“The key intellectual event is a lecture or a formal debate, a period of time when one individual holds the floor to deliver a sustained argument on a particular topic. This is different from the give-and-take of sociable conversations, which typically cannot reach any complex or abstract level because the focus shifts too often. Intellectuals giving their attention for half an hour or more to one viewpoint, developed as a unified stream of discourse, are thereby elevating the topic into a larger, more encompassing sacred object than the little fragmentary tokens of ordinary sociable ties.”

— Randall Collins

Source: The Sociology of Philosophies (1998), p. 26

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Randall Collins 7

American sociologist 1941

Randall Collins (1941) American sociologist

Source: The Sociology of Philosophies (1998), p. 26

“The reified focus on the moment of literary production, in a distanced context—the typical topic of periodization—suppresses the experience of reception, the actualization of the past in the reader’s present.”

Russell Berman (1950) American academic

Source: Fiction Sets You Free: Literature, Liberty and Western Culture (2007), p. 20.

“I don't think we should silence people just because their viewpoints are something we disagree with. There is value in the conversation, and we as a society need to confront these issues. This is an incredibly complex topic, and I'm sure our thinking will continue to evolve.”

Steve Huffman (1983) American businessman

In July 2015 about of banning hate speech in Reddit. As quoted in Open racism and slurs are fine to post on Reddit, says CEO https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/apr/12/racism-slurs-reddit-post-ceo-steve-huffman (12 April 2018) by Samuel Gibbs, The Guardian.

“Today the term “global” can no longer constitute a serious topic for an in depth intellectual discussion because it simply means “Camerica.””

Genco Gulan (1969) contemporary artist

Gulan, Genco. (2004). CAMERICA, PUPPY ART AND THE REST THAT GLOW IN THE DARK http://artefact.mi2.hr/_a04/lang_en/theory_gulan_en.htm. Artefact. Retrieved 2012-07-23.

“A topic that sometimes succeeds in being fully resolved with the help of long explanations in speech or writing, with arguments and letter, but more often fails the harder it is pursued, can be resolved by dumbness in a single hour.”

Halldór Laxness (1902–1998) Icelandic author

Paradísarheimt (Paradise Reclaimed) (1960)

“Those who always take the same paths, usually see the same objects; it is rare that upon following different routes, one won't discover new topics worthy of our most serious attention. Similarly, various attempts give us a greater amount of knowledge. By trying different keys, we can hope to finally find some that open secure paths, short and easy, leading to the wealth of physics.”

Pierre Polinière (1671–1734) French physicist

Ceux qui passent toujours par les mêmes chemins, voyent ordinairement toujours les mêmes objets; il est rare qu'à force de suivre différentes routes, on ne découvre de nouveaux sujets dignes de nos attentions les plus sérieuses. De même les différentes tentatives nous font avoir un plus grand nombre de connaissances. En essayant donc différentes clefs, on peut espérer d'en rencontrer enfin qui nous ouvriront les passages assurés, courts et faciles pour arriver aux richesses de la Physique.
[Pierre Polinière, Expériences de physique, Charles Moette, 1728, http://books.google.com/books?id=phE5AAAAcAAJ&pg=PR7#v=onepage&q=&f=false, vii]