Who Are the Scientific Prostitutes?! And What Do They Do?!

The present writing is solely about a breed of people who have turned the arena of science and learning into a playground for greed and crude thinking. Of course, this statement in no way means that we lack paragons of knowledge or that we have few of them. [Never;] our epistemic community is not devoid of these warriors on the path of understanding and insight. Our society is full of virtuous professors who possess both "scientific ethics" and profound knowledge.

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Who Are the Scientific Prostitutes?! And What Do They Do?!

Do not be surprised by the title of this piece. I first invite you to read this article and then leave the judgment to your own sound reason:

Note

The present writing is solely about a breed of people who have turned the arena of science and learning into a playground for greed and crude thinking. Of course, this statement in no way means that we lack paragons of knowledge or that we have few of them. [Never;] our epistemic community is not devoid of these warriors on the path of understanding and insight. Our society is full of virtuous professors who possess both "scientific ethics" and profound knowledge.

However, it is nonetheless possible to trace the impure ones __who have polluted the arena of science__. I believe that the balance of our educational system has been completely disrupted. This system appears sick and ailing. It has great pains, one of which is the production of scientific prostitution. This disease is a contagious one. This contagion can be transmitted both from the educational system to individuals and from individuals to individuals. (In parentheses, let me also say that I think our educational system is gradually transitioning from being university-centered to student-centered; and this is a great flaw.)

In any case, this humble writer did not wish to write so harshly on this matter; but what can be done. The depth of the catastrophe compelled me to do so. Here, I apologize to all the pure scholars for this harshness of language and wish them all well-being and good fortune on this path.

Analysis of the Problem

In every arena, we witness the coming and going of prostitutes. The most tangible of this breed are social prostitutes. They generally strip themselves of the garment of chastity and choose nakedness. They offer themselves to others and become a source of their pleasure-seeking. Alongside this group, we also have political prostitutes. These are fair-weather partisans. Whichever way the wind blows, they go. If faction X is in power today, they become X-oriented; and if faction Y tomorrow, Y-oriented. They should be called the very mosquito referred to by Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS), the first Imam of the Shiites. No consistency of approach is seen in them, and they are essentially consummate utilitarians. In this breed, hypocrisy is a prominent characteristic. They are one shape with you and another shape with him. One cannot find a moral conscience in them or consider them politically justified.

In any case, alongside these examples, another type can also be named. Another type that closely resembles Socrates' speech against the Sophists. When the Sophists took payment for teaching and training lovers of wisdom, Socrates called them "prostitutes of wisdom." What I am seeking in this short writing is roughly along the same lines. Alongside social and political prostitutes, I also discern "scientific prostitutes." "Scientific prostitutes," if not more dangerous than the other examples, are no less dangerous than them.

But what are the characteristics of this type of prostitute?! And how can they be expressed:

• The first characteristic of scientific prostitutes is their epistemic semi-nakedness __and not complete nakedness__. What exactly does this mean?! By epistemic semi-nakedness, I mean that this epistemic lot possesses a fragment of knowledge, admittedly in a specific field, and on that basis considers themselves specialists. They do not even possess reasonable, standard knowledge in their own field of work and have almost scant information about their epistemic object. Let me give an example. Ali studied sociology. He completed his bachelor's and master's degrees with a good GPA and is now considered a specialist in this field. To obtain this degree, he contented himself with reading only a few books and, of course, a few small pamphlets, and with this alone succeeded in obtaining a master's degree. Now, one day this same Ali goes on a recreational outing with his friends and during the trip meets Mohammad, __who, as it happens, also studied in the same field of sociology.__ Ali and Mohammad engage in conversation about various issues. Suddenly, Mohammad asks Ali: What is your opinion on the problem of white marriage?! How do you analyze this issue?! It is precisely at this point that everything is exposed and Ali's epistemic semi-nakedness becomes clear. Ali cannot analyze the issue and merely glosses over the matter by uttering a few terms. He cannot explain the problem and give Mohammad a proper answer. And...

Therefore, epistemic semi-nakedness refers to superficial and non-analytical knowledge. Scientific prostitutes are like this, and their knowledge lacks much substance and maturity. They are deprived of broad and deep knowledge in their field of study and carry only a veneer of knowledge. This group neither possesses reasonable explanatory power nor seeks to compensate for their epistemic deficiencies and shortcomings.

• The second characteristic of this group is that they are ignorant of their own ignorance. In other words, this group suffers from the delusion of knowledge and considers their knowledge to be the beginning and the end. Due to a lack of understanding of their situation, this group constantly wraps themselves around their own axis and perpetually suffers from the vertigo of knowledge. Let us return to our example. In response to Mohammad, Ali only resorts to using bombastic terminology, and his speech reveals no reasoning whatsoever. The very fact that he opens his mouth to answer indicates his ignorance of his own ignorance. Ali merely carries a veneer of knowledge, and no depth is embedded in his words. Now, imagine Mohammad asks Ali another question, this time in a different field. For example, he asks him: What is your opinion on the lifestyle of Sikhs in India?! Here again, Ali opens his mouth to answer, and if you let him loose, he can continue his speech for several hours. He is truly, as Heidegger says, an idle chatterer. He only knows how to engage in pseudo-epistemic prattle and waste his own and others' time.

Therefore, as soon as a scientific prostitute __who is afflicted with epistemic semi-nakedness;__ opens their mouth to answer miscellaneous questions (and, of course, gives unsubstantiated and irrational answers), they must be considered ignorant of their own ignorance. A scientific prostitute has an answer for every question and is entirely unfamiliar with the responses "I don't know," "I have no expertise," and so on. They are a scientific prostitute precisely because they have a smidgen of knowledge but generalize this smidgen of knowledge to all fields. Ali is both a sociologist (has studied sociology) and an anthropologist. He is an expert on political issues and a teacher of economics. He knows everything and is, in fact, a specialist in all matters.

• The third characteristic of these prostitutes is their affliction with audacious theorizing. Because they do not know that they do not know, they practically undertake surprising decisions and actions. For instance, if Mohammad tells that same Ali to come and teach philosophy at a certain institute, he accepts and agrees to be a philosophy instructor. Such a person not only theoretically but also practically gets to work and throws caution to the wind. He simultaneously teaches and displays erudition in, say, five or six different fields, transmitting his non-existent knowledge to others.

Perhaps giving an example here is very easy. Everyone knows such people in their own circles. There is no shortage of apparent professors who have neither expertise nor commitment. Let me give you an example. In our country, we know many officials who, despite lacking expertise in a particular field, are at the helm of managing some sector. For instance, so-and-so official's field is economics, but he is the Minister of Agriculture. This example and all examples of this kind indicate the role-playing of this lot in the practical arena. Unfortunately, this group is very widespread and has become very epidemic. It is good to give another example. I know someone who has a master's degree in agriculture but teaches these courses: Fundamentals of Computing, Introduction to Entrepreneurship, Research Methods in Management, Research Methods and Bibliography, and so on. I call such people scientific prostitutes. These individuals are specialists and professors of whatever comes their way and are a complete stain of disgrace on the scientific and epistemic system. They overstep their bounds, and because they do not comprehend the depth of the catastrophe__due to ignorance of their own ignorance__they deserve excommunication. And of course, this excommunication is a good excommunication.

• From this point, we step to the next point. This lot not only possess insolent audacity, but also lack scientific conscience. They never wrestle with themselves__especially over their learners__and the fate and outcome of the learners do not matter to them at all. In other words, scientific prostitutes have no understanding of teaching ethics. They think only of their own material and social interests. In our academic environment, this truth is completely perceptible. Consider a thesis supervisor whose specialized field is, for example, the sociology of tribes and nomads. Several students are introduced to such a professor to complete their thesis course. None of these students' thesis topics fall within the said professor's area of expertise. One's topic is, for instance, in the domain of religion and the culture of religiosity, and another's topic is, for example, about social deviance and (specifically) youth prostitution.

Now, what does this professor do?!

If the said professor has teaching ethics and does not abandon their work conscience, they will certainly refer the relevant students to the relevant professors and will never accept being their thesis supervisor. But scientific prostitutes will never do this and, without expertise and without experience, will undertake supervising them__with the utmost willingness__. This lot sees these students not as students, but as bags full of money, and essentially considers them as __stepping stones for their own ascent__ to higher academic ranks.

Therefore, scientific prostitutes generally have a dormant conscience or at least one accustomed (to the conditions), and not the slightest feeling of conscience^° ache or ethical conduct is seen in them. They think only of their own interests and positions and are solely in pursuit of their own maximum self-satisfaction—their jack-of-all-tradesmanship.

Conclusion

I will conclude my remarks here with a brief conclusion. The structure of education, and especially the structure of higher education in our country, is such that, unfortunately, it itself produces scientific prostitutes. It cultivates graduates who possess only credentials, not comprehension. I know that many of this ilk have themselves become submerged in this cycle due to structural problems, but this should not divert us from the heart of the matter. Sometimes we are licensed to dismantle corrupt structures for the survival of higher values. This revolution must never be interpreted as a return to the past; we must regard this deconstruction as a guarantee of the future. With great regret, our education system is thoroughly ill and afflicted with this mysterious disease. A disease that keeps everyone satisfied and silent with the opium of the credential, and considers everyone, delusionally, to be competent and worthy. Truly, in an educational system that is severely addicted to credentialism, the production and proliferation of scientific prostitutes is not unexpected. Today, with every turn of the head, we see illiterate educated people beside us who have no scientific accumulation from their field of study and are utterly hollow. I myself heard the confession of one of these students who (proudly) said: To obtain my bachelor's degree, I haven't even read a single word (of study). If this is the case (and unfortunately it is;), we must call that university a brothel and that student a scientific prostitute, and have no fear of our own words. Such an atmosphere is completely defective and destructive, and one must be wary of it. The sacred space of science and education must not be polluted in this way, and one must not remain silent in the face of it. I believe that according to this educational system, anyone can obtain even a PHD merely by reading a few books and a few pamphlets, and essentially have no expertise whatsoever in the relevant field. Although this statement is strange, it is true, and examples of it can be observed in any university.

Consequently, it must be said that scientific prostitution not only exists, but is in the process of becoming a full-blown epidemic within this educational system. We must think anew and devise a plan for the salvation—not of the educational system—but for the salvation of science and thought. We must take action and halt the cancerous growth of this disease. We must replace credentialism with comprehensionism and keep science, like industry, from becoming commercialized. And thus, "You yourself read the detailed tale from this summary."

Finally, I conclude my remarks with this beautiful sentence by François Voltaire, the French philosopher and writer:

Those who have rendered the greatest service to knowledge and culture have been writers and researchers who lived in seclusion, never participated in academic discussions, and never expressed unproven truths in the academies.

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Who Are the Scientific Prostitutes?! And What Do They Do?!

Hossein Pourfaraj

28/06/95

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