I thank God that I am not dictator of the world. There would be perks. All of that sex, and being able to watch the opera from a seat at the front rather than standing at the back. But to spend one's life surrounded by flunkies and cronies, terrified of one's power and yet trying to feather their own nests – how awful! All a bit like the upper echelons of university administrations.
However, if I were world dictator, I know what would be my first action. It would be to abolish undergraduate degrees in philosophy. I would allow some courses – I might make it a necessary condition of getting a degree to take a course or two – and I might even allow minors. But there would be no one majoring in philosophy.
Given the fact that I am just completing my fortieth year as a philosophy professor, this must sound like a severe case of self hatred. You may think that I have so little regard for myself and my subject that I want to eliminate it from the curriculum, and hope eventually to starve it to death. This is far from being the case. Indeed, I am right there with Plato in thinking that philosophy is simply the most important subject there is. The unexamined life indeed is not worth living. There are times indeed when I do wish I were a man of action – an orthopedic surgeon or a firefighter – but I like to console myself by thinking everything and everyone else exists to make philosophers possible. We are at the peak of humankind...more here
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