The Business of the Humanities

By MICHAEL DEWILDE

Something strange is happening to me. Or out there, to the world. I'm not sure. It used to be that when I told people I was a professor of philosophy I'd get blank stares, awkward pauses, maybe even some embarrassment on my behalf. Every once in a while, someone would feign interest and ask, "Oh, you mean like psychology?" Right. Just like psychology.

It got so bad that when I traveled on airplanes or went to parties away from the university -- any place and time that a question