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Desperate Honesty (guest post) - Daily Nous

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“I abandoned classics for philosophy in large part because that was where the refuters were. Now people can’t stop telling me I am wrong.” In the following guest post, Agnes Callard, associate professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago, describes a way philosophers need other people, the argumentative honesty it encourages, and the extent to which that “virtue born of professional necessity” applies not just within the domains of research and teaching, but also our social, political, and personal lives. This is the ninth in a series of weekly guest posts by different authors at Daily Nous this summer. [Posts in the summer guest series will remain pinned to the top of the page for the remainder of the week in which they’re published.] * * * Desperate Honesty by Agnes Callard Though philosophers are not always taken especially seriously by the world outside us, there is one arena where we reliably accrue respect and credit: our adherence to intellectual norms of honest argumentation. Outsiders appreciate that we don’t get angry with people who disagree with us, or mock them for doing so. We are known for welcoming counterargument, and even seeking to amplify and sharpen our opponents’ objections. These days I regularly wander outside the gates of philosophy, and it is remarkable to me how often I receive applause for doing what comes absolutely as a matter of course within our discipline. Those praising me seem to imagine that I am constantly lashing myself with the painful whip of intellectual morality. I enjoy the praise and respect, but secretly I know I don’t deserve it. Unless you’re a philosopher, you probably don’t understand: ours is a desperate honesty. Imagine: you meet someone who is very scrupulous about the time they go to bed and the time they wake up. They never stay up late, they never sleep in in the morning, not even on the weekends. At 6:30am sharp, they jump out of bed and start their day. You never find them, past midnight, lying in bed, their face lit by the glow of a phone. At first you are impressed by the level of sleep discipline they exercise; you wish you could be more like them, you think your own..

“I abandoned classics for philosophy in large part because that was where the refuters were. Now people can’t stop telling me I am wrong.” In the following guest post, Agnes Callard , associate professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago, describes a way philosophers need other people, the argumentative honesty it encourages, and the extent to which that “virtue born of professional necessity” applies not just within the domains of research and teaching, but also our social, political, and personal lives. This is the tenth in a series of weekly guest posts by d

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