I came up in the arts rather than the sciences, but they hate floweriness in the arts too, perhaps all the more because they know the sciences are constantly accusing them of it. My style of thinking relies heavily on finding analogies, connecting everything to everything else, colouring outside the lines, looking for Big Ideas rather than 100% Accurate Ones - basically what Nietzsche called the "gay science" - and that's always going to be smacked down as gibberish or word salad in the college context. (Foucault's lack of rigour seems to be fine for some reason.) Very politically constricted too, obviously. I believe good work is still being done in the liberal arts, but I can't stomach doing any of it myself.
Philosophy and arts allows for a bitlre expression, but not much. There's a narrative, and young academics are naive enough to believe that they don't have to march to it...we find out quickly how wrong that is. You might have enjoyed the book we just finished for our book club, Intellectuals and Society. if you can't tell I'm quite prone to analogy and metaphor as well 😂. It's just how my brain works.
Great, well-written post. I left academia five years ago because I felt I'd never be able to express myself there, and I'm still struggling to find my niche now. Of course there's no objective or eternal right or wrong in these situations, only what's right or wrong for the individual from moment to moment. Sounds like you're doing the right thing for yourself in this moment.
Thanks. Yeah, it's a tough transition because we're kind of brainwashed to think that success outside of academia isn't real success. Academia isn't a utopia, but there's no utopia out here either. It's just taking it day by day, like you said. You'll find your place.❤️
I came up in the arts rather than the sciences, but they hate floweriness in the arts too, perhaps all the more because they know the sciences are constantly accusing them of it. My style of thinking relies heavily on finding analogies, connecting everything to everything else, colouring outside the lines, looking for Big Ideas rather than 100% Accurate Ones - basically what Nietzsche called the "gay science" - and that's always going to be smacked down as gibberish or word salad in the college context. (Foucault's lack of rigour seems to be fine for some reason.) Very politically constricted too, obviously. I believe good work is still being done in the liberal arts, but I can't stomach doing any of it myself.
Philosophy and arts allows for a bitlre expression, but not much. There's a narrative, and young academics are naive enough to believe that they don't have to march to it...we find out quickly how wrong that is. You might have enjoyed the book we just finished for our book club, Intellectuals and Society. if you can't tell I'm quite prone to analogy and metaphor as well 😂. It's just how my brain works.
Book club you say? I'm intrigued, government's just extended full lockdown here for 6 weeks so it'd be something to do!
Great, well-written post. I left academia five years ago because I felt I'd never be able to express myself there, and I'm still struggling to find my niche now. Of course there's no objective or eternal right or wrong in these situations, only what's right or wrong for the individual from moment to moment. Sounds like you're doing the right thing for yourself in this moment.
Thanks. Yeah, it's a tough transition because we're kind of brainwashed to think that success outside of academia isn't real success. Academia isn't a utopia, but there's no utopia out here either. It's just taking it day by day, like you said. You'll find your place.❤️
Thanks TG ❤️