So-Called Scholarly Disputes, Objectivist Style

A scholar who thinks it's an intellectual and moral sin to communicate with or appear in the pages of a journal in his field that disagrees with him about something or other is considered a bad candidate for a gig at Texas State's philosophy department–even when it would be paid for entirely by outside money. My favorite detail: the random use of the phrase "so-called" in front of your enemy's name: "The so-called Journal of Ayn Rand Studies." (Similar in its way to Monty Python's "so-called Mao Tse-Tung.")

The scholar is an Objectivist, natch, and the outside money was to come via a fund closely linked with the Ayn Rand Institute.

The story from the Chronicle of Higher Education summarized and commented on here at the Liberty and Power blog.

For many more details on Objectivist squabbling, consult my new book Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement .