I had a somewhat timely reminder today of Kierkegaard's attitude to academia – or, at least, his attitude to some of those in it. He is reported to have said that 'even if you offered me a place in the great edifice of the system, I would rather be the kind of thinker who just sits on a branch'. Kierkegaard famously loathed professional philosophy; he hated professors. 'What's the difference between a thinker and a professor?' he said. 'Take away the paradox and you have a professor!' Increasingly, I see his point.
See also: this at one of my other sites.
