An explanation of why that homeless person raving in the park often -- if you listen closely -- sounds far more sane than most of the bosses you have had. We have to create a place for the creative. Contemporary workplaces do not provide it -- because the intelligent know bullshit when they see it -- and contemporary academia does not provide it because it places you in a tiny box.
Related quote from Brain-Wise: Studies In Neurophilosophy:
Not surprisingly, I have also found that history of philosophy invaluable in putting current philosophical orthodoxy at arm's length. This is not because I subscribe to the goofy theory according to which the historical giants knew more because they knew less....Rather, it is because some of the greats were just a whole lot broader in their interests and a whole lot more curious about nature in general than are many of today's mainstream philosophers. [p.ix]
The same can be said for mainstream, period.