In an era in which women and minorities are finally achieving representation in academia, when being “equal opportunity” is the most visible objective of the hiring process, when women and men of all races across all disciplines are publishing work about “hegemonic” social structures, it is striking that a new form of class distinction has … [continue reading]
Hands Off Peer Review for Philosophy Journals!
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]
Gadflies, Pogos, and Academe.
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.
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.
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]
How Exquisitely the Individual Mind to the External World Is Fitted: — And How Exquisitely, too, the External World is Fitted to the Mind.
Visual philosophy inspired by mountain landscapes, Wordsworth, and Hopper, HERE. Against Professional Philosophy is a sub-project of the online mega-project Philosophy Without Borders, which is home-based on Patreon here. Please consider becoming a patron! We’re improvident, but cheerful.
“Poetry is the Hero of Philosophy”: Novalis’s Metaphilosophy.
Introduction Novalis is perhaps best known to contemporary philosophers for his aphorism, “Philosophy can bake no bread; but she can procure for us God, Freedom, Immortality.” But less well known is the following sentence: “Which, then, is more practical, Philosophy or Economy?” In other words, Novalis is saying that philosophy is profoundly more practical than … [continue reading]
Philosophy Without Borders: What It Is, & Why It Matters–Four Short Talks.
‘Understanding Impact’ 4th Conference of the Public Philosophy Network Boulder, Colorado | February 8-10, 2018 The Public Philosophy Network announces our fourth conference on Advancing Public Philosophy. Our 2018 conference theme is Understanding Impact: What practices improve the uptake of philosophy, both across the disciplines, and throughout society? This question will be pursued through … [continue reading]