Why do people think philosopher is a title of the past?

Are there any modern philosophers who can be compared to the ancient ones we always hear about? With everything we have today, we could think that it would be even easier to do philosophical reasoning and research. But, nonetheless, I never hear anyone refer to themselves as a philosopher, even people who have a degree in a relevant field don’t seem to use that title for themselves. It seems like it’s a title of the past.

Why is it that we think someone is thinking highly of themselves just because they actually call themselves a philosopher? Like, the title is something grandiose and the ones wearing it are bragging? It’s rarely used even though it could be used by anyone who does philosophical writing or research. You don’t even need a degree. It’s not a protected title in any way! But it’s almost stigmatized in a way… I have always wondered why.

I’m a philosopher. I will have that title. I’m an independent philosopher. The reason why I call myself that is because I write original philosophy papers and I do the philosophical type of research. I could call myself something else, like a writer or so, but that’s not that specific. Yes, I am a writer, but what do I write?

When I talk to others they seem to hesitate to acknowledge that philosophers exist today as well. While I don’t get “shut down” for calling myself a philosopher, I do get comments that sound confused and a little bit like they think I’m thinking highly about myself. No, I just like what I do and I’m serious about my work. Would you disregard a programmer or engineer in the same way? For your information, those aren’t protected titles either…

So… Why do we jump straight into Aristotle, Socrates or whatever ancient man when thinking about philosophy? I mean sure, valid, they’re the first philosophers… But we live today and philosophy lives with us today as well. Back then there were no female philosophers either. Today there are more women in academia than ever.

I don’t know about you, but I will take advantage of that!