Re: The conflict at Notre Dame

[Colin Danby <danby@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

We're probably reaching the point of repeating ourselves.  At least I
am.  Just four little points.

1. To bundle math and quantitative methods into one great shaggy thing
may not lead to clear thinking.  Some of the most interesting bits of
math are not really *quantitative* (e.g. logic), and much quant work can
be done with rather minimal math sophistication.  Discussions of
quantitative methods tend to reflect the academic-sociology role of
math, which is to divide people in various ways.  (I see this in
discussions in my own interdisciplinary program -- there's a tendency to
conflate a specific pedagogical tradition around math/quant stuff with
Mathematics or Quantitative Reasoning as Platonic objects.)  I agree
with responses to Clifford's question, incidentally -- the fact that
useful insights can be gained via mathematical rigor is undeniable.

2. I'm on Clifford's side on the "hundred flowers" question -- I've
learned much from Paul's work, but I look around for the exits when
people start arguing for the one true doctrine.

3. An obvious cost of trying to ape neoclassicals is that we accept,
uncritically, their notion of the boundaries and subject-matter of
"economics."  If you read King's volume of interviews with PK
economists, what's sad is how conventional most of them sound, how
narrow their range of critique of orthodoxy.  As Mat implicitly
observes, to try to play the orthodox game means to abide by its
bounding-off from history and culture, its unwillingness to grapple with
gender or race in structural terms, its incapacity/refusal to think
complexly about kin or culture, and so forth.

4. It's important not to confuse discussions of the sociology of
academia -- how you have to maneuver to get what kind of purchase in
institutions, departments, disciplines-as-socological-entities -- with
discussions of social science as a project of systematically making
knowledge about the world.

Best, Colin

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____________________________________________
Colin Danby
Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences
University of Washington, Bothell
(425) 352-5285
fax (425) 352-5335
danby@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.bothell.washington.edu/IAS/danby/
____________________________________________