments.
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I am a masters student in philosophy (and in psychology) at the University of Graz, and a research assistant at the section of practical philosophy. I am mostly interested in ethics in the broadest sense (metaethics, normative ethics, applied ethics, especially climate ethics and animal ethics), but I am also a fan of breaking the boundaries between practical and theoretical philosophy and of empirical approaches to philosophical questions. My favourite philosophers are Shelly Kagan and Alastair Norcross because I like act-utilitarianism and people who write in a clear and concise (and entertaining) manner. I am also into politics, literature, and sports (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu).