Professor Jeff McMahan talks to Quillette's Toby Young about co-founding the Journal of Controversial Ideas

Quillette Podcast

Quillette

Society & Culture, Politics, News, Science, News Commentary

4.6 • 917 Ratings

🗓️ 4 January 2019

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jeff McMahan, professor of moral philosophy at Oxford and co-founder of the Journal of Controversial Ideas, a new academic periodical in which contributors will be given the option of publishing their papers pseudonymously, talks to Quillette's Toby Young. They discuss why the journal is needed, how 'controversial' ideas will be defined and Professor McMahan responds to some of the criticisms that have greeted the idea, both from the Social Justice Left and the liberal centre. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, my name is Claire Lehman and I am Editor-in-Chief of Quilette.
0:08.0	Quilette is where Freethought lives.
0:10.0	We are an independent grassroots platform for heterodox ideas and fearless commentary.
0:16.0	If you would like to support Quolette, please consider becoming a patron.
0:20.0	Head to our Patreon page, that's Patreon.com
0:23.2	forward slash Qualet.
0:24.8	Our podcast is a team effort and is jointly hosted by myself,
0:28.8	associate editor Toby Young and Canadian editor Jonathan K. I hope you enjoy listening to today's discussion.
0:36.0	Hello and welcome to the Equillett Podcast. My name's Toby Young and I'm an associate editor.
0:43.0	I recently took a trip to Oxford to speak with Jeff McMahon,
0:47.0	a professor of moral philosophy and one of the founders of the Journal of Controversial Ideas.
0:52.0	This publication, which is due to law... of the Journal of Controversial Ideas.
0:53.4	This publication, which is due to launch in 2019, will in many respects be similar to other
0:58.5	academic journals.
1:00.0	It'll have an editorial board, and the research papers it publishes will go through a rigorous peer review process.
1:05.2	But it'll have one distinctive characteristic.
1:08.4	Contributors will be given the option of publishing their research sudonomously.
1:14.0	I began by asking Professor McMahon how the idea for the journal came about,
1:18.0	and why he and his co-founders,
1:20.0	the philosophers Peter Singer and Francesca Minerva
1:23.2	believe that some academics and intellectuals who have controversial ideas
1:27.1	need to protect themselves in this way. Is the free speech crisis in the academy
	...

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