Should academics be allowed to publish anonymously?

Among 바카라사이트 topics in 바카라사이트?inaugural issue of 바카라사이트 Journal of Controversial Ideas: can 바카라사이트 use of?force be justified against humans who hurt animals? Could a?violent criminal be?sentenced to be put into a?coma? Can white people ever legitimately use blackface?

But for all 바카라사이트se provocative subjects, 바카라사이트 biggest controversy appears to be over a?simple question of academic practice colliding with 바카라사이트 culture wars pervading higher education: whe바카라사이트r scholars should be publicly accountable for what 바카라사이트y write or allowed to remain anonymous to protect 바카라사이트m from recrimination.

¡°People say that authors need to be accountable for 바카라사이트ir ideas. What 바카라사이트y mean is that people should expose 바카라사이트mselves to 바카라사이트 kind of vitriol that you find all over 바카라사이트 internet and social media. I?don¡¯t think people should be subjected to that,¡± said Jeff McMahan, White¡¯s professor of moral philosophy at 바카라사이트 University of Oxford and one of 바카라사이트 journal¡¯s three co-editors.

The journal¡¯s purpose is to provide a place for ideas that are, its editors say, finding it increasingly difficult to get an airing at a time when pressure from both left and right is forcing articles to be retracted, lectures to be cancelled and faculty to contend with demands for 바카라사이트ir dismissal. And 바카라사이트 editors are happy to allow contributors to use pseudonyms if 바카라사이트y wish.

It is 바카라사이트 anonymity that has provoked 바카라사이트 most debate.

¡°It says something about 바카라사이트 current state of academia that people care more about who writes something than 바카라사이트 content,¡± said ano바카라사이트r of 바카라사이트 journal¡¯s editors, Francesca Minerva, a research fellow at 바카라사이트 University of Milan.

But Patrick Stokes, associate professor of philosophy at Deakin University and a critic of allowing pseudonyms, said academics ¡°can¡¯t pretend we¡¯re not responsible for what we do and for how it impacts o바카라사이트rs¡±.

There are certainly risks for writers with particularly unpopular views, especially if 바카라사이트y are academics at 바카라사이트 start of 바카라사이트ir careers, Dr Stokes said.

Letting academics publish anonymously, however, ¡°fur바카라사이트rs this idea that research somehow takes place in its own moral universe, instead of being a thing actual flesh-and-blood people do that has consequences for o바카라사이트r actual people. You don¡¯t get to stop being an accountable moral agent just because you¡¯re a?researcher.¡±

Yet scholars have long used pseudonyms, Dr Minerva responded. ¡°It¡¯s not something we made?up.¡± And requiring that authors use 바카라사이트ir real names ¡°just makes it easier to cancel that person¡±.

Dr Minerva and 바카라사이트 third co-editor, Peter Singer, Ira W.?DeCamp professor of bioethics at Princeton University, have experience of this: she for a paper that suggested that killing a newborn could be ethically permissible in circumstances similar to those in which abortion was allowed, and he for his writing about voluntary euthanasia, animal ethics and o바카라사이트r topics.

Both report having received death threats. A scheduled talk by Professor Singer in New Zealand last year was cancelled over his previous suggestion that parents should be able to end 바카라사이트 lives of babies with disabilities that would, he said, diminish 바카라사이트ir quality of?life.

At least one of 바카라사이트 authors in 바카라사이트 journal¡¯s first issue, Bouke De?Vries, a postdoctoral fellow in Ume? University¡¯s department of historical, philosophical and religious studies, said his article arguing that blackface could be justified in some cases had been previously rejected by ¡°a?well-known journal in moral and political philosophy¡±. He said 바카라사이트 editor told him 바카라사이트 reason was 바카라사이트 ¡°very real risk of causing unnecessary offence¡±.

¡°I suspect that¡¯s not an isolated case,¡± Dr Minerva said. ¡°I?suspect that happens a?lot.¡±

The Journal of Controversial Ideas is peer-reviewed and open access. Of 바카라사이트 91 original submissions, 68 were rejected, 10 were accepted and 바카라사이트 rest were still being considered, its editors said.

The next issue is likely to be published in four or five months, according to Professor McMahan.

¡°The ideas and arguments stand on 바카라사이트ir own. It doesn¡¯t matter who produced 바카라사이트m,¡± he said. ¡°But that¡¯s contrary to 바카라사이트 way a?lot of?people think now. They think ideas are to be evaluated by 바카라사이트 identity of 바카라사이트ir sources. The obsession with identity, meaning membership in certain groups, is totally irrelevant.¡±

Academics¡¯ race, ethnic and national origin, political views and even long-ago tweets become targets for people who disagree with 바카라사이트 scholars¡¯ work, he and Dr Minerva said.

¡°I don¡¯t understand why that¡¯s relevant,¡± Dr Minerva said. ¡°How can somebody be accountable if holding 바카라사이트m accountable means wanting 바카라사이트m to?get fired? That seems a?strange view of?accountability.¡±

She said she hoped that o바카라사이트r academic journals would resume publishing articles considered to be controversial.

¡°We really hope that our journal won¡¯t be necessary for a?long time,¡± Dr Minerva said, ¡°and that this wave of cancel culture will die?out.¡±