Articles are stand-alone contributions to SERRC.
It is often claimed that political conservatives and even moderates are an endangered species in contemporary academic life. The overabundance of liberals in the academy has allegedly led to three interrelated problems … [please read below the rest of the… Read More ›
“Boundary work” refers to the practice of establishing and defining research areas, which in part involves locating research questions or topics within particular disciplines. As a consequence, boundary work also involves practices that put boundaries around ourselves as researchers of… Read More ›
The problem with the term “imaginary” is that, like the term “social” with which it threatens to become synonymous, it can attach itself to almost everything that crosses its path. Wolfgang Knöbl, in order to counter this tendency, proposes to… Read More ›
The rise of authoritarianism, fascism, and illiberalism are all contributing factors to the malaise of the dark times of democracy. Many books written on this topic share a common theme. Whether one argues that democracy is resilient or democracy rests… Read More ›
Neil Levy says that he rejects something he calls my “solution to the problem” (2019 fn 3). This is doubly wrong, since I not only don’t advocate the so-called solution he ascribes to me, I also don’t think the so-called… Read More ›
In her post “Inside a Game: Using Games as a Metaphor for Deconstructing the Oppressive Nature of Reality” (2020), Sindi Breshani utilizes the game Papers, Please to take a deep dive into oppressive realities and the ways in which political… Read More ›
I am grateful for this opportunity to discuss Li Zehou’s work in this interdisciplinary forum, particularly because Li’s ideas are well suited to a cross-cultural and multi-perspectival approach. His bold ideas seek to bridge cultural traditions; yet their suggestiveness is… Read More ›
My over-arching argument in this article is that both academics and students in universities have been afflicted by a set of relations that Lauren Berlant refers to as ‘cruel optimism’ (2011). Cruel optimism according to Berlant, constitutes the holding out… Read More ›
Otto Neurath’s (1944) oft-quoted simile about the battered sailors gives a precise depiction of the human condition. Like other animals, humans face constant threats to their survival, but, unlike them, we are not adapted to a particular natural environment in… Read More ›
Neil Levy (2019) provides several new angles on the long-standing question about the rationality, or lack thereof, of people who accept objectively unwarranted conspiracy theories. Levy’s position rests on two arguments. First, accepting conspiracy theories is subjectively rational for many… Read More ›