laitimes

The human set-up of academic icons collapsed

Not long ago, contemporary anthropologists with wide influence in academia, Such as James C. Scott, Arjun Appadurai and John Comaroff, were caught in a storm of controversy and were accused of betraying intelligence, bullying and sexual assault. Some of the allegations are not only now, but they have all attracted the attention of the Internet in the same time period. Of course, whether the allegations are true or not requires more factual discussions, and now, they have disappointed readers and made netizens angry.

The "collapse of human design" of academic idols is actually not uncommon.

Their "collapse of human design" often begins with some events, such as betraying principles in real life, being hypocritical and snobbish, plagiarizing and tampering with data, speaking words that they themselves may not believe, and even committing incomprehensible crimes. When we find that their academic level is far less than it appears, we may also think that it is a kind of "collapse of human design". In particular, they have problems that contradict their research, which is more likely to be disillusioning, such as we can not accept that a scholar who studies gender equality discriminates or even violates others in real life.

We may have a few academic icons to a greater or lesser extent, and even if we don't think there are any "idols" in academic matters, we also have scholars who have a special affection and respect. When a scholar with academic prestige and influence is questioned about his moral personality, even if we don't know or understand it, it is inevitable to sigh when we see other people talking about "not thinking of such a person". This may be because we are looking forward to the unity of "man and literature" after all, reading a scholar's article or book, unconsciously thinking that his person is as it is, and if one day suddenly finds out that it is not, at the moment of disillusionment, we may even wonder what knowledge is.

Modern academic research undergoes a process of continuous de-moral personification, that is, rationalization. In this video, we explore the relationship between people and literature, to think about a knowledge production logic that must be acknowledged, and all this shows that a person's professional identity and achievements and his true moral personality are always two different things. The following is the video content of this issue.

"It is not the 'academic idol' who commits evil, but the person who does evil whose profession happens to be a scholar in the social division of labor."

More video content can be searched for @Luodong time on Weibo and Station B

·

Timeline for this issue

00:40

The contrast makes us doubt knowledge as well

01:25

Their profession happens to be academic in the social division of labor

02:52

Articles de-morally personified

04:08

The impact of "value neutrality" on academic texts

06:43

Nor is "value judgment" the same as moral personality

The human set-up of academic icons collapsed

Bibliography of this issue

"Fang Siqi's First Love Paradise"

Author: Lin Yihan

Edition: Motie Beijing United Publishing Company February 2018

"Ordinary Evil"

Author: [U.S.] Judith M. N. Shkreli

Translator: Qian Yiyi

Edition: Shanghai People's Publishing House, August 2018

The human set-up of academic icons collapsed

On the Ignorance of Oneself and the Masses

Author: [Italian] Petrarch

Translator: Zhang Pei

Edition: East China Normal University Press, June 2021

The human set-up of academic icons collapsed

"Return to Linguistics"

Author: Shen Weirong

Edition: Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, May 2019

More

"Reading The Mist" series

"Graduation Thesis" series

"Cultural Commentary on An Issue" series

Beijing News 18th anniversary "positive youth" special planning

Read on