Roland, a loyal MR reader, sends me this quotation from Max Weber:
The primary task of a useful teacher is to teach his students to recognize ‘inconvenient’ facts – I mean facts that are inconvenient for their party opinions. And for every party opinion there are facts that are extremely inconvenient, for my own opinion no less than for others. I believe the teacher accomplishes more than a mere intellectual task if he compels his audience to accustom itself to the existence of such facts. I would be so immodest as even to apply the expression ‘moral achievement’, though perhaps that may sound too grandiose for something that should go without saying.
That is an excellent quote. I like to teach my students the economic approach to law because economics doesn’t tell you what your normative values should be, but does force you reevaluate your own values in light of scarcity and the inevitable need to make trade-offs. However, in my field (law), the problem with a good many of my colleagues is that their view of law is highly normative, so they’re the first ones to ignore “inconvenient facts”
I alwys thought that Max Weber advice did not go far enough. It should read:
“Ther primary duty of a teacher is to teach that facts should not be taken for granted. Facts need to be checked and tested; especially facts that support one’s judgements or prejudices. The second duty of a teacher is to accustom students to valuing facts and ideas that are not in line with their judgements and predjudices; and to understanding that some of these facts and ideas will prove to be the route to sounder judgements and deeper insights. These are ethical duties. It is scarcely grandiose to say performing them is a moral achievement; for failing in them is to deprive students of some of their potential as humans.”
Ah yes, inconvenient facts — like all of the positive Entertainment Weekly reviews of books you loved. See comments on that post.
I wonder why you have not taken those inconvenient facts into account and altered your ridiculous overstatement?
Practice what you preach, professor!
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