Abstract
In this chapter, the author draws a sociological portrait of a new academic type, the ‘yuppie academic’ or professor-entrepreneur, first observed in the advanced capitalist societies before being successfully ‘imported’ into Turkish academia. With a constant dialogue between philosophy, sociology, social theory and literature, and with a particular emphasis on the neoliberalization of academic everyday life in Turkey, the author analyzes current tensions and disjunctions between today’s university, academic ethos and academic morality. The aim is to interrogate the intersection between the questions of ‘what is happening to academics’ and ‘what is happening to academic ethos and academic morality’ under these new conditions, in which universities are being turned into commercial enterprises.
We should not forget since Aristotle, in many texts written on ‘spirit,’ and ‘soul’ (psuch¯e) in ancient Hellas, these and similar words were not conceived in psychological terms but rather as words that can be deemed physiological; they referredto characteristics that are specific to the body (sôma). Therefore, considering that human acts are referred to through these words, which we can name in terms of the body, as physiological words, I preferred to transliterate the word ‘phrén’—diaphragm—as ‘thumós’ as a matter of feelings, although it is translated as ‘heart.’ In the phrase in Turkish—kan beynine sıçramak—which means ‘fit to be tied’ in English—but is a phrase that symbolizes the interwoven relationship of the body (kan–blood) and the intellect (beyin/beynine–mind) a similar expression can be observed. Such an expression belongs to a period when the body–soul separation had not even been imagined. For the specific meanings of these words, see Erhat 1975, pp. 33–41.
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Notes
- 1.
Translator’s note: Throughout the text, I rely on Dennis Redmond’s 2005 copyleft translation of Minima Moralia. In certain instances, I move between three languages—English, German and Turkish—trying to voice three versions of the same text through quotations in the Turkish version. In doing so, I try to attract attention to the way interpretation is continuously re-made through translation in different periods and geographies. I should also note that my interventions are guided by feminist modalities. The English version of the text can be reached at: http://members.efn.org/~dredmond/MinimaMoralia.html (Accessed: March 15, 2016).
- 2.
Translator’s note: In Turkish, those unapproved instances that are considered to be absurd are sometimes met with this phrase, connoting the inherent conservatism that lies dormant in the popular culture.
- 3.
Translator’s note: ‘Özalization’ is a Turkey-specific concept, forged with a certain derogatory sense. It refers to a prominent political figure of the 1980s and early 1990s, Turgut Özal (1927–1993), who served as prime minister of Turkey in two critical governments (45th and 46th—1983/1987). Parliament elected Özal the President of the Republic in 1989. He served as President until his death in 1993. Özal is mostly known as the architecture of the 24 January (1980) economic package, and as the technocrat who continued with the implementation of the measures in the package under the military regime (1980–1983) after the 12 September 1980 coup d’état.
- 4.
Translator’s note: Here the author refers to the intermingling of the authoritarian mentality—as solidified in the military rule (1980–1983) after the 12 September 1980 coup d’état—and the neoliberal free-market mentality—as solidified in the governments that followed.
- 5.
Translator’s note: Here, another feminist intervention is all the more necessary. Despite its philosophical depth, the text falls into maleist derogatory view of prostitutes. This fall employs the male gaze into capital–labor relations as a form of power that unconditionally accepts men as the power holder and women as dominated subjects, and that reproduces this domination even when questioning the relation of exploitation.
The author travels through the texts by quoting from Ece Ayhan, a highly regarded Turkish poet, nationally and internationally.
- 6.
Translator’s note: Here a feminist intervention is needed regarding Hannah Arendt’s work on Rahel Varnhagen, who she described as a parvenu, not as an act of disrespect, but as a state of affairs relating to identity politics in the most general sense of the term. Arendt’s many readings of her era, its past and future with a non-humanistic pro-Enlightenment stance share considerable concerns with the main figures of the Frankfurt School. However, her parallel readings regarding the Life of Mind, eclipse of the mind, thinking-ego and parvenu among others do not create the same attraction as male writings of the Frankfurt School. The recurrence of this perhaps unintentional but rather systematic neglect, and the resulting attempt to manipulate Arendt’s works by the New Right in the North American context, is another topic that deserves scholarly attention, especially in a period when academic life and scholarly thinking are once more in shackles.
- 7.
Translator’s note: Here ‘tierisch’ also means animal-like. In the Turkish version of the text, the author uses a Turkish term that corresponds to ‘animal-like.’ Because, from a feminist ecological stance, referring to (the features of) animals as means to negate, criticize, belittle or degrade certain ‘human’ acts is another instance of violence, I preferred to translate tierisch as bestial rather than ‘animal-like.’
- 8.
Translator’s note to endnote 50: 1. DR uses ‘happiness’ for Glück. Here, I prefer the term ‘fortune’ because the term was translated into Turkish to mean ‘pleasant’ in English. This, I believe, recalls Machiavelli’s use of the term ‘fortune’ in relation to one’s intelligent manipulation of fate. 2. Considering Adorno’s distinction between truth/true and pseudo/false/appearance, I also prefer to use ‘true’ as the adjective of experience rather than ‘actual’ (DR prefers this term).
- 9.
Translator’s note to endnote 52: Because the author has so far used the words spirit, intellect and mind interchangeably for the translation of the German word ‘Geist,’ I prefer to use ‘spiritual/mental’ for the word that he uses in Turkish—‘ruhsal.’
- 10.
Translator’s note to endnote 54: In the English translation of the text (by DR), the term selected—‘enchantment’—is slightly different from the word selected for the Turkish translation—‘cadılık’—which means ‘witchcraft’ in English. I would prefer to continue with the English translation, since ‘witchcraft’ might be another instance of maleist thinking in this valuable text—in terms of the strict distinction between a ‘manly’ way of knowing and ‘women’s’ knowledge, which for centuries have been equated with non-scientific ways of understanding and in certain disciplines with witchcraft for a considerable period of time.
- 11.
Translator’s note to endnote 56: I found the English version of the text from the following source: Derrida, J. The Future of the Profession or the University without Condition (Thanks to the ‘Humanities,’ What Could Take Place Tomorrow). 2002. In Cohen, T. (Ed.). Jacques Derrida and the Humanities: A Critical Reader. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 24–57. The quotation is from p. 50.
- 12.
Translator’s note: The author prefers to use ‘science corporation’ for the academic life that he focuses on.
- 13.
Translator’s note to endnote 58: In the English translation, the sentence starts as follows: ‘Their resentment.’ In the Turkish translation, the sentence starts with ‘Their never-ending hate and.’ In the Turkish translation, the word used for ‘resentment’ is ‘hınç,’ which means ‘ressentiment’ in English rather than ‘resentment.’
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This text is an extended and revised version of a manuscript in Turkish, entitled ‘The Problem of “Ethos” and “Morality” beyond Modern Achitecture,’ prepared for The Second Symposium on Architecture and Philosophy: Ethics-Aesthetics, October 31–November 1, 2002. The first revised version, entitled ‘Who [What] Is the Ersatz Yuppie Academic?’ was presented on April 30, 2003 as part of a conference series of the Turkish Social Sciences Association. I would like to thank the participants for their constructive contributions. This article was previously published in the journal Toplum ve Bilim/Science & Society [title in Turkish: Üniversite A.Ş.de bir homo academicus: ‘ ersatz’ yuppie akademisyen], 97, pp. 7–42. We would like to thank the journal’s editors for granting us the permission to publish the English version of the article in this volume.
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Nalbantoğlu, H.Ü. (2017). ‘Homo Academicus’ in University Inc.: The Ersatz Yuppie Academic. In: Ergül, H., Coşar, S. (eds) Universities in the Neoliberal Era. Palgrave Critical University Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55212-9_9
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