Institutional intellectual weakness is acclaimed as moral asceticism
Evidence
The more intelligent of them suspect the sickness of their intellectual powers, since it first appears not universally but in the organs whose services they sell. Many wait in fear and shame for their defect to be discovered. But they all find it publicly acclaimed as a moral achievement, and see themselves recognized for a scientific asceticism which to them is none, but the secret contour of their weakness. Their rancour is socially rationalized with the argument: thinking is unscientific. — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia, 151
Categorization
Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims
- XREF: The motif of people who sense their own weakness and wait ‘in fear and shame’ to be discovered, only to be acclaimed for it — echoes the earlier analysis of how the collective stupidity of research technicians consumes thought with its own strength.