Princeton Appointment Creates an Uproar (FWD from NY Times)

shmage at pipeline.com shmage at pipeline.com
Sun Apr 11 16:46:08 PDT 1999


This NY Times article states in part:

"...some English academics have argued that academic freedom doesn't protect patently false beliefs and approve of protesters who would prevent him [Singer] from lecturing. Jenny Teichman, a philosopher at Cambridge, for example, argues that "false philosophy can be dangerous and ... if circumstances prevent its being refuted in print, it is probably all right, in extreme cases, to silence it in other ways."

If a philosopher strongly dislikes a viewpoint but is unable to present a reasoned rebuttal to it, she concedes that it may be correct and merits close examination. When a Nazi strongly dislikes a viewpoint but is unable to present a reasoned rebuttal to it, she reaches for her revolver.

Shane Mage

"Thunderbolt steers all things." Herakleitos of Ephesos, fr. 64



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