Diogenes

The APA (American Philosophical Association) is looking for stories about how valuable philosophical training has been to people other than professional, full-time philosophers.

Here is the full story. And here is an excerpt from an accompanying letter:

We might also use some of these names later in a fund drive we are now planning.

Good luck is all I can say. If you can think of anyone since Alcibidiades and Alexander the Great, let them know. Queen Christina did study with Rene Descartes, and John Stuart Mill sat in Parliament, but no U.S. example comes to mind. Might philosophy be best suited to advising an autocrat?

Addendum: Astute reader Brock Sides offers the following link to famous philosophy majors. The list includes Woody Allen, Iris Murdoch, David Foster Wallace, Bill Clinton, the Pope, Harrison Ford, Bruce Lee, and Mike Schmidt.