Author: Kleiner

Associate Vice Provost and Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Utah State University. I teach across the curriculum, but am most interested in continental philosophy, ancient and medieval philosophy as well as Catholic thought, all of which might be summed up as an interest in the ressourcement tradition (returning in order to make progress). I also enjoy spending time thinking about liberal education and its ends.

Medicalizing character flaws

I have great respect for psychology (my wife is a psychologist), but the coming revision of the DSM is cause for comment.  I do not doubt that there are real medical psychoses, and that clinical counseling as well as psychiatry can help people.  But we should be careful to not make everything a “clinical disorder”.  Some of what we now call “diagnosable disorders” (and we give a purely medical or psychological account of these things) are what we used to just call “character flaws”.  Not to put too fine a point on it, but sometimes aren’t those who get tagged with “oppositional disorders” (“negativistic, defiant, disobedient and hostile behavior”) really just assholes?  They don’t need medicine or even counseling, they need moral formation (and maybe a spanking).

George Will remarks on all of this here.

Some reflections on liberalism in the academy

So much for the tenure system promoting a diversity of opinions.  This article cites studies that show that fewer than 4% of academics self-identify as “conservative”, and the number of science and humanities profs voting for George Bush in 2004 was “so small that it came to a statistical value of 0 percent.”  This while some 40% of Americans self-identify as “conservative”.

Shouldn’t we find this disturbing?  The article concludes, “It’s not good for America to have a major political party and important elite institutions dominated by people trained to ignore—or worse, sneer at—the conservative ways of thinking that motivate most Americans.”

Hitler gets grad school rejection

Click here for another in the endless line of Downfall parodies.  This time, Hitler learns that he was not accepted to a philosophy grad program.

My favorite is his dejected resignation at the end of the clip:

“Everything Betrand Russel said about the value of philosophy: freedom from the tryanny of custom and unbridled opportunities for true contemplation, it’s all a sham. … Philosophy won’t do anything but break you heart, crush your spirit, and make you an annoying person to be around at parties.  … Get me an application for Walmart.”