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Let's consider two academics. Academic A is constrained to traditional rational discourse and Academic B is constrained to post-modernism. Which of these two is

Let's consider two academics. Academic A is constrained to traditional rational discourse and Academic B is constrained to post-modernism. Which of these two is going to publish more articles? The person that must meticulously build on prior research, or the person who can publish non-falsifiable articles with no chance of collision with prior work? Which of these two is going to get more grants for their institutions? Which of these two is going to get promoted and get tenure? Which of these is going to be in charge of advising the next generation of graduate students? Consider Steve Jobs answer to why Xerox failed and meditate on the implications in higher education: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHaTRWRj8G0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHaTRWRj8G0 Or consider this scene from Mad Men: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKcneQ6N50Q&t=39 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKcneQ6N50Q&t=39 Different industry, same phenomenon. Pursuit of truth and a notion of objective reality constrains discourse to a very limited band of possible outcomes, let alone actual outcomes. If you remove those constraints, the floodgates open and the signal will immediately be drowned by intentional noise. And if you don't play ball, your institutions will inevitably replace you with someone who will.

lasagnaphil 6y ago
Ironically, this is a good Foucaultian critique of postmodernism as an academic field today. Foucault emphasized the relationship between knowledge and power relations, saying that the process of knowledge creation is no independent of the power structures which creates it (in this example, the academic institutions, the journals, and the allocation of capital) Honestly, if Foucault came alive today and saw how the neoliberals took advantage of postmodernism (by stealing their language of difference and deconstruction to distract and prevent people from thinking about capital alongside to race/gender relations), he would be very disappointed.

lasagnaphil 6y ago

Ironically, this is a good Foucaultian critique of postmodernism as an academic field today. Foucault emphasized the relationship between knowledge and power relations, saying that the process of knowledge creation is no independent of the power structures which creates it (in this example, the academic institutions, the journals, and the allocation of capital) Honestly, if Foucault came alive today and saw how the neoliberals took advantage of postmodernism (by stealing their language of difference and deconstruction to distract and prevent people from thinking about capital alongside to race/gender relations), he would be very disappointed.