glass house philosopher / notebook 2 Friday, 21st October 2005
To: Rachel Browne
From: Geoffrey Klempner
Subject: Re: Amherst
Cc:
Bcc:
X-Attachments:Dear Rachel,
> Get more and better people to answer on your site and edit out
> silly questions. The strong point about your site is that it accepts
> questions on all different philosophies, and AskPhilosophers looks
> likely to be just analytical philosophy. Maybe you need to work on
> that in some way.I said that we are in competition but we're not really. AP would never post an answer like this brilliant one from David Robjant:
Q: Is there any way to deal with existential depression easily?
A: Swimming.
On the AP site today I noticed that Richard Heck had removed an answer he gave on cosmology giving the following reason: 'Now that someone with actual knowledge has answered this question, I'm removing my speculations.' Following this is a rather long answer by an eminent physicist. Who gives a damn? We'd prefer to see Heck's speculations. But we can't because for an academic philosopher that would be like being caught with one's pants down.
If you decide in a year's time that your 'definitive answer' on some topic was wrong, do you go back and do a 1984? Think where that would lead.
The beauty of Ask a Philosopher is that we do accept answers from anybody, provided that they're good enough (and not: 'provided that they're correct'). There are lots of criteria for a 'good' AAP answer besides philosophical. Concision, wit, or, when the occasion demands, rudeness.
To be rude when rudeness is required is every bit as much part of being a whole philosopher as being nimble on one's feet, and I'm sure Aristotle would have agreed.
The AAP pages will always be more readable. But if a philosophy student (in a year's time, say) facing an essay crisis asked me which site to go to first, I would say AP. Head to head, the average AP answer will score higher than the average AAP answer. Their team will always have more concentrated mental muscle than ours. - But I couldn't give a
f***. Geoffrey
The beauty of David Robjant's answer is not (obviously, this should hardly need stating) that he is recommending swimming as a cure for existential depression, although this may be his favourite remedy. The questioner asked for an 'easy' way to deal with existential depression. That rules out quite a few alternatives. What remains are the simple practical remedies, of which swimming is an excellent example. One of the marks of a good answer is that it responds to the way the question is worded, and not just to its general sense.
Rachel's husband Andrew Browne, former joint head of a large public company and now retired at the grand old age of 52 said, 'A businessman under attack should turn the situation to his advantage.' He should know.
On Monday, I wrote to the 33 members of the AP panel, inviting them to join AAP. I realized that I would come in for a bit of stick. Apart from two panelists who accepted the invitation — for which I am extremely grateful — comments were evenly divided between statements of support and rude dismissals, which I think was a fair result.
The nastiest response, however, was from AP webmaster Alexander George: 'Your entire construction of the situation — as one of "competition" — is peculiar and indeed offensive to me. Quite independently, I do not wish to link to your site.' Well, OK!
On Wednesday, I made a final post on Philosop and Philos-L designed to lay the matter to rest:
I am not 'always so full of it' nor do I 'have my knickers in a twist' as two members of the AskPhilosophers panel politely observed.
However, in response to an invitation which I sent out on Monday, two AskPhilosophers panelists (a different two) have joined the Ask a Philosopher panel. They do not see any problem with batting for both sides. I hope more will join.
The view has been expressed to me by an Emeritus Professor that 'as you are both non-profit groups with similar aims, it would seem that nothing but good could come from having two (or more) such resources.' With this sentiment I heartily agree.
Geoffrey Klempner