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Interview Transcript
Question: What would you like to change in academia?
Alan Dershowitz: I’m not part of any school. And I don’t like the current conversation that’s going on in academia. It’s voguish [sic]. It’s often just part of today’s convention. And I like to start with first principles and see where they take me based on my own personal observations.
Recorded On: June 12, 2007
What needs to change in academia?
Professor, Harvard Law School
Dershowitz wishes academics would go back to first principles.
November 13, 2007 | In Politics & Policy
Discuss
Nick Montgomery on January 17, 2008, 11:14 AM
Dershowitz advocates ‘first principles’ without explaining what those principles. He claims he’s not part of any ‘school’ but then we need to ask: where are his assumptions, beliefs, and knowledge coming from. The dangerous thing about saying you’re starting from scratch is that you inevitably end up inheriting beliefs/norms/assumptions that are derived from one school of thought or another. Then, because ‘first principles’ permits you to pretend that you don’t need to examine your own assumptions, you can pretend that you’re being ‘neutral’ or ‘objective’ in your analysis, placing yourself above other people who are part of ‘schools’
Robert Hardy on January 19, 2008, 6:31 AM
i agree with you montgomery, but i feel that it is a fault with the site, and not necessarily with the speaker. while i don’t know if i would agree with what he has to say, the video has been edited too much for us to know his true opinion.
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