Philosophy Tag
So we were busy. But it’s okay. It’s only a game, and that game is philosophy tag. When we were last in session, Michael Bishop (Florida State) had tagged Sarah Conly (Bowdoin) for her book. “Book!” I exclaimed. “Let us return to the humble article.” Well, for someone whose book is called Against Autonomy, Professor Conly is apparently set on doing things her own way, for she tagged a book, too. Let’s see which one:
Corey Brettschneider (Brown) is a political scientist, but his When the State Speaks, What Should it Say: How Democracy Can Protect Free Expression and Promote Equality, is a philosophical book. Brettschneider explores the familiar problem of what a democratic state should do about citizens who promote anti-democratic values—-racism, or religious intolerance, or sexism. While many believe that the state should remain neutral when it comes to competing values among its citizens, Brettschneider argues that on the contrary, the government should use its varied powers (including its powers to spend and subsidize) to promote the ideal of equal citizenship and to discourage the promotion of values that are antithetical to democracy. The state should take a stand, and persuade citizens that some political beliefs are wrong-headed. Many will find these ideas controversial, but Brettschneider makes his argument clearly and convincingly. This is a well-written and lively book. So, Corey Brettschneider, you are it!
Is this really in keeping with the overall respectability of this blog? To have a game so rife with cronyism I have to plug my nose? Sorry if I missed some rules about being inclusive, but is this for realz?
Hi Aspasia. I think of philosophy tag as part game, part information source, and part sociological observation. The game has no rules about being inclusive, as I am kind of curious to see where it goes without laying down such conditions. However, one of the reasons I prefer players tagging articles instead of books is that books that are likely to be read and tagged are also likely to be written by better known philosophers, which makes the game, in one way, less informative. I think that so far the game has included a wide range of people. You can see all of them so far right here.
I’m trying to understand how your comment counts as a response to my worry. I just see this as a way of perpetuating the status quo of getting somewhere by networking rather than on the basis of merit in philosophy. Out of curiosity, do you have any training in sampling methods or a social science of any kind?
Hi Aspasia. Some players have indeed tagged others they know, but some have tagged people they’ve never interacted with—they just tagged the author of a work they found particularly good or useful or interesting. So not all of the selections are explained by networking. But suppose they were. The game would still be fun and interesting and informative. That is really all I’m going for with this particular occasional feature of the site. As I tried to indicate in my previous reply, I have a preference for tagging less well-known authors, but I also do not want to place additional rules on the players, because I think it is interesting to learn what their relatively unconstrained choices are.
Does Philosophy Tag perpetuate the status quo? Maybe it does, though it does occasionally give a very large audience to less-established philosophers who normally do not have one. Your concern is especially with Philosophy Tag reinforcing the idea of “getting somewhere by networking rather than on the basis of merit.” The relationship of success in philosophy to networking and merit is a complicated topic, and worthy of its own main post, I think. So let me pass for now on making any claims about that.
I favor greater inclusion in philosophy, and I believe that in various ways I have promoted that aim with Daily Nous. But greater inclusion is not the only aim of Daily Nous. Sometimes I just want to provide a place for philosophers to have a little fun. If I can do so without incurring too great a cost—which I think is the case with Philosophy Tag—then I think it is ok.
And to answer your last question, I do not have any formal training in sampling methods or social science. If you do, and if you have an idea of how you could put them to use here at Daily Nous, I would be interested in hearing about it (here or via email).
OK. I’ll settle for that I guess 🙂 if I think of anything, I’ll let’cha know. Thanks for taking the worry seriously at least. Chuse!