RHETOR 20 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Solipsism, Academic Freedom, Alternative Facts
Document Summary
Critiques academic freedom as license for academics to do whatever they want regardless of the consequences. Discussions about feminism, sovereign nations are contentious - involves essentialism. When are we reading pieces of text, we are already engaged in academia. Anti-essentialism is distinct from relativism - it is not very controversial that everyone brings their background, their beliefs, their feelings to a given subject. Example: god"s creation of the world, genesis. Literal: there were 7 days on which the earth was gradually created. A literal meaning 200 years ago is very different from that of today - because of a different concept of time, of people, of space. Agreeing on what constitutes evidence is not easy. Not relativism, also writing in response to people who fear relativism. Left now very afraid of relativism because of the trump administration"s ability to new facts. Now the right gets to create their own alternative facts .
