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Date: | Wed Jun 27 13:15:23 2007 |
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Geachte heer dr. Maas (if that's quite the way to do it!)
I quite agree that it's good for Europe to retain its own intellectual
life, and not become an adjunct of the US. But I guess I doubt that
ranking systems do it. On the contrary, isn't it true that they elevate
precisely those academics who most energetically follow American
"standards" (e.g. every economic problem just is a constrained
maximization problem; social justice that can't be put into a
utilitarian framework is silly; econometrics undersood as mindless tests
of statistical significance just is empirical economics; history is a
waste of time; philosophy is, too)? I see just that in the Netherlands
and in Britain and in Spain, but do not pretend to native competence in
those academic cultures (well: maybe almost in Britain).
But I do have native competence in American academic culture. Let me
tell you as a native that reports of the dominance of corporations and
the Department of "Defense" are greatly exaggerated! The great bulk of
American academics, and even the easily corrupted economists, are
dominated by (erroneous) ideas, not by their Interests.
Hoogachtend,
Deirdre McCloskey
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