From "Professors Are Being Watched: 'We’ve Never Seen This Much Surveillance'/Scrutiny of university classrooms is being formalized, with new laws requiring professors to post syllabuses and tip lines for students to complain" (NYT).
"Dr. Robinson, who is Jewish, acknowledged that he referred to Israel’s conduct as a genocide in class but he insisted that he never asked students to agree with him. He said he brought up his personal experiences of activism during a discussion of Kant and the philosopher’s distinction between private and public stances. 'If I can’t appeal to people’s intuitions, what it’s like to publicly use reason versus to have a private feeling of conscience,' he said, 'if I can’t evoke what that feels like, I can’t possibly teach Kant.'"
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91 కామెంట్లు:
So hes either an idiot or a knave
Kant is one of the wellsprings of the evil that dominated this century
Because of his denial of natural rights
“I Kant … I just Kant!”
That was just too eaay
Admittedly i am relying on hoppers critique of kant
Sorry poppers
If I can't subject my trapped audience to my irrelevant left-wing ranting, then I can't do my job!
I'm not one for hyperbole, but the entire progressive movement would collapse without being propped up by academics like this.
Maybe I do tolerate some hyperbole.
"...I can't possibility teach Kant." Thus, Mr. Robinson admits his incompetency, so why does he deserve tenure?
The worst enemies of academic freedom are the well-established left-wing academics who black-ball any conservative seeking a teaching position.
This is mainly about the narrowness of the academic bubble. They are always in near-total agreement about politics, and almost always follow the leftmost party line of the day.
IMO this follows from being economically dependent on the state for their incomes (both through student loans and many state colleges). Genocide and Palestine are personal political agenda items , and have nothing to do with Kant.
Maybe 1/3rd of professors are unable to distinguish between their personal wants and the subject matter.
I don't know who is more of a villain in this story, the guy who can't keep his politics out of his class, or the snitch student freaked out that anybody might criticize what is going on in Gaza.
@Jaq: The snitch student wouldn't have felt compelled to snitch except for the earlier error of political contamination.
A good professor can teach any topic and the students will never have a clue about personal views. A bad professor can't do this.
Theres your sign
The faculty probably applauded him
"Professors are being watched: 'We've never seen this much surveillance'"
You weren't around for the last decade plus of cancel culture? Where "hate is not allowed here" and the progressive super-majority gets to decide what hate is?
"...'If I can’t appeal to people’s intuitions, what it’s like to publicly use reason versus to have a private feeling of conscience,' he said, 'if I can’t evoke what that feels like, I can’t possibly teach Kant.'"..."
So, he's unqualified, then, unless he's teaching a course in 'Using bullsh*t for persuasion to get your way'. That was easy. Good to see classical standards being enforced.
Cant
Here's an observation I heard about German thought: The Germans are always trying to purify everything: Luther tried to purify their religion, Kant tried to purify their reason, Marx (after all a German thinker) tried to purify their economy, Hitler tried to purify their race. Nowadays they're into purifying their air and environment. It never stops.......A pro-Palestinian Jewish professor: that guy has reached a state of abject purity.
You weren't around for the last decade plus of cancel culture?
Umm, no, this is bullshit. If it were true, why are Glenn Reynolds and John Yoo sitting in their tenured chairs? At the very least Instaidiot should be fired for not doing the job he is being paid by the state of Tennessee to do (sort of like Althouse before she retired).
Benjamin's micro issue, though real, is part of the macro issue of university monoculture that propagandizes, oppresses, and systematically excludes everyone to the right of AOC.
I'd like to know more about the "intellectual diversity" law and whether its just another attempt to quash anti-Israel speech at university or whether its a conservative attempt to stop Professors from going off-topic and pushing their political opinions.
But as someone upthread stated, Universities are leftwing echo chambers, and this sounds like a dispute between two leftwing Jews. An Anti-Zionist and Pro-Zionist one over Israel. It just as easily could've been a Prof and a student in a dispute of the greatness of Joe biden, or defunding the police, or some other dispute over the "Party line".
University professors have to be the single most privileged and pampered class of American workers.
At the low-ranked University of Nebraska, the faculty voted “no confidence” for the Black chancellor who had to make cuts. Necessary cuts. Faculty were laid off. But the White faculty made the Black guy take the hit. He resigned.
Out in Lexington, NE, about 3,000 people got laid off by Tyson at a big meat packing plant.
About time there is some accountability at the university-level.
"he touches on Kant, Hegel, Arendt and Nietzsche"
IOW, just another excuse to talk "Nazis".
Umm, no, this is bullshit. If it were true, why are Glenn Reynolds and John Yoo sitting in their tenured chairs?
Freder, your counter to the claim that academia is overwhelmingly left-wing and has been engaging in ideological cancel culture for decades is two examples of non-leftist tenured professors? Two?
"Dr. Robinson, who is Jewish, acknowledged that he referred to Israel’s conduct as a genocide in class but he insisted that he never asked students to agree with him. He said he brought up his personal experiences of activism
Is he lying, or just really stupid?
When an "activist" tells you about his "activism", he's telling you "disagree and get down graded"
during a discussion of Kant and the philosopher’s distinction between private and public stances. 'If I can’t appeal to people’s intuitions, what it’s like to publicly use reason versus to have a private feeling of conscience,' he said, 'if I can’t evoke what that feels like, I can’t possibly teach Kant.'"
If you can't "teach" without going to feelings, rather than facts, reason, and logic, then you can not, in fact, teach.
Because feelings don't matter
So two Jews are having an argument…
As as ing goes, “Two Jews, three opinions”
Trying to get a bunch of American youngsters to think (and ideally, to care) about any aspect of the past isn't easy.
As saying goes, “Two Jews, three opinions”
Kant wrote extensively on the distinction between private conscience and public reasoning, as have many philosophers in his wake, prior to the current Israeli/Palestine conflict. This suggests that it is pretty easily possible to talk about and teach on this w/o alluding to that particular situation. Other philosophers have used a wide array of historical and literary examples, along with various interesting cooked-up hypotheticals.
Freder, your counter to the claim that academia is overwhelmingly left-wing and has been engaging in ideological cancel culture for decades is two examples of non-leftist tenured professors? Two?
I actually named three (I included Althouse). But I could go on. That horrible Tiger Woman person is still at Yale, people still pay attention to Dershowitz. Then there is the Volokh brothers, Eugene retired from UCLA but Sasha is now teaching at Emory (after a stint at George Mason). Speaking of which, George Mason is now a hotbed of libertarianism. They even named the law school after Scalia! (The irony of a public university advocating the end of public education is precious).
I could go on. Would you like further examples? Why don't tell me the names of a few "conservative" professors who have had to give up tenured positions.
Why do we need to have wall to wall commies in academia
He kant reason
This what happens in revolutions: the revolutionaries persecute opponents, and then after they lose power they are persecuted in turn. Maybe Bari Weiss et al. are the real "woke right."
*
Kant didn't believe in natural rights? Maybe not in the Catholic, or Straussian or Randian Objectivist sense, but I believe the consensus is that he did. Some quibbles over "natural right" and "natural rights" though.
Freder: “ The irony of a public university advocating the end of public education is precious”
Hey if the Gramscian commies can infiltrate private universities, then the libertarians can make their own long march through public institutions. CC, JSM
In the lockean sense
Leftists like Freder- when there is an actual rare Non-leftist - they lose their minds.
From "Professors Are Being Watched: 'We’ve Never Seen This Much Surveillance'/Scrutiny of university classrooms is being formalized, with new laws requiring professors to post syllabuses and tip lines for students to complain" (NYT).
Presumably, the people "watching" and reporting are students, as they always have been. The level of scrutiny and transparency may be increasing, not the menacing code word "surveillance."
What the NYT is bemoaning is the viewpoint discrimination enforced by the near monopoly the academic left had through abuse of kangaroo court processes and intimidation of students of is crumbling.
At university (Berkeley, no less) I studied things that start with "F": Physics, French, Philosophy, Fortran. I couldn't tell you the political leanings of any of my profs. Seems not to have been necessary for me to know, somehow...
Obama's Iran to Hamas Affair pays dividends for murder, rape, torture, and ethnic Springs from the river to the sea and collateral damage.
You can't or you Kant. Kids today, they and want to emulate Chinese practices, all the while sounding like an Englishman.
Pick a lane already 😉
’…people still pay attention to Dershowitz. Then there is the Volokh brothers, Eugene retired from UCLA but Sasha is now teaching at Emory…’
A few right wing extremists, for sure!! How will the academy ever survive such an assault on reason?
Leftists like Freder- when there is an actual rare Non-leftist - they lose their minds.
I was just commenting on the whole "conservatives are discriminated in academia" bullshit. And this post is a demonstration of the right unwilling to have a liberal professor. Who is losing their mind over this?
Clear your mind of Kant.
“Umm, no, this is bullshit. If it were true, why are Glenn Reynolds and John Yoo sitting in their tenured chairs.
The problem with Robinson isn’t that he’s a leftist. It’s that he is bringing his politics into the classroom and claiming he can’t teach if he can’t say that Israel is genocidal. - Not even that Israel is wrong - but that it’s evil.
Do you know for a fact that Reynolds and Yoo are not only bringing their personal politics but labeling the side they don’t agree with as evil?
If you don’t know that as factual then stop smearing them.
but he insisted that he never asked students to agree with him.
Okay. He never asked.
Freder Frederson said..."why are Glenn Reynolds and John Yoo sitting in their tenured chairs?"
You name a handful of tenured profs who range from not reliably toeing the lefty line to a few legit conservatives, the youngest of whom is nearly 60.
Nope, nothing to see here.
I could go on. Would you like further examples? Why don't tell me the names of a few "conservative" professors who have had to give up tenured positions.
You know how tenure works, don't you?
You know the stats about the political affiliations of faculty and staff at universities, don't you?
“I can’t possibly teach Kant.”
He shouldn’t have a problem with Nietzsche, though.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach.
Those who can't teach Kant, whine.
Those who can’t stand Kant, wine.
Dark Helmet - lol. perfect.
Mike adams in north carolina roland fryer a sensible economist
Eva 2:27 - slam dunk correct.
Not a leftist
"I cant teach Kant without being actively anti-Israel" is a very curious take. Both because he thinks Kant's influence for Nazi Germany is effectively good and because Kant has been taught by many for a long time without needing to be anti-Israel.
Both are reasons for him not being a good teacher of philosophy, a key goal of which is helping students not be trapped by indoctrination and learn to engage deeper analysis.
I teach theology/religion at the graduate level and I think it a win if students don't know what I think about contemporary politics, unless they ask. And even then I am very careful to show them the method of thinking that led to my positions without needing to force them to agree.
The trouble with philosophy is that it really is a much more substantive topic that doesn't invite the kind of political posturing that most of the social sciences encourage. The other trouble is that the world has greatly, deeply, horrifically suffered when philosophy professors enter into political conversations.
Philosophy is about the process of learning
He said he brought up his personal experiences of activism during a discussion of Kant and the philosopher’s distinction between private and public stances. 'If I can’t appeal to people’s intuitions, what it’s like to publicly use reason versus to have a private feeling of conscience,' he said, 'if I can’t evoke what that feels like, I can’t possibly teach Kant.'"
If you are unable to be objective enough about the subject to come up with a neutral or apolitical example, perhaps you shouldn't be teaching the class.
Lawyers are able to put aside the personal and argue the objective all the time. Not because they have no personal beliefs, but because their ethical and professional duty is to be objective.
The exception that proves the rule, Freder. I'm sure you can name more, however they won't be at mainstream leftist universities. Oh. You forgot Thomas Sowell. Can you name another conservative professor at Berkley?
"Professors Are Being Watched: 'We’ve Never Seen This Much Surveillance'
I guess the original idea was to only watch conservative professors, but there ain't none no more.
Oh my God they have to post syllabuses (syllabi?).
Isn't the purpose of posting syllabi so that students can get a sense of what they are going to studying in the classes that they (or someone) has paid lots of money for? I guess that's a problem if you're just planning on winging it and spouting your own political views.
Benjamin Robinson: Core Faculty: About: Department of Germanic Studies: Indiana University Bloomington https://share.google/iSaG3DLNFIg8SHdfe
Yech
He could learn to code.
From the Student newspaper which has the complaint:
"This professor has repeatedly spoken against Indiana University on several occasions. It is clear to me that he doesn’t not value this university,” the report reads. “He has used class time to say that the university is restricting people’s free speech. He has talked about being arrested during class time several times. The first instance, him being arrested as a Pro-Palestine rally he has talked about on numerous occasions. The second occasion, 10/10/24 he talked about being arrested for trying to shut down the Israeli consulate. He talks negatively about the state of Israel and describes the war in untrue and unfair ways.”
"... he referred to Israel’s conduct as a genocide in class but he insisted that he never asked students to agree with him." Sure, sure. Student NEVER feel any pressure when they express opinions directly contradictory to the STATED opinions of the professor.
Is "chilling effect" only applied to the speech of the right?
/sarc
How did he manage to get up his own arse this way
How did he manage to get up his own arse this way
"He talks negatively about the state of Israel and describes the war in untrue and unfair ways.”
Bingo. that's the real reason the complaint was filed. Anyway, I'll file this kerfuffle under "Trotsky vs. Stalin".
Because jewish students are being terrorized on behalf of a terrorist organization (the brotherhood)
Arendht (sic) = discussed basis for Nazism
Nietchze (sic) = accused of being the basis for Nazism
Kant = accused of being the basis for Nazism
Hegel = Accused of being the basis for Nazism AND communism.
Hey Neitzche and Hegel arednt you nazis? Or Kant you answer.
"Because jewish students are being terrorized on behalf of a terrorist organization (the brotherhood)"
The brotherhood of the bell - starring Glenn Ford as Professor Bell. With Professor Robinson as Professor Horvarthy. And special Guest Star Villian: Jeffrey Epstein.
Which had many affiliates like cair (,bin ladens publicist)
The moslem brotherhood
Arendt had a conflicted relation (re heidegger)
The trouble with philosophy is that it really is a much more substantive topic
Something too few people know, or at any rate acknowledge!
He probably has a black friend or an acquaintance.
If I can't subject my trapped audience to my irrelevant left-wing ranting, then I can't do my job!
Pretty much.
At the very least Instaidiot should be fired for not doing the job he is being paid by the state of Tennessee to do.
Nope. Cancel culture is bullshit according to Freder ... who's too stupid to realize he just made our point.
And if fails to dawn on Freder the fact he can name a handful of conservative/right-leaning professors - out of a field of tens of thousands of others in academia - also makes our point.
According to him, if cancel culture is truly real ... there would be zero conservative/right-leaning profs.
Anonymous complaint?
If that's true I'm on Robinson's side, regardless of his opinions or his competence.
Can't teach Kant or can't teach cant?
Like the anti hamas student that was heckled
Learned Founder! Liberal Artist! Dean of deans and coach of coaches, to whose memos we still turn in times of doubt, stand by us through these dark times in Academe.
Help me, who am thy least professor, to profess no thing but Truth; that am thy newest freshman advisor, not to misadvise those minds--so free of guile and information--thou has committed to my trust. Help me to grasp thy rules; make clear thy curricular patterns as the day; thy prerequisites unknot for me to broadcast with the chimes.
Enlighten the stupid. Fire with zeal the lowest percentile. Have mercy on the recreant in Main Detention, and the strayed in Remedial Wisdom.
Be keg and tap behind the bar of every order, that the brothers may chug-a-lug thy lore, see Truth in the bottom of their steins, and find their heads acrack with insight.
Be with each coed at the evenings close. Paw her with facts, make vain her protests against learnings' advances. Take her to thy mind's backseat, strip off preconceptions, let down illusions, unharness her from error that she may be infused, ere curfew, with Knowledge.
[getting long--continued]
Above all, Sir, stand by me at my lectern. Silence the mowers and stay the traffic that I may speak. Awaken the drowsy, confound the heckler, bring him to nought who would digress when would not, and would not when I would. Take my words from his mouth who would take them from mine; save me from slip of tongue and lapse of memory, from twice-told joke and unzippered fly.
Doctor of doctors, vouchsafe unto me examples of the Unexampled, words to speak the Wordless. Be now and ever my visual aid, that I may inscribe upon the empty slate of these young minds--bold and squeaklessly-- the Answers!
John Barth, Giles Goat-Boy.
All leftist assume their BS is top notch. fire all who do not obey!
"these dark hours in Academe."
"digress when I would not,"
After "Remedial Wisdom" insert "Be as a beacon in the senate, a gadfly in the dorms."
It's hard to proofread your own typing. My apologies to you, and Professor Barth.
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