could those of you who still remember Kant comment on the idea of academics (ie those in academia) as "knowledge producers"?
the phrase was brought up at the university and strikes me as being both arrogant and erroneous. it's wrong even without going into the process of coming to know. knowledge is something other than information. information can be made and produced, stored and passed around. but knowledge is what's inside of you after you've assimilated that information.
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4 comments:
Knowledge cannot be produced for the simple reason that is already exists within you. Go find your Kant and turn to the page where he talks about the synthetic unity of apperception....
Knowledge may be said to be produced only equivocally; insofar as knowledge may be EXPRESSED in a form ACCESSIBLE to those with untrained minds who have not bothered to think about it. (But don't expect anyone to understand this...)
Actually, I think I can recommend a book that could pinpoint your complaint (and you may have already read it . . . ) - - i.e., Josef Pieper's "Leisure, the Basis of Culture". It talks about the Kantian conception of philosophy as work, and of course you can imagine how that would in turn transform the conception of academy into nothing more than a production line. Moreover, if you've done any critical thinking about what academics actually DO, there's a lot to be said to the effect that, for the most part, all they really manage to do with their IS produce, but the product of their labors is rarely knowledge. Chiefly, they produce piles and piles of printed paper almost nobody bothers to read.
But yes, anyhow, read the Leisure book. It's one in a million.
actually I based a large portion of my thesis on that very book... ;) i'm wishing i'd brought it with me to the antipodes. i think i gained a better understanding of Kant from his brief explanation than from the 8 or so weeks we spent actually reading him (sad no?). but yes, it is a wonderful powerful book.
I'm so glad I have no desire to go to graduate school for philosophy.
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