The one thing that remains, until now at least, relatively unscathed from the increasing politicisation of academic philosophy is the double (or sometimes triple) blind peer review for most established philosophy journals. This is different for books, which do not enjoy the privilege of double blind reviewing (authors do not know who the reviewers are, … [continue reading]
Monthly Archives: March 2018
Gadflies, Pogos, and Academe. A Rant
Prologue[i] It’s the late twentieth century. A mob of graduate students and professors of philosophy walking through a dark wood come upon a tarnished, weather-beaten plaque set into a crumbling stone wall. It reads: Language can never adequately render the cosmic symbolism of music, because music stands in symbolic relation to the primordial contradiction and … [continue reading]
Lying in the Guise of Concern. A Democratic Tragedy in Three Acts and a Philosophical Epilogue
There are still people and herds somewhere, but not with us, my brothers: here there are states. The state? What is that? Well then! Now open your ears, for now I shall speak to you of the death of peoples. The state is the coldest of all cold monsters. Coldly it lies, too; and this … [continue reading]
The University as Feudal State. The Abysmal Failure of Interdisciplinarity in Higher Education
1. Overture Knowledge and research within the modern university have a curiously feudal character, given its division into a series of faculties and departments each with their own pedagogical self-definitions. By its very structure, which is specialized and hierarchical, the modern university is hostile to inter-disciplinary teaching and research. Interdisciplinarity flies directly in the face … [continue reading]
We, the Professional Sages: Analytic Philosophy’s Arrogation of Argument.
1. INTRODUCTION For the sake of establishing the greater context of my discussion, I want to begin by quoting a well-summarized account from Michael Friedman’s book, A Parting of the Ways. As he writes, One of the central facts of twentieth-century intellectual life has been a fundamental divergence or split between the “analytic” philosophical tradition … [continue reading]
Philosophy Ripped From The Headlines! Issue #7, March 2018: The Meaning of Life & the Morality of Death.
Dear Philosopher or Philosophically-Minded Person, Do you ever think about the larger philosophical implications of contemporary events and issues, especially when reading newspapers, journals, or blogs? —Of course you do: but then what? What if you were able to convert your thinking DIRECTLY into something you were able to use for TEACHING PHILOSOPHY, for PHILOSOPHY … [continue reading]