Did we really sell out?
Of course we did.
We should have stayed part timers.
No – fuck off. That’s just martyrdom.
But look what we became! Look what we are!
We should just resign – all of us.
Resign!?
Out of principle. As a point of principle.
Resign and do what? Go back outside? Back to part-time teaching? What are you asking?
We’re sell outs. We’re just going along with it.
Of course we’re sell outs! We had to sell out! We were going mad!
Look, if we left, they’d just replace us by scooping up some other desperate part timers out there. They’d replace us with analytic philosophers.
Quell horreur!
That’s why we have to stay – it’s not for us, but to defend European philosophy. We’re here to keep continental thought going. It’s a noble aim.
Very noble. A bunch of idiots teaching European philosophy.
We should think of ourselves as placeholders – for the thinkers who might come after us, if we can only keep philosophy open at Newcastle.
We’re not here for ourselves – but for UK European philosophy! How selfless! How noble!
After us, the deluge – the real deluge. We need to stay at our posts. To be the last stand. We’re like the Greeks at the Hot Gates, holding back the Persians. Magnificent!
Work in Progress 