This is making the rounds on social media, and is certainly a gripping read. The author does underestimate--maybe accurate to his own experience, or maybe because he wasn't very good at teaching either--the impact that teaching philosophy can have on students. Probably the main contribution most academic philosophers make is through teaching rather than writing, and I would rate that as rather more important than fixing a boat (what "Fabio," the author, now does). Be that as it may, it's worth a look. But who is he referring to here (the author has worked mainly in Europe, but with a strong interest it appears in American philosophers like Sellars and Brandom):
I’ve smiled and nodded, and bit my tongue when treated like a shoe-shine boy. But dude, I really don’t give a shit that you’ve published 10 books on German Idealism with a prestigious university press — you’re still an asshole and in other circumstances I’d have told you in no uncertain terms where to shove that USB drive of yours (suspiciously specific, I know).
ADDENDUM: I have had it confirmed that the preceding refers to Robert Pippin, who is indeed unusually vain, even by academic standards.
