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Early Access: Why is Academic Writing so Boring?

🕑 Added 2020-03-27 12:01:51 +0000 UTC

Comments

Linnea

I wonder if it's the "great men of history" tendency in our thinking also where we attribute major developments in thought or science or society to an individual almost in isolation rather than to the multitude of people and factors involved in significant shifts

Tom Nicholas

Thank you, really glad you thought so! I definitely agree with you about the problems that come with simplifying a lot of nuances. Particularly, I think we have the tendency to present lots of theorists as having had "game-changing" insights whereas they're own work is slightly more cautious...

Linnea

This is a great video! I have a feeling this could blow up in academic circles. I said this in my comment on the video too but I asked my prof for clarification on some statements in Frames of War and he didn't know either, we were stuck with a handful of different interpretations. I worry that exercises in simplifying academic jargon costs some nuance - I've grown old reading and disagreeing with other people's interpretations of Foucault because it's easier for universities to teach someone's summary than to teach the entirety of Discipline and Punish (can't blame them, it would be totally impractical!)