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The question

Whose work do you read even when you disagree with them?

Originally asked

Vox, to writers and thinkers, 9 Questions, 2017

Vox used this as one of nine fixed questions in its 2017 series on intellectual habits.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

RW
Richard White

Margaret Byrne Professor of American History, Emeritus, Stanford University

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
But Wiebe didn’t have the evidence to sustain many of the assertions that fed his thesis. Many of the things which he said happened in the Gilded Age had happened earlier and other things didn’t happen at all. Nonetheless, it’s a great feat of storytelling to fit so many disparate details into a simple framework. Even though I disagree with Wiebe, I always keep my eye on The Search for Order as a model of historical writing.

Eve Gerber, Five Books interview, published transcript, 26 March 2021 source ↗

Others on this question

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Massimo Pigliucci K.D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York
Even though I’m not a utilitarian, and so I tend to disagree with Singer in terms of the general framework, this book literally changed my life. I read it many years ago, in the 1990s, when I was in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Recorded Nigel Warburton, Five Books interview, published transcript, 2 October 2022 source ↗
Paul Thagard Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Waterloo
That’s where I disagree with her. I don’t actually think happiness is a meaning of life, though lots of people assume that. Still, happiness is something folks care about, and she gives the best discussion I know, of the nature of happiness and the ways that one can practically accomplish it.
Recorded Five Books interview, published transcript source ↗
Fareed Zakaria Journalist and author; host of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS
The Wall Street Journal editorial page, most of the time an intelligent and essential voice in American political life.
Recorded Sean Illing, Vox, “9 questions” series, 20 May 2017 source ↗
Beth Breeze Professor of Philanthropic Studies at the University of Kent
We should engage with these texts. I disagree with them, and I argue back against them, but I don’t think that means they shouldn’t be read and thought about.
Recorded Sophie Roell, Five Books interview, published transcript, 29 December 2021 source ↗

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David Nasaw, John Gray, Lisa Randall, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Bill Nye, Paul Thagard

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