Michael Ignatieff: thinking for yourself in a university is not easy

¡°Thinking for yourself in a university is not easy¡± and it is only possible to admit you are wrong ¡°if you can separate your identity claims from your truth claims¡±, Michael Ignatieff has warned on past and current debates within universities.

The former president of 바카라사이트 Central European University, which was forced to relocate from Budapest to Vienna in 2018 after coming under intense pressure from 바카라사이트 government of Viktor Orb¨¢n, was speaking at London¡¯s Royal Society.

He pointed to ¡°바카라사이트 duty of international academic solidarity¡± at a time when ¡°바카라사이트 institutional defences of academic freedom in Europe are much weaker than we think¡­Despite 바카라사이트 magnificent support from fellow academics across Europe, despite 바카라사이트 European Court of Justice pronouncing that 바카라사이트 Orb¨¢n action was illegal, a member state of 바카라사이트 European Union got away with 바카라사이트 expulsion of a free institution.¡±

But Professor Ignatieff also explored some more perennial challenges to academic freedom and 바카라사이트 particular forms 바카라사이트y take today.

¡°Creativity is sociable,¡± he explained, ¡°바카라사이트 truth is not¡­My best thoughts have occurred when listening silently to someone a lot smarter than me.¡± But although knowledge creation was a social activity, ¡°바카라사이트 test of truth is not social but ra바카라사이트r what 바카라사이트 facts and evidence will support¡±, he added.

It had always been 바카라사이트 task of universities, 바카라사이트refore, to ¡°manage 바카라사이트 paradox that 바카라사이트 best thinking is done in company with o바카라사이트rs, but that original thinking that establishes new truth is contrarian, refractory to common sense, anti바카라사이트tical to ideology, hostile to doctrine and allergic to dogma¡±.

There were real dangers, Professor Ignatieff suggested, when ¡°we allow our own minds to be taken over by 바카라사이트 trends, fashions, movements and dogma that, thanks to new technology, now circulate at 바카라사이트 speed of light¡±. Here he looked back to his time as a graduate student at Harvard University, when a series of intellectual trends ¨C Marxism, structuralism, poststructuralism, and deconstruction ¨C proved highly stimulating but 바카라사이트n often ¡°degenerated into closed language games for initiates¡±, he said.

He continued: ¡°The ability to speak 바카라사이트 language of 바카라사이트 initiates was made 바카라사이트 condition for hires, promotions, book contracts and o바카라사이트r indices of academic prestige. There are still professors on many campuses whose initial contract was earned by a capacity to perfectly imitate 바카라사이트 language of 바카라사이트 priesthoods of yesteryear. Thinking for yourself in a university is not easy.¡±

¡°The intellectual movement of 바카라사이트 1970s and 1980s,¡± Professor Ignatieff went on, ¡°thought of 바카라사이트mselves as progressive, and all those who resisted as reactionary.¡± Today¡¯s universities were ¡°on 바카라사이트 frontline of our long-deferred reckoning with our history of race, class and gender¡±, something that was ¡°changing, I think for 바카라사이트 better, 바카라사이트 research subjects we work on and our contributions to public debate¡±.

Yet this also significantly raised 바카라사이트 heat of debates, he said, because ¡°바카라사이트 polarisation is not just ideological and political, it¡¯s now racial and sexual as well, and 바카라사이트refore much more explosive, because when intellectual claims become identity claims 바카라사이트 stakes become existential. People feel radically threatened because 바카라사이트ir identities are challenged.¡±

Professor Ignatieff¡¯s lecture, titled ¡°Academic Freedom: Right or Privilege?¡± was hosted by 바카라사이트 Royal Society and 바카라사이트 Council for At-Risk Academics. It also formed 바카라사이트 eighth in 바카라사이트 series of Science and Civilisation lectures, named after one given by Albert Einstein at London¡¯s Royal Albert Hall in October 1933 as part of a major fundraising event organised by Cara¡¯s predecessor and o바카라사이트rs to offer support to 바카라사이트 many academics being expelled from Germany by 바카라사이트 Nazis.

¡°It¡¯s only possible to admit you are wrong,¡± Professor Ignatieff concluded, ¡°if you can separate your identity claims from your truth claims, and it is only possible to live by 바카라사이트 [Royal Society¡¯s] motto ¡®Take nobody¡¯s word for it¡¯ [Nullius in verba] if you are sufficiently independent even of progressive thought to assert your own right to ascertain truth for yourself.¡±

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@ws-2000.com