Sunday, August 28, 2016

Popper seen through the eyes of McGinn

From the 11-21-02 issue of the NYROB I read Colin McGinn's review of four books by and about Karl Popper.  The entire review isn't available on line, only the beginning, but you can at least see the books reviewed: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2002/11/21/looking-for-a-black-swan/

I found the review interesting but McGinn was coming across as an authority and I had never heard of him so I decided to see who he was.  I was shocked to find that he was forced out of his job at the University of Miami because of a sexual harassment charge.  In true Lit-Ideas fashion I went off on a tangent and read several articles about the charges against him.  Here is one of them:

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/is-it-ok-for-a-um-professor-to-burden-a-student-with-sexual-advances-7581424

Though McGinn professes his innocence, I tend to think from what I've read that he behaved badly against Clair, but I advance this as only a tentative hypothesis and if anyone chooses to falsify it I shall of course not object.

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