A Philosopher's Duty

It is a philosopher’s duty to stand up to the Athenians. The philosopher doesn’t do this about just any matter. The philosopher remains humble and concedes he is not trained as a statesman, or a craftsman, or an artist. On this specific issue, the philosopher retains the right to dissent: Wisdom.

Athens was known worldwide as the city of wisdom, just as ASU is known as the largest university that pursues knowledge. Socrates began his mission by asking the Athenians if they were wise. Each of them believed they were wise, but none of them knew what the highest good was or how to pursue it.

Your philosopher began his mission by asking if ASU’s radical leftist policies are wise. These included dividing humans based on skin color and then assigning blame based on color. They included teaching that sex organs do not determine gender, but wearing a dress and desiring to be a woman does determine gender. They also included the teaching that the decolonizing philosophy of South American Marxists should be taught in all of our humanities classes.

As I asked about these teachings, I was assured they were wise. When I asked if this professor, assuring me of their wisdom, could show me what the highest good is, I was attacked. If you’ve followed me over this last year, you’ve seen comments from my colleagues on social media (always anonymous) attacking my character, insisting that I cannot be discriminated against because of my race and religion, and telling me to get a job somewhere else.

These are the same kinds of insults that they used against Socrates at his trial. The essence of what they said to both of us is, “You teach the students to disrespect their teachers if their teachers cannot show what is good.” Neither of us told students to do that, and we were very respectful in our interactions with Meletus or Professor Anonymous by keeping the focus on arguments rather than responding in kind to personal attacks. Yet, such professors cannot have Socrates going around asking if they know what is wise and good.

This week, ASU must respond to the judge’s decision on whether the case will proceed. There is a very simple way for ASU to avoid the court case and keep this out of the news any further. I could advise them. It really wouldn’t be hard for them. So far, they have taken the path of having their communication person deny, deny, deny. There is a better, wiser way. But I’d need to be paid as a strategist, and I hear they make something like $2k an hour. Not bad.

The trial will once again be an opportunity for a philosopher to ask, this time under oath, whether the kinds of far-left teachings I described above are wise and whether ASU’s representatives can tell us what the highest good is. This is what the philosopher must do.

If you’d like to read about the Trial of Socrates here is the link on MIT’s classics page.

https://classics.mit.edu/Plato/apology.html