Janie B. Cheaney
Philosophical differences Philosophy association approves a highly discriminatory nondiscrimination policy
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WORLD
17 CHEANEY.indd 20
AUGUST 25, 2012
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Association agreed to ban advertisements from the A C looking naughty institutions outright. for gainful employment? If so, be advised that Is this internal housekeeping, or a shot across the Jobs For Philosophers, the go-to publication of bow of Christian philosophy? Two years ago, during the American Philosophical Association (APA) the Alvin Plantinga retirement conference at Notre won’t supply you with a full range of options. That’s Dame, the discipline Plantinga had done so much to because the APA has outlawed advertisements from revive was celebrated for its health and vigor. institutions that don’t comply with the association’s Nicholas Wolterstorff of Yale remains optimistic: “In nondiscrimination policy approved in . general, I would say that the APA is The statement reads thus: “The considerably more open now to American Philosophical Association Christianity than it was when I rejects as unethical all forms of entered the guild in the late s.” discrimination based on race, color, He acknowledges strong feelings religion, political convictions, about “discrimination,” but he national origin, sex, disability, sexual doesn’t see a fatwa developing orientation, gender identification or against Christians. Associate age ... [in all] professional activities in professor Alexander Pruss of Baylor which APA members characteristically cautions, “I think one needs to participate. This includes both distinguish between academic discrimination on the basis of status If open inquiry is discourse and academic politics, and discrimination on the basis of throttled in its own though of course the distinction is conduct integrally connected to that house, Socratic sometimes blurred. Christian status.” The statement, which I don’t philosophers are participants in all have room to quote in full, goes on to discussion will have major areas of philosophy: metadefine what “integrally connected” no place to go. physics, epistemology and ethics.” means—for example, “sexual conduct John Mark Reynolds acknowlexpressive of a sexual orientation.” edges the participation by Christian A sharp-eyed reader will grasp professors of long standing, “but it would not be both the central issue and the embedded fallacy. The worth your life to be ‘out of the closet’ as a tradiissue: An institution (such as a Christian college) that tionalist during your program or before tenure.” refuses hiring on the basis of homosexual practice is That is, a young academic aiming for tenure had thereby discriminatory. The fallacy: If a nonbetter not teach, write, or act as though religion discrimination policy includes religion in its list of had anything to say about sexual ethics, much less protected categories, then any institution religiously mount a principled challenge to current mores. opposed to hiring a practicing homosexual is itself Fifty years ago, no philosopher would have discriminated against when its ads are rejected. questioned that opposition to homosexual activity is The logical disconnect was noted, around virtual “integrally related” to the status of being a Christian. philosophical water coolers throughout academia, The relationship between professed belief and when the statement was proposed. A protest petition practical application (or how one lives out what one attracted luminaries like Alvin Plantinga, Robert claims to be) is a ripe field for the kind of discussions George, and Roger Scruton, but totaled only sigwe don’t have much anymore—at least not in the natures (many of them bogus), as opposed to , marketplace. A Socrates who pares careless on the pro-APA petition. In the spring of the assumptions down to the bone would probably be policy went into effect. Christian institutions were more welcome on our streets today than he was in allowed to advertise in APA publications, but if they Athens, but open inquiry about ultimate questions refused to agree to the stronger anti-discrimination is what philosophy is all about. If open inquiry is language they were flagged as “non-compliant”— throttled in its own house, Socratic discussion will placed on the naughty list, according to John Mark have no place to go. Reynolds of Houston Baptist University. The nonChristian philosophy may be alive and well, but compliant status turned out to be a temporary perhaps it had better watch its back. A measure; last May, with a vote of three to one, the Email: jcheaney@worldmag.com
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