"Wittgenstein maintained that, often, there are simply resemblances between the things we call by the same name, just as there are shared and overlapping physical characteristics that run through a family related by blood, but no single visible defining feature."

"Similarly, one may think that perhaps there’s no one essential quality that all public philosophy has but, rather, there is a cluster of important features that the many examples of it have in common."

"I want to argue that public philosophy can and must be identified by its purpose."

"We should ask the question ‘Why do we engage in public philosophy?’ in order to answer the question ‘What is public philosophy?’"

"It forces the audience to reflect critically on what they thought they knew."

"The philosopher helps the process of investigation by demonstrating underlying distinctions and connections (conceptual analysis), by revealing implicit assumptions, and by letting possible implications of a given thesis emerge."

"Public philosophy is a catalyst to thought. Its aim is to introduce the audience to the philosophical practice of thinking critically"

"Often – it is said – what distinguishes academic from public philosophy is the intended target. Public philosophy is philosophy undertaken in public venues, addressed to a nonprofessional audience."

"Public philosophy is best understood as an activity that aims to promote rational thinking in anyone it can reach. Public philosophy is a catalyst to thought."

"What Hegel, along with many contemporary critics, meant is that the activity of doing philosophy is not something we are immediately capable of – it demands training and rigour."

"Good public philosophy actually accepts and implements this very vision of philosophy as a rigorous practice of thinking. Precisely because it does not take it for granted that certain cognitive capacities (such as the ability to analyse, conceptualise or criticise, etc) are naturally and equally developed by everyone, one of its aims is to stimulate, guide and exercise them."

"It is, rather, an invitation to think philosophically. By making conceptual and operational tools available to all, philosophy becomes public in the full sense of the term."

"The ultimate legitimation of public philosophy is based on a metaphilosophical assumption that cannot be taken for granted and isn’t universally accepted: the belief that thinking philosophically or rationally has a value in itself."

"Public philosophy is not some kind of panacea. But I do believe that, despite all contingent and historical difficulties or our personal weaknesses, rational thinking has a key role to play in society, and that philosophers can stimulate meaningful public conversations about what really matters."