Racism and Sexism in
Academic Philosophy -
University of Birmingham
Racism in Academic Philosophy in Canada, England, and the USA
Sexism in Academic Philosophy in Canada, England, and USA
By: Shawn Alli
Posted: May 9, 2016
*All individuals and organizations receive 7 full days of pre-publication notice (11 including weekends).
*I ask for a request for comment from the philosophy department instead of the university spokesperson because it's the philosophy department (philosophers) that are racist or sexist.
*I round up to one decimal place for all figures.
In a request for comment I ask them:
1. Do you believe that 4/12 women in full professor positions represents sexism in the University of Birmingham philosophy department?
2. Do you believe that 2/12 visible minorities in full professor positions represents racism in the University of Birmingham philosophy department?
University of Birmingham Classics Professor Ken Dowden is kind enough to respond:
Thank you for your email. We subscribe to the principles of Women In Philosophy, of which you will doubtless be aware and the University is committed to Equality and Diversity to the extent of appointing a Pro-Vice Chancellor with special responsibility for this area. You will obviously want to consider further the page at http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/university/about/equality/index.aspx
We attempt to make progress against the historic inheritance that the career pool represents. We regard the figures you cite not as a matter of our own moral turpitude, but as some progress in difficult fields. There are no instant solutions, as I'm sure you know - we cannot change the pools of those that are available to reach figures we would regard as reasonable were we all starting from scratch. Of course and blatantly obviously, these figures do not represent the destination at which we aim to arrive. But we move step by step to reach a better position and in the end one which is satisfactory and correct. Progress in virtue has been a step by step matter since Plutarch.
A bit more philosophical than expected...but in the end Dowden is saying it's not our fault. It's the system. I call garbage on that.
And humanity's progress is not step by step or a gradual process. People decide to change their ideologies for a variety of reasons. The circumstances can be slow (slavery) or quite fast (eugenics after WWII).