philosopause

Noun

philosopause (uncountable)

1. The informally observed tendency of mature or elderly scientists, who apparently have outlived their most productive years of research and similar practical work, to discontinue or decrease their participation in such activity, in favour of pursuing, and often publishing, philosophical theories or speculations. Commonly the implication is that such works are beyond the authors' recognised field of competence, and, as a result, typically of disappointing value or standard.
   • Too many of the characters here have entered the phase of their career that has been called "the philosopause." They have retired from the university or grown bored with lab work, and so have taken up professional cogitation.JUNE 30, 1996, Natalie Angier, The Job Is Finished, New York Times
   • This term, which is perhaps loosely derived from "menopause," was originally used specifically for neuroscientists, some of whom have tended, as they've grown older, to abandon science-based attempts to map the workings of the brain and have turned instead to more general speculations about the...1999, Anne H. Soukhanov, Word Watch August 1999 Issue American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition.