Having referred recently to Kierkegaard’s attitude to academia – and professors in particular – I was taken aback recently when watching the BBC’s Horizon programme. A professor (that is, somebody who happens to have been given that title) was asked what he thought might be the case with regard something in his field of expertise. His reply was "I'm not paid to think. I'm paid to observe." Clearly, that is very much the case; he doesn’t think. Certainly, not very deeply or else he would see the weakness of such a response.
