Too late for this, particularly as this has been the ways that Kaufman and Leiter, and those of who follow their example have acted. Moreover, by condoning these actions with their silence, prominent members of philosophy have allowed this to be the shape of philosophy. (1/n)
If we follow Sara Ahmed's prescient words, that a space or a field takes the shape of the bodies that take action in it, the ways that Kaufman and Leiter have acted in response to issues within the field has resulted in the organization of the field in line with the above. (2/n)
While Kaufman and Leiter have pushed the field in this direction through the prominence of their positions, the field itself already trended in this direction through the habits of the senior members of the field: Kaufman and Leiter simply enabled broader circulation. (3/n)
And this, too, is how the field takes shape: the silence of senior members of philosophy in the face of the habits, the actions, of people like Kaufman and Leiter to give form to the field is just as much to blame as Kaufman and Leiter for that shape. (4/n)
So, to be clear, the trajectory of the field of philosophy has been trending in this direction since I've been in it. It is now that we have the cultural, social, and technological conditions whereby we can accelerate the coalescing of the field in this manner. (5/n)
And for Kaufman to come out and decry the shape of the field as if he had no responsibility for its organization is the height of hypocrisy, the height of a failure to "read the room," and demonstrative of his sheer disconnection from the reality of the field of philosophy. (6/n)
Thus, the cultural politics of philosophy have long since trended in this direction and to argue against it without recognizing one's responsibility for it is complete bullshit and all the more reason why we should not take such protestations from these folks at face value. (fin)

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More from @shengokai

21 Jan
I suppose I should note that both Kaufman and Leiter have called me some variation of confused, as if standing against transphobia and bullying is "mistaken," but this is the first time that the undercurrent of ableism ("deep issues" "get help") has crept in. (1/n)
To be clear, I'm a Black man in philosophy with a disability who is generally outspoken about institutionalized oppression in my field and academia: I've been called far worse by people with far more institutional power, so I'm not concerned about Kaufman's petty insults. (2/n)
What I am concerned about is the ways that our field allows people like Kaufman, Leiter, and Stock (and I'm sure there are others) to use their platforms or adjacent platforms to engage in this kind of behavior. I am concerned that this is a disciplinary norm in our field. (3/n)
Read 5 tweets
10 Jan
As I promised, I'm going to drop Dewey's theory of aesthetic personhood on my timeline with citations. Some abbreviations for a couple of works:

UPMP: Unmodern Philosophy and Modern Philosophy
AAE: Art as Experience
E&N: Experience and Nature
QT: Qualitative Thought
For background, Dewey rarely talks about "persons" in his work: he mostly focuses on organisms and how organisms are individuated from one another. However, for Dewey, the concept of personhood, is an essentially social concept that emerges within human society. (1/n)
Where Dewey does do deep dives into persons, it is usually in association with how persons (or the category of person) emerges from within a social context. Thus, the meaning of "personhood" changes as it is tested out in experience against the problem of "who is a person." (2/n)
Read 47 tweets
9 Jan
With the same epistemic authority I mustered to say “fuck you” to your colleague, I say to you: fuck off. (1/n)
What this grifter is asking is the elimination of the elements of terms of service that allow for these companies to exercise what limited control they have over the content hosted on that platform. Tech companies had this authority for a while: they failed to use it. (2/n)
Putting that aside, the concept of social media the marketplace of ideas is utterly reprehensible given the treatment of LGBTQ folks and women. Numerous studies have indicated the disparities in treatment of these groups. I need not belabor over two decades of work. (3/n)
Read 7 tweets
9 Jan
I say this with all the epistemic authority I can muster: fuck you.
Now, before I am inundated by folks rushing to this grifter’s defense, I am compelled to note that Lindsay and his grievance grifters helped usher in a climate of mistrust in the very fields that could have helped us navigate this white supremacist, anti-LGBTQ shitstorm. (1/n)
Their work provided the intellectual ground for the anti-CRT executive order signed by the very man this asshole is pandering to. The same man who invited an insurrection in our nation’s capitol which cost lives and very nearly upended our democratic theater. (2/n)
Read 8 tweets
7 Jan
White Americans saying "this is not who we are" isn't just the projection of an self disconnected from the past with which it is continuous, it is the projection of an imagined present disconnected from the past for the sake of a future that doesn't reckon with the past. (1/n)
Put more plainly, the America of today is a consummation of the history of America that preceded it. To say that "this is not who we are" is to say that the "we" being referred to is not the outcome of a history that itself is structured by white supremacist violence. (2/n)
And it is to do so for the sake of maintaining the comfortable fiction that White Americans are not responsible for how they take up the past that results in our racist present, for the sake of a "non-racist" future. But a future that rejects the past is no future at all. (3/n)
Read 10 tweets
7 Jan
But seriously, if you're going to draw upon Lincoln as inspiration, you should recognize that the man was committed to the prosecution of the Civil War to ensure the preservation of the union, and the men he employed were willing to do whatever it took to achieve that end. (1/n)
Which is to say that many of the men employed by Lincoln were absolutely reprehensible in their personal views, even as they were unwavering in their commitment to the country. These men saw as their duty the swift prosecution of the Civil War, regardless of cost. (2/n)
That is, Lincoln, and the men he employed, are not to be emulated as unifiers, EXCEPT with reference to the sheer ruthlessness with which they sought the restoration of the union through any means at their disposal, up to and including the utter destruction of the south. (3/n)
Read 5 tweets

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