alt Hacker NewsThe "footnotes to Plato" quote is more about the idea that Philosophy doesn't exist in a vacuum rather than just scoring brownie points with peers studying the same thing.
I had a longer written reply but it turned out pretty snarky. In my opinion Philosophy is built upon just like Mathematics otherwise most people can't meaningfully engage.
Sorry to have missed your longer reply. I get why it would be snarky. The popular conception of philosophy is very much at odds with what philosophers actually do -- though in my experience, philosophers haven't done a great job of averting that misconception. I still haven't found an introduction to philosophy text that I think does the job well.