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February 25, 2003
I really enjoyed this post by Kieran Healy Dealing with Philosophers. Lots of fun. Witty comments.
Analytic male philosophers are a strange species. Many think that they are the master thinkers whose concepts mirror the fundamental structure of the universe in such a way that Absolute Truth is just around the corner. Just needs a little bit more reduction and a bit more theoretical scaffolding.
They are low on people skills, strong on clarity and rigor, and exemplars of balck and white thinking (science non-science etc). They were doing grunge before it became a style statement. And they are still doing grunge.
I do remember my supervisor refusing to read more than the first five words in my draft thesis. We had a raging argument about 'being'. We went our separate ways. Mine led to Nietzsche.
Doing a thesis in the liberal academy was an exercise in learning to cope with humilation and living in a world of intellectual thuggery.
Do read Kieran's post. Its great. And while there read this called close reading about the high powered discussion in an academic seminar.
You know, academics often think that public debate in our political institutions should be modelled on the academic seminar.
God, what can you say to that as a philosopher? That there is very little self-reflection on their own academic practices?
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