Your choice. This is why I rarely debate you.
Analytic Philosophy and McCarthyism
- Thread starter Hume
- Start date
T. A. Gardner
Serial Thread Killer
No, you rarely debate me because you have nothing with which to debate. You are helpless in the face of being confronted with a counter position that doesn't fit your chosen narrative.
Jerry Mathers
Was it me?
philosophy is the talk on a cereal box.
religion is a smile on a dog.
--Edie brickell, Edie Brickell and the new bohemians.
Stupid.
IBDaMann
Probably the worse human in the threads
Name-dropping people in a clique does not support a claim for a branch of philosophy.
Nope. The article is gibberish intended for dullards and morons who are desperate to cosplay philothoferth & thmart perthonth.
I nonetheless appreciate you admitting to being in that clique, and to not having any idea what "Analytic Philosophy" is supposed to mean.
T. A. Gardner
Serial Thread Killer
Then, let's revisit the opening paragraph from the article you cite:
How to explain the analytic turn in American philosophy? One controversial thesis, regularly discussed in the blogosphere, is that analytic philosophy’s dominance is a product of McCarthyism. On this view, anti-communist repression forced philosophers to abandon socially-engaged, humanistic modes of inquiry, and to a replace them with a technical, ‘politically neutral’ approach.
The third, last sentence here is the tell. What Verhaegh states so ineloquently in that sentence is McCarthyism supposedly forced radical Leftist academics in philosophy who were communist sympathizers to abandon publishing their politically motivated crap with something that was non-political to stay out of the eye of government as enemies of the state. This inability to use philosophy for political discourse and, likely, indoctrination in academia has his panties in a twist.
John McCumber develops the theory in two of his books and the hypothesis recently resurfaced in publications by Christoph Schuringa and by Robert Hanna, who likens postwar analytic philosophy to “McCarthy-style anti-communist, big-capitalist politics”.
He then gives several examples of like-minded academics to himself, a communist sympathizer, that confirm his views. This is all rubbish as later in the article he admits:
Naturally, it is difficult, if not impossible, to sharply define what does and does not count as ‘analytic philosophy’.
So, he can't even define what he's talking about, but he knows it when he sees it...
Then in the last paragraph comes the tell:
McCarthyism severely affected the lives of Marxists and (former) socialist philosophers.
He is upset that the radical Left has been unable to dominate the field of philosophy and turn it into a tool for political discourse--radical Leftist discourse of course.
It's a shit article.
You are an idiot.
The author is refuting this claim. Notice he writes, "one controversial thesis." In other words, he does not agree with it.
McCumber is not arguing for communism. And the author is stating he disagrees with McCumber.
What counts as Analytic Philosophy is often contrasted to Continental philosophy. Analytic is usually the style of philosophy in the US and England. Continental is practiced in France and Germany. It is not a clear distinction in terms of content or style.
No, he is explaining that some marxist philosophers were having trouble keeping their jobs or getting tenure.
Sander Verhaegh is citing specific philosophers so we know who exactly these Analytic philosophers are he is discussing.
No idea what that sentence means.
I have studied Analytic Philosophy and know what it means. Not mysterious.
"What is generally regarded today as analytic philosophy has its roots in the work of Frege and Russell and their development and use of logical analysis, in particular. The very idea of analysis has evolved in the processes of philosophical thinking, with the history of analytic philosophy being just the latest chapter in a fascinating story that is continually being rewritten as it inspires new generations of thinkers.
Analytic Philosophy
The school of analytic philosophy has dominated academic philosophy in various regions, most notably Great Britain and the United States, since the early twentieth century. It originated around the turn of the twentieth century as G. E. Moore and Bertrand Russell broke away from what was then the dominant school in the British universities, Absolute Idealism.
IBDaMann
Probably the worse human in the threads
... says the idiot who thinks gibberish is secret code that is "understood" by his clique of cosplaying idiots who are all busy playing "fort."
Fuqking 3rd graders.
That was just stupid.