Another academic plagiarism scandal which also raises a question about the level of plagiarism within what we might call woke academia. The point made here is that there is little to say in such fields anyway, so plagiarism is inevitable.
A sarcastic take on it, but not entirely. What are woke academics supposed to do apart from quoting each other?
8 comments:
'Re-using' material from other scholars is not a bug but a feature.
It builds a sense of community, ensures that the author does not inadvertently write 'wrong-think', and makes it easier to knock out a dissertation or book. The 'ends' are so great than any 'means' are permitted.
He's absolutely right. There is only one idea in play, so plagiarism is always a constant threat, even if it is not consciously undertaken with fraudulent intent. It's as if scientists were restricted to one idea, like gravity, and all their experiments were about proving that it existed.
DJ and Sam - it must have become fairly easy for an AI system to detect plagiarism in a dissertation or book. Makes me wonder if this is going to become a fatal problem for certain academics who cannot produce material original enough to evade detection. Maybe whole academic fields will be affected.
I once examined a PhD thesis that was largely plagiarised from part of the PhD thesis of one of my laddies. I demanded an interview with the Head of Department. He explained that he thought the source of the problem was the boy's Supervisor who was, in the opinion of the Head, going barmy. I drove a bargain: I'd recommend a resubmission if the Head promised to find some funding for the boy to let him do some original work.
Copy from one person, it's plagiarism. Copy from several people, it's research. I thought everybody knew that.
Penseivat
dearieme - maybe pressure to produce original work does send some people barmy. Decades ago we had a lecturer who was obviously losing his grip and later we heard the poor chap had committed suicide.
Penseivat - democratic research perhaps.
'Ridiculous intellectual lightweight whose made his way in a fraudulent, phony field.' Now who does that remind me of? Oh yes, a certain originator of the 'Hockey Stick'.
Tammly - spot on - he's certainly a ridiculous intellectual lightweight.
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