How Bad Ideas Flourish At Universities
With Alan Davison
I just wrapped up an engaging podcast episode with my friend Alan Davison.
Alan is a dean at the University of Technology Sydney and a scholar specializing in 19th-century law, music, visual culture, arts, and aesthetics. Recently, he has focused on critical theory in academia and the influence of ideology on our institutions.
During our conversation, Alan noted that “universities have now entered a state of paralysis of general intellectual inquiry.” This observation led us to discuss his article, “A Darwinian Approach to Postmodernism Critical Theory: Or, How Did Bad Ideas Colonize the Academy?” We explored how these problematic ideas infiltrated academia, the reasons behind this colonization, and potential remedies.
We also touched on various topics such as freedom of speech, the impact of Muslim integration on society, the future of public discourse, and the reactions of the post-liberal right in Australia to critical social theories.
I hope you find this thought-provoking conversation with Alan as fascinating as I did.
I love this direction of your work. I've been thinking a lot about it myself. Choosing to set up my project outside of the university was a very conscious decision. But there are ways bad ideas take over there, and then there are ways bad ideas take over here. The Academy vs. The Attention Economy... Could be a could theme for some research into the tendencies, positive and negative, between these two worlds. Would love to talk to you about all of this sometime...
Another great Podcast Peter!
This gave me hope, that there are academics (administrators) out there, who are not bat shit crazy. Quite often many of us in the "laboring masses" paint with a broad brush and so see little to no hope that the indoctrination mills have rational actors in them - though they may be self muffling.
I agree with you're position that "the" or many academic systems/entitles must be torn down and rebuilt. True growth rarely comes without cutting off the dead skin or burning the fields periodically. The rub is, as with any "revolution" who steps into the space and sets up the next model. Are there enough people like you and Alan, to build and maintain a "pure" system and if not, then do we devolve back into what we have now, simply because the voids were there for the radical opportunists to occupy?
Great conversation. Thank you for continuing to do this work - Reed as well, bravo sir!!