The Graves of Academe

by Peter Saint-Andre

2003-04-22

Wow. Emily Eakin of the great grey lady reports that a recent pow-wow of postmodern intellectuals could find no compelling justification for, well, postmodern intellectuals. Some juicy quotes:

Sander L. Gilman: "I would make the argument that most criticism -- and I would include Noam Chomsky in this -- is a poison pill. I think one must be careful in assuming that intellectuals have some kind of insight. In fact, if the track record of intellectuals is any indication, not only have intellectuals been wrong almost all of the time, but they have been wrong in corrosive and destructive ways."

Stanley Fish: "I wish to deny the effectiveness of intellectual work. And especially, I always wish to counsel people against the decision to go into the academy because they hope to be effective beyond it."

Even the emperor admits he's naked.


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