Silber is worth some looking up, if you like the unique personality....
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For philosophers, criticism and a call to service
Gathering focuses on world problems
By Scott Allen, Globe Staff, 08/11/98
The last few decades have been lonely years for philosophers, a time
when the world sometimes teetered on the brink of nuclear war and they
seemed preoccupied with linguistic hairsplitting. Philosophers nearly
became the intellectual equivalent of one hand clapping: Nobody heard
them.
But yesterday, at the world's largest-ever gathering of philosophers,
they declared themselves back in the hunt for truth and goodness, and
eager to help a fast-changing technological society solve problems
from teaching values to children to coping with religious extremists.
The more than 3,000 philosophers heard the call to service, but also
got a harsh critique from their host, Boston University chancellor
John Silber, who said they have themselves to blame for their
isolation. Silber charged that feminists, Marxists, and others had
turned philosophy into ``an assault on reason.''
Ever since Friedrich Nietzsche declared that God is dead, Silber
argued, philosophers have been moving away from the idea that
universal truth exists, turning people's most closely held beliefs
into mere opinions. This slippery slope, in turn, leads to each
interest group claiming that no one outside the group can understand
their experience, Silber said.
``These positions, to paraphrase a remark attributed to Orwell, are
nonsense so bad that only an intellectual could believe them,'' said
Silber, at the opening of the weeklong World Congress of Philosophy at
the Marriott Hotel in Copley Place.
Silber's main target, feminists, replied that Silber had caricatured
their efforts to combat sexism, which they said was a common tactic to
put women down. ``This is the kind of thing you might expect at a
political rally,'' said Phyllis Rooney of Oakland University.
The World Congress, the first in five years and the last of this
century, in some ways defied stereotypes of philosophers. Yes, there
were lots of wise, gray-bearded men, including a couple of dead
ringers for Karl Marx, but there were also Indian women in saris,
African women with corn-rowed hair and middle-aged people wearing
fanny packs on their waists.
The vast gathering, which took six universities as well as the United
Nations more than two years to pull together, looked like a bonanza to
Julian Baggini, fresh in from London with copies of his publication,
The Philosophers' Magazine. ``This is our big chance to break into the
US market,'' he said.
Others, such as Sherry Wieder, saw the conference as a chance to even
scores. Standing in front of a poster of mustachioed
turn-of-the-century psychiatrist named Emil Kraepelin, Wieder
explained how Sigmund Freud unjustly overshadowed Kraepelin, who first
diagnosed schizophrenia and manic depression.
Wieder said the International Kraepelin Society planned to build a
Hall of Fame of Psychology and Philosophy near Poughkeepsie, N.Y.,
where, among other things, Kraepelin's true legacy could be explored.
But the core business of the conference revolved around this year's
theme, ``Philosophy Educating Humanity,'' meant to symbolize the
return of many philosophers to engagement with the pressing issues of
the late 20th century.
``What are truth, goodness, and beauty? How should people live with
wealth and poverty? War and peace?'' asked Robert Neville, dean of
Boston University's School of Theology. ``Only philosophy, I say, can
raise our children to address these crises of wisdom.''
Alan Olson of Boston University, director of the conference organizing
committee, said from World War II until recently, philosophy was
dominated by dry analytical works that ``just deal with clarity of
propositions ... and are not really concerned with anything outside
itself.'' As a result, the Cold War came and went, and philosophers
were on the sidelines.
Now, said Olson, ``analytical philosophy has found its soul,'' and an
increasing number of philosophers are rejecting major philosophical
themes such as relativism, where there is no such thing as absolute
truth.
The organizers underscored the theme of greater relevance with marquee
speakers such as Alasdair MacIntyre of Duke University, a scholar of
Marx who came to believe God exists, and Brown University's Martha
Nussbaum, an influential thinker on the need for a classical liberal
education. Organizers also emphasized engagement with their suggestion
that US high schools offer more philosophy courses.
Yersu Kim of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization told the group that the conference itself was a step
toward more relevance. The meeting ``signals the return of a
significant segment of the world philosophical community ... to the
classical mission of philosophy ... enlightenment,'' he said.
However, in the quiet, library-like exhibition hall of the conference,
one observer cautioned against expecting too much. Surrounded by the
works of Ayn Rand, Jean Paul Sartre, and other luminaries in his
Scholar's Choice book nook, Loren Dykstra said philosophers have a
hard time agreeing on things.
``I'd almost like to think that they ought to have solved half the
world's problems, but that's not likely,'' said salesman Dykstra.
``Philosophers know how to ask questions better than they know how to
give answers.''
This story ran on page A01 of the Boston Globe on 08/11/98. ©
Copyright 1998 Globe Newspaper Company.
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Wade T. Smith
morbius@channel1.com | "There ain't nothin' you
wade_smith@harvard.edu | shouldn't do to a god."
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