Eh, what’s up, Doc? Why PhD holders should be called ‘doctors’. And why, Epstein should have done his homework before blurting out in class.

A recent Wall Street Journal Opinion piece by Joseph Epstein was entitled “Is there a Doctor in the White House? Not if you need an MD: Jill Biden should think about dropping the honorific, which feels fraudulent, even comic”. In addition to the piece being sexist (as many female professors and professional women are often called Miss, Mrs., Ma’am, and even worse by their students, colleagues, clients, and patients) and personally disrespectful to Dr. Jill Biden (kiddo, to a grown-ass woman?), I argue that the question itself is rather banal, if not adolescent. At any rate, I would like to comment on the linguistic aspects of the terms Doctor and Phd and justify why professors–who are not medical doctors–are justified in using them. I would like to add that if Epstein (we won’t give him a title, we’ll just refer to him in a Welcome-Back-Kotter-kind-of-way), would have just googled the term, he never would have asked such a stupid question out loud.

So, why are individuals who have PhDs called doctors in the first place? They are not medical doctors, or so the ‘argument’ goes. And, why are they called Doctors of Philosophy, when they do not all receive a degree in philosophy?

Simply put, the ‘doctorate’ degree has nothing to do with medicine. The term ‘doctor’, in this sense, is an academic title that derives from the Latin word docere (pronounced [dó.ke.re]) meaning ‘to teach’ (Merriam-Webster online). According to a Wikipedia article, “it appeared in medieval Europe as a license to teach (Latin: licentia docendi)”. Apparently, it has been used in this way for hundreds of years by medieval universities and scholars, originally applying the term to early Church fathers and authorities who taught and interpreted the Bible, but later extending it to any ecclesiastical, then later, academic and secular authority, teacher, or pedagogue. Merriam-Webster says that the term doctor of the church can apply to an eminent theologian who expounds doctrine. Its meaning of ‘teacher’ is clearly seen in languages such as Spanish, where the modern-day word docente means a ‘teacher’ or ‘professor’.

Over time, the academic title PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) came to apply, not to the discipline of Philosophy proper, but to the earlier, more general meaning of the term philosophy which referred to any discipline outside of the Big Three fields of study, Theology, Law, and Medicine. According to Wikipedia, “such studies were then called ‘philosophy’, but are now classified as sciences and humanities–however this usage [of ‘philosophy’] survives in the degree of Doctor of Philosophy”.

The title of ‘doctor’ sits in relation to Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. Interestingly, the title of master has also undergone some change in commonly understood and spoken English compared to its earlier Latin and academic roots. Today, a master is generally understood to be a person who is an expert or is at the top of their field, in addition to person owning other people who work for him; thus, the height, or pinnacle of achievement, or someone in the topmost position of authority. However, the term, in an academic sense, is simply derived from a word meaning male teacher, maestro, thus, it refers to someone, because of the conferral of a university degree, who is qualified to teach. This definition is consistent with the historical definition of doctor (or, teacher), which also explains why many of them teach at universities and colleges. Even the term maestro in English is limiting, its pronunciation anglicized, referring only to someone who leads or conducts an orchestra. Historically, however, the orchestra conductor was called maestro because he was the teacher, or instructor, of the musicians, who were often his students, in addition to being in charge of the orchestra.

I say all of this to say two things: When your fundamental premise is based on pudding, your entire argument is untenable. In other words, the idea that you have to be an MD to have the term doctor applied to you has no historical or logical basis. So, to ask why it applies to an particular individual makes no sense. Second, when you can’t even do the most basic research, such as look up words in an online dictionary, or google a doggone Wikipedia article, as I did this morning, then you probably should not be given a platform to pontificate (look it up, Epstein), especially from a place of such extreme ignorance. The fact is: If he didn’t know it, he’s stupid. If he did know it, he’s sexist. Regardless, I think the case can be made for both. Maybe this suggests that even Op-Ed pieces need to be peer reviewed.

Dr. Hiram L. Smith, PhD, MA, BA, and a BMF besides

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_of_Philosophy

“Doctor.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/doctor. Accessed 25 Dec. 2020.

“Master.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/master. Accessed 25 Dec. 2020.