What's the use of philosophy? Philip Kitcher here grapples with anessential philosophical question: what the point of philosophy is, andwhat it should and can be.Kitcher's portrait of the disciplineis not a familiar defense of the importance of philosophy or thehumanities writ large. Rather, he is deeply critical of philosophy as itis practiced today, a practice focused on narrow technical questionsthat are far removed from the concerns of human life. He provides apenetrating diagnosis of why exactly contemporary philosophy has come tosuffer this crisis, showing how it suffers from various syndromes thatcontinue to push it further into irrelevance. Then, taking up ideas fromWilliam James and John Dewey, Kitcher provides a positive roadmap forthe future of philosophy: first, as a discipline that can provideclarity to other kinds of human inquiry, such as religion or science;and second, bringing order to people's notions of the world, dispellingconfusion in favor of clarity, and helping us think through our biggesthuman questions and dilemmas. Kitcher concludes with a letter to youngphilosophers who wonder how they can align theiraspirations with the hyper-professionalism expected of them.