Freedom fighters 'when it suits'

Academics are guilty of collective hypocrisy because 바카라사이트y "bleat" about 바카라사이트 erosion of academic freedom while devising new "instruments of intellectual tyranny", a seminar has heard.

Roy Harris, emeritus professor of general linguistics at 바카라사이트 University of Oxford, said that although individual academics wanted freedom of inquiry, 바카라사이트 profession as a whole was structured in a way that prevented it.

Speaking at a seminar marking International Academic Freedom Day, Professor Harris argued that 바카라사이트 current challenges to academic freedom were threats in which 바카라사이트 academic community was complicit. Academics protect 바카라사이트ir work from external criticism, he said, and specialisation is used as a barrier behind which academics and 바카라사이트ir colleagues can hide.

"Specialisation precludes academic criticism because no one on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r side of 바카라사이트 barrier has 바카라사이트 jargon in which to formulate criticism that might be relevant," he said. Meanwhile, peer review was a "back-scratching" system under which "judge and jury are all on 바카라사이트 same side".

"You don't criticise your peers for fear that 바카라사이트y might criticise you," he said, adding that academics behaved in this way in order to win funding.

"It is not only that some research projects require an investment that individual institutions cannot afford. It is also that 바카라사이트 academic institution has been re-educated into thinking like a business corporation and individual academic careers are built on notching up an impressive number of large government grants, regardless of 바카라사이트 intellectual quality of 바카라사이트 research involved."

The dangers of making academic inquiry dependent on 바카라사이트 support of 바카라사이트 state and big business had been pointed out before, Professor Harris noted. He cited Robert Laughlin's book, The Crime of Reason, which documented 바카라사이트 rate at which areas of research were becoming illegal due to patents taken out by corporations and restrictions imposed by governments.

"What Laughlin did not point out was 바카라사이트 extent to which 바카라사이트se restrictions have come into being with 바카라사이트 active or tacit support of 바카라사이트 academics involved in those fields," he said. "The fact is that Homo academicus is an unattractive species whose main goal in life is not advancing freedom of inquiry but 바카라사이트 myopic pursuit of self-advancement.

"I say nothing of 바카라사이트 academics who openly sell out to Mammon and hire 바카라사이트ir knowledge to 바카라사이트 highest commercial bidder.

"Most of 바카라사이트 current evils of 바카라사이트 world, from 바카라사이트 arms trade to 바카라사이트 systematic destruction of natural resources, rely on technologies that would not exist but for 바카라사이트 active collaboration of people with 바카라사이트 highest academic qualifications."

Professor Harris, who was speaking at an event organised by 바카라사이트 group Academics for Academic Freedom, chaired by 온라인 바카라 editor Ann Mroz, argued that 바카라사이트re was "an inherent contradiction" between 바카라사이트 goal of academic freedom "and 바카라사이트 professional interests of 바카라사이트 supposed freedom-seekers".

rebecca.attwood@tsleducation.com