Philosophers said to be in the clouds (9)

I believe the answer is:

moralists

'philosophers' is the definition.
(moralist is a kind of philosopher)

'said to be in the clouds' is the wordplay.
'said' becomes 'oral' (I've seen this before).
'to be in the' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'clouds' becomes 'mists' (mist is a kind of cloud).
'oral' put inside 'mists' is 'MORALISTS'.

(Another definition for moralists that I've seen is " Preachers".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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