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http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2008/10/11/blame-it-on-gerald-dworkin-for-blaming-it-on-ayn-rand/ -
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That doesn't mean I don't get it. I'd be jealous of my territory too, if I had to endure years of logical misdeeds and lexiconic hazing to attain it. In fact, I did so endure, but on my own rather than that other way.
Of course, getting a Ph.D. in philosophy is a must if you want to stay at the university.
[*] -- I think we need a term for the autodidactic wiseguy, one They can use derogatorily and We can use with pride (like, er, "queer" or "wilder" or something).
On the other hand, we have supposedly professional philosophers who: 1) don't make an argument of substance; 2) rely on an ad hominem argument against Wilkinson's background and Wilkinson's supposed incompetence (not otherwise obvious) at interviewing people on a separate website; and 3) by referring to Wilkinson's background, Leiter and Dworkin make an implied argument to (their own) professional authority that is not only fallacious, but facially absurd given that professional philosophers obviously have no expertise in the roots of the current financial crisis (if you want to make an argument to authority, at least pick an actual authority!).
What an embarrassment to philosophy.
I think this is exactly how people like Leiter think.
(And let's also recall the rate at which new words are added to the OED -- Up With Hackery!)
Since when did you become a zealot by the way?
Unfortunately, it wasn't very clever.
It's telling that nowhere in Dworkin's reply does he really address the content of your criticism in a way that demonstrates a modicum of understanding. Heck, with a line like "This leaves plenty of room for Wilkinson’s only other candidate for the crisis—Bill Clinton" one wonders if he even READ it.
The elder male silverbacks decide to throw a dust party to assert their continuing dominance. What a frightening display of their advanced degrees. Ooh how we shiver and shrink back into the trees.
As a denizen of Wall St. myself, I don't recall ever seeing these two fine gentleman eating at any of the usual steakhouses. My vote for the most prominent cause of the collapse?
The yearly bonus system. Any fool can put structure a puppy that doesn't explode for a short-term. Once these guys have theirs at year-end, they're done, they squirrel away their FU nut and damn what happens later.
But if the bonuses were paid partially up-front and partially over time - say maybe 3 years - the boiz would have an incentive to make sure the whole thing doesn't blow up as soon as they've cashed their bonus checks. Several of my quant friends agree with this, with a fair amount of passion.
The fun thing is, though he is a distinguished academic, he works in subfields of philosophy (e.g., Neitzsche) most philosophers don't care much about, so pretty much no one ever reads his work.
He won't take you up on your offer, you know.
As for Brian Leiter and Gerald (Not Ronald!) Dworkin: I've read both of their work and--what can I say?--it's good.
You'd think that people who were smart enough to learn some political philosophy would also be able to grasp the basic tenets of civil deliberation between interlocutors deserving of respect. Maybe it should be the next item on their research programs.
Their childishness is ridiculous and a little sad.
Is it just the credentials?
Is it that Will doesn't limit his questions and comments to jargon-filled diatribes that would be incomprehensible to intelligent lay audiences?
Perhaps if Leiter would cite some examples of the incompetence, we wouldn't be forced to conclude that he's merely an arrogant, lying, jerk.
And, if he refuses the invitation, we should add: coward.
One of my philosophy professors met Leiter while doing a post-doc at Texas, and he said something like "yeah, Leiter is nice, but don't get on his bad side, he will make it his mission to destroy you."
As for Will's condescending claim that it's embarrassing for a professional philosopher like Dworkin to say what he said, what he really getting at was the fact that Dworkin is a professional philosopher--not a professional economist. What's embarrassing is that he goes well beyond his specialty, not that he's a credentialed philosopher who says dumb things.
Dworkin's claim runs: "it is frankly embarrassing that Will Wilkinson, a professional—umm—dropout from a Ph.D program in philosophy, attributes the views expressed to Brian Leiter." I grant that Dworkin was parodying Wilkinson's original line, but in this case there is no claim that Wilkinson was going beyond his expertise. He just wanted to make fun of the fact that Wilkinson dropped out of a Ph.D. program.
That being said, the following seem straightforwardly true:
1. Unregulated derivatives figure prominently in the current crisis.
2. Greenspan's views figure prominently in the lack of regulation on derivatives.
3. Ayn Rand's views figure prominently in the development of Greenspan's views.
These observations seem salient enough to sustain Dworkin's one-liner. How deadly serious would I take the analysis? Probably not seriously enough to call it "hackery."
Second, if the CRA had played the causal role in the global financial meltdown that unregulated derivatives did, then yeah, I suppose I might find the arguments roughly equally compelling (though I'm not sure I know who is supposed to play the starring roles of Greenspan and Rand in this analogy).
He won't dare debate you, Will. He's a bully and he can't stand being challenged where he might actually lose.
But seriously, J.M. Keynes never formally studied economics, therefore he's was an idiot.
http://static.flickr.com/28/47632485_b01ff05bfc...
Brian Leiter is obviously afraid that he wouldn't be able to do this; that's why he pretends to be too mortally offended (he, the guy who denounces civility) to enter into a discussion with you.