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Academic appointments: J.Vhy ignore the advantage oj being right?

, U~n.itin uisc lOr tht .ab of the ildvMKCOIKnl of knowledge: ia tranuniso>on by «"hing. its eXJnr11ion by reK>rch. Moot of ~ who omU K....kmic decilioru on t...1W{ of univenitin will we me advancement of knowLedge as their p""dontin;lnt, ultim.l.te aim.

Of COu ..... SQf1K peopLe in univenities tuve diR'aenl ainu in mind. Thty may think the advarICnnent of knowledge is meaningless. or 1q1Un'. Or wonkless, Or unuuin.bLc, or jIll! o .... wcigbeticiun rum f'1lltP1l11 and the punui! of tnllh ;, reckoned p ...... NO'! p.-rIu.p< 10 the nuthe .... tiQ dep.rtmcnl, whon Ihey :are in

FiDI po .... '"'~ .. 0 I ,...,. (O'Qooooll 0' . ' U .... ,., gfM ' _ • 'k , 1118'1'). R •• ,d_liadpc. &-.T ........ u..r..n.oy ........

TIoio ~ .. _ oa I Iee-. ........ o.,, ' d C ' • . M_. "' JuIy 1_ . 1 .......... Iud ·M. "" _ Gte , ' ....... ,... 8 ... 0( S itA M. Coba.I'Wip Ki .... ·,. T. M. So ' , aooII ......... b. I ., ,

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confident agrnment wiD hold sonIc opinions about whicb philooophicol doclrin.,. a.., true and which are f:olse_ The undi ... for .ppointmen, likewise will hold, and will be kno"'"TI to hold. variou. opinions_ Each member of the dep.>rtment can ju~, by tu. own ~ghts, to what extent any given candidote I>oloh UUe doclrines, and to what exlent he is in error.

Holding 'ru~ doctrin ... , and not being in error, would ....,m poi_

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foci. to Ix: "" iml"'eemenl of koowledge by teaching and resurcb. KnowkJgot mem •. in pan. being right. It is redur>dant to tall< of Imowing the trutb, il is a conln

undtnund how c:ountervailing consi&r>tlolll might sometimes be judged W O\Itweigh the ~taS" of !xing right, but it would be very >mnS" if the .dvamage of being right were len om of m., balance >.!together.

Y ff wh., do we ....,? J put il to you Wt on appointing depomnenl will typically beh.ve .. if th~ truth M ~hood of the candidate'. doctrines are weigh!less. 1\01 • legitima.e comide"""n •• all. No ~.ker will ever argue Wt a candida,e should ronk high bec.use he Ius u.e advonu8" of being right on IlWly important questiolll. or low bcnllS" he;' milk in all nunner of error. No "",ncr will argue thw. not even if he thinks the gtt:a. rrujority of /m coUeaguco will agree with him about whot is true and ~ on the INti"" in question. MOil< liuly. ,h~re will be no mention of whether the undimte', doctrines ...., true or &he. If mer., ;. mention. m., .puker will make cle .. by hook Or uook w. who. he UY' is • mere comment, not on argument fur Or against the candidate. (The .iplal migh. be .joking rone: doo'. uy "&be," uy "goofY." Or it might be a reminder .ho. one', opinion i, only one', own, o . it might be the placing of the comment within " speech to the opposi •• dftcl: "1 lute hiI views myself, but srilI .... ") There wiU be argumenu galore Wt • eu>dida.e h .. aca_ demic vinues that conduce 10 S"tUng .hing> right or vices that COn-duce to error. "/m work ;. undiociplined," "whot he said W3S shallow and inane," bul it will never be said Wt the vil"tUCO or vic .. Iuve actually led w m..th Or error. (I wonder why traits conducive to truth and ~m1r thould be relevont conside .. tions if m..th and etTOT them-selves:ore not?) M aybe M.lIneone will be accuoed ofbcing influenced by the fact th.t he agrees o r diugrtcs with the candidate'. vi~ and :all presem will presuppooe tha •• his ought not '0 hoppen. It will....,m fur all ,he world. in shan. :as if u.e department were convinced that !xing right or wrong is .n ilkgitinute C:OIlliden.rion; but a consider-arion tha •• empts them and w, they mUU gum! agWw. It would be len shocking, l,hink, to hen. cue made W. some candido.e should be preferred on ground. of roce Or se". than to hear a case made th .. the dep .. tment should appoint the candida .. who holds the true philooophy.

(My evideme? Particip.tion in the delib«..tiolll of two phi\ooophy

deal of turnover of colleagu .... But aloo. hundreds oflene .. written OIl belWf of candKbtes by referea hoping 10 be pen>l:Wvr. and presum_ ably guidrd by lhrir exp«tl.lions about which c()fl$idcntio". • dqlart_ mffll will dttm ,.,Ievan, and pmp.pobtion. Aceordingiy, I 4W1 no k>ngctual univet1itics fiorn the hypotilt"ti~ lucky 0"".)

Suppose the qucstion wheth .... being right is an advantage came: up in a diffe,.,nt cnnebout • crru.in lubjrcr. Tben W1; would find it perf~y in order to explain the IU«

>< .-"'. toll >'Ie .. - Mti

!Qnn~r here will u ke apart one', bnin and body, while recording the nul !Ute of all one', ~ello, It wiD then trarumit this infumution by ",mo. T r;lvding a. the

are not too busy to vote in their own departments, anpUriv< I..abar .............. of , .. II j I Y 87 (19\10), S-U.

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yO.bly wrong. you think, btu pollibly right and nOl: rdun_ dam. All thing> considered. me dualin may weD be the bene< bet. But nOl: r>e'95

probknu his preferred hypoth"Sis doc< not IOlve. And whfilever the ~dence is miileWing. ;u IOnJCtimes il is. whoever is right abou' lhe bolmce of the evide"'e will be wrong about the truth of the mmer, ~nd vice vers.>.

D them on thei r toes, compelling them 10 think of '1ueorioru hitherto ignored, and nusing them to improve their p$itiom even more in order to afl$wer his argu. mcnts.

This m.y h.ppen Of it Imy not. It depends. Sometime Ih...., is IxI the a

qualific:uion among others, bur nlher ~hou!d di\m$ it :as an irrde_ \';lIlt OT improptt £onsidention. In~, if it'~ sp«im< w;U find • M iw...

Fint, uke a simple twO-Si.dcd case: the =torialistt ven ... the du-alin •. (As.ume, what nl.ly bt nnne tno ..,alliti~, that .u concnned think the elT1)t"$ of their opponena nl.ltI\'1· ~ than the elM. of th~ir misgui~ alIies.) In my own opinion II • 1Nterialist. the beot thing for the advancement of knowltdge .....,..)d bt the univenal :occcpunee of the true philooophy: matomaliom. Or "" .... -univ....w, 1I1yway; I an I« 101M good in prutrVing. un;ill dIWist minority a inwran« :apinlt m.. risk that w~·.., wrong.. Or IS ct..IIengen.. or :IS specime ..... WorK .. ·ould bt the univcn:aJ.. or Dear-uni~ accep-ancc of d"ali~ ofbring right when _ =11:( ;\f'POintmen do< ""'" "''''-f lAd ....... "' "

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;and sumini"ll the treaty. wtut they roun ... the nuin !:>tndit nf a treaty to ignore.he Wv;antage ofbeing righ," whal we rount as il> nuin cost: it tends 1 prevent the triumph ofmateriafum. And what dlty count .. the nuin rou u what we rount .. the main !:>tneflt. Hut however much we wgr« lbnul which i, the COgree Wt the !:>tnefil exceed> the cos,. It is not ineviuble dut they ;and we ohould both think th.i.. (They will nO( think il if they think the triumph of du:Wsm. is jlllt around the romer.) But if both sides do think it ... ,hey re .... ru.bly migh •. thot

.r:>bl~ arnn~m"'lIlh'l prolonjp >lalellUle, and prolects lrue doclrine !Torn the triumph of it:! 0PPOll once .nd fot all, and th.n double-€I"OS$ 01" p.n" .... Iu we know .U 100 well. .he wo.k of appoinun.."" is n""~. done. Th~..., will alwaY' be • n ~xt time.

If w