Abstract
In this paper we discuss Susan Haack’s contribution to Academic Ethics. The paper is divided into three sections. After the introduction we firstly reconstruct Haack’s critique of what she calls “preposterism” in academia. Secondly, we focus on the measurement of academic quality of philosophical work, scholars, or institutions through surrogate measures. We try to show that a total refusal of surrogate measures in academia is no solution, but that using these measures needs to be restricted in order not to corrupt philosophical research. The third part discusses the question which additional criteria might be required for an adequate evaluation of philosophical research.
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Notes
- 1.
Of course, some of these aspects will play a role in our discussion. The critique, for example, that the current academic landscape is “big business” relies on an empirical claim about the economic reality, but contains a normative claim that is of a philosophical nature.
- 2.
One could also bring forward a critique of the methods of Haack’s argument from the standpoint of empirical science. However, this is not our business.
- 3.
A similar critique of the current academic environment is put forward in Haack’s Münster Lecture “The Fragmentation of Philosophy, the Road to Reintegration” (Haack 2016).
- 4.
We will discuss the problem what the actual value of a good philosophical contribution may consist in—if something like this exists at all—later on.
- 5.
References
Haack, Susan. 1998 [1996]. Preposterism and its consequences. In Manifesto of a passionate moderate: Unfashionable essays, 188–208. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Haack, Susan. 2013. Out of step: Academic ethics in a preposterous environment. In Putting philosophy to work: Inquiry and its place in culture, 2nd ed., 251–267, 313–317. Amherst: Prometheus Books.
Haack, Susan. 2016. The fragmentation of philosophy: The road to reintegration. In Susan Haack—Reintegrating philosophy, ed. Julia F. Göhner, and Eva-Maria Jung, 3–32. Dordrecht: Springer. [this volume]
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Derpmann, S., Düber, D., Meyer, T., Rojek, T. (2016). Evaluating Philosophy: Susan Haack’s Contribution to Academic Ethics. In: Göhner, J., Jung, EM. (eds) Susan Haack: Reintegrating Philosophy. Münster Lectures in Philosophy, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24969-8_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24969-8_9
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