The second is "to bring moral and political philosophy to bear on contemporary public discourse".
[2] James Tully emphasizes that public philosophy is done through practice, through the contestable concepts of citizenship, civic freedom, and nonviolence.
[4] Some public philosophers are academic professionals, such as Cornel West, Jürgen Habermas, Martha Nussbaum, Richard Rorty,[5] James Tully, Jack Russell Weinstein.
Others may work outside of the usual academic contexts of teaching and writing for peer-reviewed journals, such as social activist Jane Addams[6] and novelist Ayn Rand.
[7] Jack Russell Weinstein, director of The Institute for Philosophy In Public Life, contends that although it is commonplace to argue that public philosophy promotes democracy, this argument assumes philosophers are better citizens than non-philosophers.