timelets: (Default)
[personal profile] timelets
Зачем нужен профессор, который учит философии Канта?

Анатолий Воробей недавно дал ссылку на эссе Роберта Грессиса, профессора философии из California State University, Northridge, Is Philosophy OK?

If you’re a professor at a state school like mine, how impressed are you by your non-majors’ (or for that matter, your majors’) understanding of the material you teach to them?


Я представил себе, какие могут быть студенты в районном университете в ЛА, и мне стало жаль этого профессора, потому что учить их европейской философии совершенно безнадежное занятие. Подумать только: тема его докторской диссертации была "Kant's Theory of Evil: An Interpretation and Defense." Уж лучше бы он был экзистенциалистом. Тогда бы воспринимал сложившуюся ситуацию, как вызов собственной человечности в кафкианских условиях современной системы обучения. А вот если бы он был аналитическим философом, то ушел бы в программисты, не задумываясь.


Краткое содержание:

The Conceptual Claim: Professors do three things as part of their jobs: produce research, teach, and provide service to their departments, colleges, or universities.

The Research Claim: I don’t produce valuable research, so I’m not making the world a better place with what I publish.
.... while it’s true that some scholars have read my research, to the best of my knowledge, my work has served merely as something that may have been of a little help to a few scholars of Kant.

The Teaching Claim: My teaching probably doesn’t make much positive difference to most of my students.
.....most students don’t learn much during college. Most students don’t retain most of what they learn for long. And most students aren’t able to transfer what they learn in the college classroom to non-college contexts.

The Administrative Claim: I can’t engage in the kind of administrative work that would make an important, positive difference to my university.

The Permissibility Claim: It’s OK to practice a profession only if it makes a positive difference (unless you have no realistic option but to be in that profession).

The Conclusion: Since, insofar as I’m a professor, I don’t make much, if any positive difference, I shouldn’t remain a professor.

Profile

timelets: (Default)
timelets

January 2026

S M T W T F S
     1 2 3
4 5 678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jan. 7th, 2026 05:31 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios