Blacklisting again
I want to remind my readers that I am currently blacklisted by the philosophy profession in America: no employment, no invitations, etc. This is not remotely justifiable and I am appalled by it. It reflects very badly on the profession (i.e. the people in it). This is partly why I am putting my writing on this blog.
How pervasive is schadenfreude among American philosophers? It might be uniquely pervasive, at least with respect to our attitude to English philosophers. From William James, through Quine and even Putnam, one senses it—a lingering resentment of presumed English superiority. Given the current hyper-sensitive cultural and ideological bent of most of academic America, one needn’t wonder at its opportunistic celebration (and “externalization”) of that resentment. This is not all that’s to be said about the matter, ofcourse, but I doubt not of its relevance. Sorry for the pomposity of the prose, but I’ve just finished reading one of Dr. Johnson’s,” Ramblers”.
I have wondered about that myself and think it is perfectly possible.
The fear of being ostracised is deep and ancient, and psychologically very different from imprisonment or flogging. As a means of punishment or revenge, and as an instrument of fear and control, it no doubt goes back millions of years. I do wonder though if in the age of Twitter and social media, its use (and abuse or misuse) has meaningfully picked up – both in professional and social spheres.
I think it definitely has–we now have a technology of ostracism.
This is one reason why philosophy profoundly depresses me. It reeks too much of “a polite society.” The biography of a philosopher ought not to determine, at all, whether he is considered a great philosopher or whether his work is taught or whether he is invited to lecture on philosophy (barring, of course, criminal charges that make him lecturing obviously problematic). Philosophy should aspire to the same kind of dispassion as mathematics—wherein the idea that, if Andrew Wiles were a rapist, his work can’t be taught or praised or spread is manifestly laughable. Why would I want to spend my career, that is, practically my whole life, surrounded by a vast horde of clever people who, while declaring themselves professional seekers of wisdom, would unperson me and defame my hard-built philosophical work for believing the simple fact that a man is not a woman? Too many modern philosophers lack a deep passion for truth “at all costs.”
One might wish to limit these strictures to philosophy now in America. And never underestimate cowardice.