I have been thinking recently about economics and the way it relates to philosophy. One interesting conception that has interesting implications in the philosophical realm is that of opportunity costs. In economics an opportunity cost is a cost that arises from the existence of mutually exclusive choices. That is, suppose that you have two choices, either work at a job or think philosophically at home. If you choose to sit at home and think philosophically, there exists a cost to this choice, viz. the wages that you could have earned if you went to work instead. Since you cannot do both, you have to choose between the options and incur the cost of the next best available choice.
This is interesting when you look at philosophy more broadly and its practice or lack thereof in our own day. To practice philosophy requires leisure, or at least time to think, read, reflect, etc. – To some extent I am supposing that you cannot think philosophically while you work or do other things – Having this time to practice philosophy requires you to forgo other activities and opportunities which constitute an opportunity cost to the practice of philosophy. In modern times it seems that the other possible choices that we face when deciding what to do with our time have grown enormously. That is, historically when we were not working we had a more limited choice set. This would imply that there was less of an opportunity cost to practicing philosophy. Today the choices facing us have changed, we can watch tv, go to a movie, shop, and do any number of other things with our leisure time. These various options provide a wider array of costs to practicing philosophy than has existed before. Given the higher opportunity costs it is not surprising that we see fewer individuals practicing philosophy in modernity.
Another application is the opportunity cost of work compared to philosophy. It seems in modern times we have become more productive as workers. That is, we earn higher wages, especially if we are educated – the educated are the ones most likely to practice philosophy. Stated negatively this means that leisure time or the time required to practice philosophy has become more costly. Given the rise in earnings and productivity it is not surprising that we might see the practice of philosophy decline since there seems to be larger costs associated with its practice.
