Friday, May 04, 2007

And That's Why I Can't Stand Certain Kinds of Academic Discourse

The vulgar and the hypersubtle possibilities exist in the interpretation of any great social thinker. Typically, the defenders of each theorist adopt the hypersubtle account of their master and the vulgar account of his rivals.

—Roberto Mangabeira Unger, Social Theory lectures (1976), "Classical Social Theory I," 128.

A bit obvi when stated in such an upfront fashion, but can anyone deny this?

In a similar vein:

Everyone believes that their favorite philosophers are misunderstood. The problem will be especially acute insofar as one's favorite philosopher is oneself, but most of us extend the claim beyond this special case.

—Peter Godfrey-Smith, "Dewey on Naturalis, Realism and Science," Philosophy of Science 69 (2002), S1.

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