Meaningful nuanced diagnosis and worthwhile prescription.
I'd like to add one thought on the discipline-dependent importance of view-point diversity that isn't touched on: diversity of well-supported viewpoints is most important in those areas that touch on the material being taught.
For example, the opinions of sociology and economics faculty on the societal effects of wide-spread same-sex marriage matters much more than the diversity of opinion on this amongst physics faculty.
In the latter, none of the faculty's opinions are transmitted as authoritative elements of the instruction. Any physics professor who even mentioned the effects of same-sex marriage as part of the course would likely be subject to some level of discipline simply for straying so far off topic and wasting students' precious time. A lack of faculty diversity on this issue should have no effect on students' understanding of the world.
In contrast, societal effects are a core concern of sociology and economics. The consequences of same-sex marriage rates could be central to a course's syllabus. A homogeneous faculty opinion on the issue would almost certainly direct student understanding of the world, creating areas of research and discussion that are out-of-bounds and subject to social and/or professional sanctions.
Unfortunately it is precisely in those disciplines addressing complex social issues involving inconclusive data that can support conflicting conclusions where the homogeneity is pronounced.
Academia may very well be the most important place for diversity of viewpoint, yet it is in fact one of the most intellectually closed places one can find. In all honesty, I find it very hard to imagine that attempts to restore viewpoint diversity would be anything other than an exercise in futility.
Viewpoint diversity matters most wherever a problem needs a solution. Translation: Everywhere. And to solve a problem, we first need to understand what the facts are underneath it. In order to do that, we need the “opponent processing” component of viewpoint diversity. Echo chambers (environments lacking in viewpoint diversity) are not only pathetic and annoying. They stand ultimately to get us all killed.
Meaningful nuanced diagnosis and worthwhile prescription.
I'd like to add one thought on the discipline-dependent importance of view-point diversity that isn't touched on: diversity of well-supported viewpoints is most important in those areas that touch on the material being taught.
For example, the opinions of sociology and economics faculty on the societal effects of wide-spread same-sex marriage matters much more than the diversity of opinion on this amongst physics faculty.
In the latter, none of the faculty's opinions are transmitted as authoritative elements of the instruction. Any physics professor who even mentioned the effects of same-sex marriage as part of the course would likely be subject to some level of discipline simply for straying so far off topic and wasting students' precious time. A lack of faculty diversity on this issue should have no effect on students' understanding of the world.
In contrast, societal effects are a core concern of sociology and economics. The consequences of same-sex marriage rates could be central to a course's syllabus. A homogeneous faculty opinion on the issue would almost certainly direct student understanding of the world, creating areas of research and discussion that are out-of-bounds and subject to social and/or professional sanctions.
Unfortunately it is precisely in those disciplines addressing complex social issues involving inconclusive data that can support conflicting conclusions where the homogeneity is pronounced.
Very helpful piece. Thank you.
Academia may very well be the most important place for diversity of viewpoint, yet it is in fact one of the most intellectually closed places one can find. In all honesty, I find it very hard to imagine that attempts to restore viewpoint diversity would be anything other than an exercise in futility.
Viewpoint diversity matters most wherever a problem needs a solution. Translation: Everywhere. And to solve a problem, we first need to understand what the facts are underneath it. In order to do that, we need the “opponent processing” component of viewpoint diversity. Echo chambers (environments lacking in viewpoint diversity) are not only pathetic and annoying. They stand ultimately to get us all killed.