I have a theory about why philosophy doesn't always get the respect it deserves. I will proceed to illustrate this theory with a story. (1/n)

Once in junior-high math class, our teacher tried to trick us by asking "What is heavier, a pound of gold or a pound of feathers?" You were supposed to jump to "gold is heavier than feathers," and miss the fact that a pound of anything is the same as a pound of anything else.

The trick didn't work. Almost everyone in the class immediately said "They're the same! A pound is a pound."

Except me, that is. I tried to out-clever everyone else. So I raised my hand to note that gold, being a precious metal, was typically measured using the Troy system, whereas ordinary feathers would be measured in the Avoirdupois system.

A Troy pound is *less* than an avoirdupois pound. So technically, a pound of gold (measured in the appropriate system) weighs less than a pound of feathers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_weight
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avoirdupois_system

Did they thank me? No.

In fact, everyone - teacher as well as fellow students - looked at me like I was the biggest idiot they had ever met. "A pound is a pound!" they said. Shouted, in fact, since increased volume has well-known powers of clarification.

So I explained it again. To no avail!

If they had berated me for being a smartass, I would have deserved it. But they just didn't get what I was trying to say.

Level 0 thinking: "Gold is heavier than feathers!"

Level 1: "A pound is a pound!"

Level 2: "Actually, when you consider the appropriate systems of units..."

The thing is, *all philosophers do* is jump to Level 2 (or more). Their whole deal is to take seemingly innocent statements and interrogate them to pieces, parsing all the meanings until the connection to original common sense is sometimes lost.

Which is good! We should be ready to think at the highest level we can when called for, even if we can often get by with a much simpler and more straightforward take.

But it's usually going to be a thankless job.

A pound is a pound!