Overview

In universities and other truth-seeking institutions, free inquiry is under threat. The practice of free inquiry rests on tolerating dissent and promoting data and logical argument over feelings, status, party rule, or group affiliation. Many of the most noted successes of the West are the fruits of free inquiry, but this legacy is now at risk. Furthermore, our education system is failing to teach the values of free inquiry and free speech, which are vital to preparing citizens to work alongside those with differing opinions. In The Free Inquiry Papers, an impressive array of academics come together to address this urgent problem. Across 20 chapters, the authors lay out the arguments for free inquiry, document the current threats, and offer solutions to protect and advance free inquiry. The authors represent a range of academic and political backgrounds, but they agree on three fundamental perspectives. First, the current higher education regime now prioritizes activism and status over the search for truth, especially in the social sciences and humanities. This is neither politically nor scientifically sustainable. Second, institutional improvements are possible and would enhance the institutions' validity and credibility. Third, no one has all the answers. The erosion of support for free inquiry matters for everyone, but it is especially dangerous for the institutions whose mission is the production of ideas and knowledge. If we lose our ability to debate and discuss ideas openly and honestly, then both science and democracy will yield to a new dark age.

Full Product Details

9780844750675

Table of Contents

Reviews

Author Information

Robert Maranto is the 21st Century Chair in Leadership at the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas. He does extensive work on school choice, school reform, and higher education reform, and he edits the Journal of School Choice. Catherine Salmon is a professor of psychology and director of the Human-Animal Studies program at the University of Redlands. She is also the editor in chief of Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences. Lee Jussim is a distinguished professor and chair of the Psychology Department at Rutgers University. He is also a founding member of the Heterodox Academy and the Academic Freedom Alliance. Sally Satel is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the staff psychiatrist at a local methadone clinic in Washington, DC. Dr. Satel was an assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale University from 1988 to 1993 and remains a lecturer at Yale. Graeme Auton is a professor of political science at the University of Redlands. Jonathan Rauch is a senior fellow in governance studies at the Bookings Institution and a contributing editor of The Atlantic. Jonathan Zimmerman is a professor of history of education at the University of Pennsylvania. Akeela Careem is a social psychology researcher at Rutgers University. Sean Stevens directs polling and analytics for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. Joseph L. Sutherland is a professor and the inaugural director of the Center for AI Learning at Emory University. James L. Gibson is the Sidney W. Souers Professor of Government in the Department of Political Science at Washington University in St. Louis and professor extraordinary in political science at Stellenbosch University (South Africa). Aaron Saiger is a professor of law at Fordham University. Chad G. Rusthoven teaches at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. George Yancey is a professor of sociology at Baylor University with an academic interest in race relations and anti-Christian attitudes in the United States. Patricia Nayna Schwerdtle is a research fellow in the school of nursing at Monash University. Donald Alexander Downs is an American political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison known for his work on the First Amendment. Brian Knight is a senior fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. George La Noue is professor emeritus and research professor, public policy and political science, at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Dorian Abbot is an associate professor of geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago. Iván Marinovic is an associate professor of accounting at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Carlos M. Carvalho is professor of statistics and the La Quinta Professor of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. Richard Redding is associate dean for research and faculty development at Chapman University, with joint appointments in law and psychology. Anna I. Krylov is a professor of theoretical chemistry at the University of Southern California. Jay S. Tanzman is a freelance statistician working in biostatistics, epidemiology, and social science research, who has held academic positions at Loma Linda University and the University of California, Los Angeles. Greg Lukianoff is an attorney, New York Times bestselling author, and the president and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). Komi Frey is the director of faculty outreach at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). She graduated with highest honors from the University of California, Davis, and then received her PhD in social psychology from the University of California, Riverside, where she was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. Adam Goldstein is the vice president of strategic initiatives at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), where he researches and writes about free expression and the First Amendment. Andrea Honeycutt is a doctoral student in education policy in the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas. Nathan Honeycutt is the manager of polling and analytics at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. His research has primarily investigated political diversity and discrimination among university faculty and students.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available