LW doesn’t have many people in the [critical theory] cluster
Yes, the core problem is that LW lacks this population—and doesn’t seem to care.
Your wording [about cutting edge theory] makes me wince a little but I’m not sure if I can unpack why here
Maybe it’s a relic of fact that most of my contact with “soft” academics is legal academia.
Legal issues go from non-existent to unsettled to settled. Tenure lies in writing only about unsettled. Cutting edge legal theories are a thing, even for practicing lawyers (I’ve even got one I’m waiting for the right case to test). Then the caselaw thickens—and your theory is now settled practice or Timecube level crazy.
In short, sorry for making you wince. Well, sorta sorry. :)
Yes, the core problem is that LW lacks this population—and doesn’t seem to care.
nod It’s pretty synonymous with stuff like the Sokal affair to them.
Maybe it’s a relic of fact that most of my contact with “soft” academics is legal academia.
That does go rather a long way toward explaining it, yeah. I come at it from anthropology and linguistics, with a side order each of biology and semiotics, so my go-to ideas about “the progression of theories and the state of the art in this field” are...substantially harder to capture, but basically it looks a bit like evolution in language or biology with a generous dose of lateral transfer a la art.
Then the caselaw thickens—and your theory is now settled practice or Timecube level crazy.Then the caselaw thickens—and your theory is now settled practice or Timecube level crazy.
A law graduate friend of mean feels compelled to add: “Or both.”
In short, sorry for making you wince. Well, sorta sorry. :)
Is there any discussion in this literature about whether this cluster of theory necessarily implies an anti-realist metaethical position? My own metaethical theories have mostly been driven by the implications of these types of social theories—but it wouldn’t surprise me if my conclusions in that regard were unsophisticated and suspect.
Yes, the core problem is that LW lacks this population—and doesn’t seem to care.
Maybe it’s a relic of fact that most of my contact with “soft” academics is legal academia.
Legal issues go from non-existent to unsettled to settled. Tenure lies in writing only about unsettled. Cutting edge legal theories are a thing, even for practicing lawyers (I’ve even got one I’m waiting for the right case to test). Then the caselaw thickens—and your theory is now settled practice or Timecube level crazy.
In short, sorry for making you wince. Well, sorta sorry. :)
nod It’s pretty synonymous with stuff like the Sokal affair to them.
That does go rather a long way toward explaining it, yeah. I come at it from anthropology and linguistics, with a side order each of biology and semiotics, so my go-to ideas about “the progression of theories and the state of the art in this field” are...substantially harder to capture, but basically it looks a bit like evolution in language or biology with a generous dose of lateral transfer a la art.
A law graduate friend of mean feels compelled to add: “Or both.”
No worries, nothing like upsetting.
On a different topic:
Is there any discussion in this literature about whether this cluster of theory necessarily implies an anti-realist metaethical position? My own metaethical theories have mostly been driven by the implications of these types of social theories—but it wouldn’t surprise me if my conclusions in that regard were unsophisticated and suspect.