Skimming the Surface: Stanley Fish and the Politics of Self-Promotion

Abstract

Was Hegel a political radical? For a moment he tilted toward the French Revolution, but the German philosopher was no radical. Nevertheless his thought harbored subversive ideas. The point here is an old one, but remains underappreciated. No preestablished harmony exists between the overt political affiliation of a thinker and the content of the thought. A conservative philosopher may nurture politically radical ideas. The reverse is also true—and less noticed. A radical thinker may operate with conservative ideas. Indeed nowadays half the professoriate claims a revolutionary identity. The claim and ownership may diverge, however.