Craig asked:

Is it better to be useful or popular?

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The most problematic part of this question is not the word 'useful', or the word 'popular'. We
understand them well enough. The problem here is the word 'better'. Better for who? or what?

The answer to that depends on what we're asking the question about. I think I would rather choose a
useful but unpopular rucksack for walking in the mountains. But someone who wanted a fashionable
pack for shopping in town might choose what we could call a 'popular but useless' bag.

Of course, I know perfectly well that what you really want to know is, whether it's better for a personto
be useful or popular. I suspect that we would all prefer to be both useful andpopular! But suppose we
had to choose one or the other — and someone might really have to, for example in making career
choices. Is it then better to be: useful and unpopular, or...popular and useless?

Well, if I had to choose one or the other, I would rather be useful and unpopular, because part of my
satisfaction in life comes from thinking I am doing something to help others (e.g. in my job — I work in
a nursery school). So I have taken 'better' to mean 'more fulfilling for me'. I wouldn't be too worried
about being unpopular. Even unpopular people are usually valued and admired by somebody, even if
only by their family or a few close friends. And being popular doesn't necessarily mean you have any
really close friends.

Philosophy is a bit unpopular with many people. I wonder whether it's better for philosophy to be
useful or popular — it's frequently regarded as neither! If philosophy is made more 'popular' (i.e. less
academic), is anything lost, does it become less valuable? Actually, I think it becomes more useful—
and by that I mean it becomes accessible to more people, more relevant to everyday life, with more
practical uses.

So you see, whether it is better to be useful or popular depends very much on what we're talking
about, and what exactly we mean by 'better'.

Katharine Hunt