Q & A

We are all potential anthropologists of our own professional tribes: embedded for years or decades, observing the curious customs of the tribesfolk, absorbing the unwritten rules. Does anyone ever “go native” to the point that they cannot step back and sense the peculiarity of their tribe’s distinctive praxis—as Horace Miner memorably did in “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema,” which is not just about American relationships with bodily appearance, but a commentary on anthropological method.

I won’t attempt to copy Miner’s inimitable essay. But I’ll try to take a distant view of a ritual at the heart of academic philosophy: the post-talk Q & A. I’ve written about the talk itself before, comparing its format, only partly in jest, to that of a standup special: 50 minutes of prepared material, delivered live, intended to engage and edify a captive audience. My non-facetious point was that philosophers, unlike comedians, don’t think enough about the shape of the event. What is this format well…