[Glice]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

sophists actually provided a services to their patrons. they commanded large fees. i think their condemnation by socraplato was different from what i'm talking about here.

look,the intellect is the faculty of the human brain, but only freedom from labor allows a social class to devote themselves to intellectual pursuits-- is that too hard to comprehend? go try being a philosopher while working as a dishwasher-- i dare you. do it as an experiment, and when you finally realize how the real world works apply to law school and use your philosophical training to make a decent living. seriously.

i'd say "go be a philospher" but there's a current need for culling-- not exctinction, just culling-- bad times-- and you probably would need to make it to a top-level school if you're goint to stand the faintest of chances of ever getting a tenured position. you could try for adjunct-for-life, but it's a painful and miserable road.



jeezus man, your impression is WRONG. universities depend either on huge endowments or state funds to keep going. why do you think there's a rich person's name above the door every time a new pavillion/laboratory/auditorium/sports complex gets built? do you have any idea of the massive private wealth that supports institutions like harvard, yale (which owns like half of new haven), and other top schools? tuition schmision! hasn't your school hit you up for donations yet, recent graduate? by "i don't know who they may be" i mean, shit, state governments, federal grants, the pentagon, rich fuckers looking to leave a "legacy" (aka "philantropists"), megacorporations ("this is a pepsi campus"), armies of devoted alumni, etc-- the list is too fucking long for me to investigate and list each particular case, but there's a general outline for you. in europe and latin america it's been mostly a govenrment thing, i believe, hence depending on taxes, though there ARE private universities.

anyway, your assumptions are hopelessly naive. best luck.

I generally agree with a lot of this. Except for:

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

go try being a philosopher while working as a dishwasher-- i dare you. do it as an experiment, and when you finally realize how the real world works apply to law school and use your philosophical training to make a decent living. seriously.

That's really patronising. I actually did some dishwashing while studying philosophy, and it never made me want to be a lawyer. Studying philosophy is really, really good for making a person not care too much about abject poverty. In my experience, at least.