Do you think Philosophy reached a cul-de-sac?

No. I think it's useful to learn, but not beautiful. It's a human construct, an edifice built on pure logic and utility, much like the ugly cold-war era concrete buildings on many college campuses.

Pure function, without consideration to form.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.