Re: however, this is a tragic situation

This is a difficult topic for me to address, since I don't perceive the same level of "real hostility" you seem to perceive. But I could guess why some people might not like academics, as much as they like their lawyers or doctors.

People might perceive academics' methods of inquiry as completely irrelevant to their own lives, or indeed threatening in some way (this is what I meant by irrelevant; not that one doesn't need a BA or a degree to be successful). For example, a female friend of mine expresses reluctance to accept feminist scholarship, because she views its methodology - and indeed in some cases explicit calls for "social action" - to be inconsistent with her own notion of equality. But it's more than that; when an academic discipline calls for social action, it necessarily recommends its own norms to the way other people live their lives.

Also, academic methods of inquiry might force people to draw conclusions they don't like; unfortunately, the nature of inquiry in these cases precludes other conclusions, and so the entire method is rejected rather than the scholarship enabling a respectful discussion of opposing views. For example, in a course of Mesoamerican Civilizations at Harvard University, the professor discusses "cosmo-magical thinking" as a vehicle for understanding ancient Aztec civilization; within this context, however, terrible acts of barbarism like human sacrifice are justified in their ability to unite human and divine worlds, and these acts are understood as a cultural difference, because religious prophecy insisted that there was no other way to ensure that Aztec civilization would remain supreme. You can see the problem instantly: to argue that sacrifice was not justified is not allowed within the confines of this inquiry. One has to reject not only sacrifice, but also this professor's whole mode of analysis. That's bound
to create some hostility.

But come on, Jim, "popular attitudes" aren't great standards by which to judge one's own life's work anyway. (That might be a major point of disagreement between me and John O.)

luke

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Rovira <jrovira@drew.edu>
Sent: Sep 28, 2003 11:40 PM
To: bananafish@roughdraft.org
Subject: Re: however, this is a tragic situation

Let me make sure I'm being clear, though -- I don't mean to imply it's somehow possible to gauge the "real" importance of a profession vs. the self importance
of its practitioners. You've heard the joke about the difference between God and a doctor? (God doesn't think he's a doctor).

Don't even get me started on lawyer jokes.

Does this mean that doctors and lawyers aren't important, though? Of course not.

My real question was about popular attitudes, not about the dynamics within any profession. Jokes about self important doctors are widespread. They're very
common kinds of joke. You just don't see those kind of jokes about self important academics, though. What you see is real hostility.

Why, then, is it worse in academics? By this I'm not asking why academic self importance is more pronounced than medical self importance or the self
importance of lawyers. That's simply not possible. When I ask, "why is it worse?", I'm asking, "why is it less tolerable?", or, "why is it that much bigger
a deal?"

I can take guesses, but I'm more interested in hearing yours first.

Jim

jlsmith3@earthlink.net wrote:

> hmm true - the real question you're asking is a bit loaded (the errors might not be worse) and probably best answered by people working in that profession
>
> luke
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jim Rovira <jrovira@drew.edu>
> Sent: Sep 28, 2003 10:22 AM
> To: bananafish@roughdraft.org
> Subject: Re: however, this is a tragic situation
>
> Luke, if it does "esteem itself above other professions," so what? Many
> professions out there tend to have inflated senses of their own
> importance. Remember Tom Wolfe's _Bonfire of the Vanities_? The stock
> market brokers called themselves "the Masters of the Universe," after
> the 1980s cartoon.
>
> The real question is, "Why are the errors in academia common in other
> professions so much worse in -it-?"
>
> Jim

-
* Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
* UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH

-
* Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
* UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH
Received on Mon Sep 29 00:32:13 2003