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Comment by tormeh | Hacker News Reader

To be fair, there are many different kinds of doctorates. Many will be surprised to learn that most lawyers are doctors too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juris_Doctor

I don't really know all that much about Stallman himself, but doctorates (and degrees in general) are awarded a bit arbitrary anyway. I don't see what's less valuable about an honorary degree. I'd be more inclined to look at which universities it is that award the doctorates, honorary or not. Here, Stallman has an honorary degree from KTH in Sweden. There aren't all that many tech universities with a higher pedigree than KTH.

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The stature of the institution has nothing to do with it.

Also, lawyers are not “doctors” in any sense, despite getting JDs from some places. And they do not use “Dr.”, and can get in trouble for doing so.

> Also, lawyers are not “doctors” in any sense, despite getting JDs from some places. And they do not use “Dr.”, and can get in trouble for doing so.

According to the American Bar Association it's a bit more complicated than that. Lawyers can, in fact, call themselves doctors in many cases: https://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/lawyers_are_doct...

Ahh, I concede: it depends on which state bar you are a member of. Interesting.

"Doctor" is widely used throughout the US media without repercussion.

Dr. Phil - philosophy

Dr. Drew - medical doctor

Dr. Laura - physiology (honorary in tradition and culture from a tiny college)

Dr. Ruth - education

Dr. Oz - medical doctor

M.D. or Physician means what you think "Doctor" means. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/20/702.404

Legally, it depends on the very lenient existing laws of the land to determine if you are prohibited (or default allowed) to be referred to as a doctor when you receive a doctorate. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5026525/ (mentioned US and CAN)

Dr. Phil is widely and routinely criticized for calling himself a doctor. The internet says Dr. Laura has a "Ph.D. in physiology." I had no idea Dr. Ruth wasn't a real medical doctor and I feel lied to learning that now. Your examples cement to me the idea that routinely calling yourself a doctor without a medical degree is extraordinarily dishonest and used to mislead people into thinking you have a level of expertise you don't.

We certainly are not doctors! Only in the US do we get a JD instead of an LLB. But if someone used that title, they could not really get in trouble, although everyone in the profession would heap scorn on the moron who did that.

I was referring to the fact that some state ethics boards have said it is a no-no, but as I was reminded in a later comment, others have said, “go at it!” So it depends on what state you lawyer in!

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