26 Apr The Struggles of Young Scholarship
“The anxiety connected with the notion of having something in print for ever and ever that might be wrong is too much. I have never published anything internationally before. Irish journals, yes, but nothing like this. What’s more the chapter isn’t even boring international theory – is philosophical and theoretical and even theological. It’s a question, and therefore necessarily questioning. I know that the important thing is to ask this question (about the potential for religion to be used to enforce international law…), but am anxious about the answers or lack of answers. My paper acknowledges that it’s one of ideas and questions, designed to be a thinking point but does that weaken my message? Still I can’t not acknowledge that; it would make me seem oblivious to the clear objections to and uncertainties and dangers of my embryonic theory. So the chapter sits on my table upstairs and I keep reading more and more and more for it and becoming more and more precious about it…. It mightn’t even be a major publication, I mean nobody might read it…. Committing your original thoughts to paper for the first time is a daunting experience and it’s what I suppose being an academic should be about. Who needs more articles telling you what the law is – I mean, it’s ascertainable, right? Questioning scholarship is better, but it does feed any insecurities or inferiority complexes the author may have… I’m sending it over the weekend (yes – at the last possible moment) – here’s hoping I can work out this anxiety by then.”
I would guess that many scholars who are starting out their careers have similar fears. Fears about the permanency of their work, fears about commitment to a theoretical position, fears about the consequences of publishing their thoughts, and of course, fears about the potential irrelevancy of it all.
My response: In one sense you are right to be afraid. Academic reputation is the coin of the realm in this business. In a strange way, writing is dangerous, and as Ann Althouse has noted, “dangerous things are exciting, and and if you do them you’ll feel daring.” The fears you face are normal, but they also are passing. You will not be judged by one piece of scholarship, and you can moderate your position as your grow more seasoned. As for the irrelevancy of it all, I agree that much scholarship is not that consequential. So choose your topics wisely. Engaged scholarship that focuses on pressing issues or that answers (or raises) deep questions can make a real difference in the scholarly discussion.
And of course, a legal scholar who also has a serious law blog will show many more facets to themselves that would otherwise be invisible. You have the privilege of being judged by a much larger data set.
roger – thanks for this, it’s really helpful and has put my mind tor st along with many other lovely comments. I should note though, for the purposes of institutional loyalty and my funders, that I’m reading for my PhD in the University of Cork!!
back to finishing off the dreaded paper then!!
In a sense, I sympathize with the anxiety expressed by Fiona, although I must admit that I prefer the days when one kept such matters to oneself, or at most shared them with those near and dear. These and related fears are intrinsic to developments in moral and psychological awareness, and part and parcel of the educational process. Those fortunate and privileged enough to have the kinds of experiences of which the above expressions are but symptomatic, might reflect on how utterly self-centered or self-obsessed they might appear to others: let’s grin and bear it, persevere, and concentrate our energies on attempting to understand and relieve the suffering of others not yet affluent enough to be afflicted by such anxieties. The tenor of our time in affluent societies is marked by uninhibited narcissistic self-expression and fused to transgressive cultural norms dismissive of prior norms of etiquette and discretion that had some grounding in aesthetic and ethical meaning. I trust it is not too impertinent to suggest that perhaps the ‘therapy of desire’ formulated with some vigor in Hellenistic ethics and as discussed by the likes of Martha Nussbaum, Richard Sorabji, and Pierre Hadot, might have something to teach us here.… Read more »
Mr. O’Donnell’s remarks are palpably right, a precise diagnosis uttered with simple eloquence. Let’s have some perspective here. Consider Lindsay Waters’ “Scholarship and Silence,” 36 J. Scholarly Publishing 15 (2004), in which he reflects on an important yet unproductive—in common academic terms, that is—scholar: “A story that hit me hard was about Rogers Albritton, a philosopher who taught at Harvard and UCLA and who just before he died spent some of his precious time shredding all his lecture notes so that kind friends would not edit them and bring them to someone like me to publish. Earlier in his career his friend Donald Davidson conspired with several others admirers of Albritton to put him in a situation where he had to publish something: They campaigned to get him elected the President of the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association. One duty of the President is to deliver an address at the annual meeting. Those addresses are always published in the proceedings, and so Albritton was tricked into publishing.” Nevertheless, Albritton was admired, even adored, not least because he was, so the stories go, a master conversationalist. Waters goes on to add, “As with Albritton, I have the strongest sense… Read more »
Dean,
The Mental Meanderings site must be temporarily down. The link is correct.
Roger Alford
I take the points Patrick and Dean make, but I also think that there’s nothing wrong with reflecting on anxieties about things if you think there are people out there who could offer some advice or at least reassure you that you are not unique in being anxious in this way. Roger’s advice, for example, is exceptionally helpful – as are your comments!
The blog is out of commission for a while, hence the link not working. Thanks for the advice all!