The doctorate as an academic qualification is unlucky to be tied up with the term used for physicians. People with a PhD are somewhat dismissed partly because they're not 'proper doctors', but it's just a confusion in terms.
Don't know how it works for something like philosophy, literature, art history and all those, but say I complete mine in medical research - it involves conducting and publishing original research, etc etc, but in the end it mostly counts as basically a qualification for jobs. In this field it doesn't seem to involve pretense or ego, you just need the piece of paper to progress in the career, as opposed to what is more an optional endeavour in other fields.
That said, getting a PhD for defining, I dunno, the mathematical basis of the Kama Sutra, would help in securing an academic appointment at a particular institution, so it could benefit the individual. Pisses me off though to see the 'I'm a doctor' line trotted out like it's a substitute for common sense.
Strange system anyway - the awarding of a PhD is increasingly common, with the value and significance of it seemingly changing, so it's almost like getting your RSA or driver's license and less like setting yourself apart as a recognised expert in your field (have to wonder what the implications are for academia - a world full of educated derelicts). But then again, an RSA has no real practical application outside its field either...
