Ben Macintyre has a piece in the paper about which philosophers are 'out' and which are 'in'. It's all to do with the recession and asking the big questions of life. His 'in' philosophers are Marx (understands our now), Keynes (has solutions for now), Confucius (wealth is mostly immaterial), Hannah Arendt (evil is still with us, still banal), Epicurus (accept what happens) and Homer Simpson (well, you've gotta make philosophy kool.)

Regardless of what you think of his list, the most important thing is that he thinks philosophy is 'in' at all.