Intellectual Diversity and Academic Professionalism
James R. Otteson
Pages: 8 – 19 | First Published: August 2018
Abstract
Division and polarization on college and university campuses seems to be increasing, while support for free speech and intellectual diversity seems to be weakening. I suggest that a cause of both might be a lack of consensus about what the purpose of higher education is and what the professional responsibilities of professors are. I argue that academics should embrace a professional identity that is informed by and dedicated to an open-ended process of inquiry that has characterized our intellectual tradition since the time of ancient Greece, and not by allegiance to particular political positions or outcomes.