What does it take to be an influential thinker today? Which topics should one address? What are the ingredients of a philosophical bestseller?

These questions point to broader concerns: what forms of thought dominate the present? Do intellectuals still exist? And what role do social media play in shaping the pursuit of truth? In today's most successful philosophical works, radical gestures-reversals of common sense and conventional wisdom, provocations, and heresies-all too readily translate into standardized slogans and spectacles, perfectly suited to the marketplace of ideas, with its demand for pre-packaged novelty and shock value.

With sharp irony and incisive wit, Micali turns a critical eye on today's philosophical bestsellers. Combining analytical precision with wide-ranging expertise across philosophical traditions, he exposes the strategies behind contemporary philosophical success. From the prophet of a bygone dystopia (think Giorgio Agamben) and the spectacular performer (think Slavoj Žižek) to the advocate of a social cause (think Judith Butler), How to Be A Successful Philosopher offers a critique from within while advancing original philosophical reflections.