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    The McMaster Department of Philosophy has now put together the following notice commemorating Barry: Barry Allen: A Philosophical Life Barry…

Should we impose informal social and professional sanctions on those who call for informal social and professional sanctions to be imposed on others?

I agree with Jennifer Lackey that universities which really want complainants about sexual harassment and misconduct to come forward should, as a matter of course, indemnify them for subsequent legal risks, but I did think this proposal was rather startling and dangerous, as did others (complete with the overused word "bullying"!).

UPDATE:  A philosopher in the UK writes:

According to Eric Schliesser (boiled down) we should shun colleagues (call them Ys) who resort to law to defend themselves against colleagues (call them Zs) who accuse them of harassment, even falsely. Unless, presumably, a Y resorts to law only to accuse a Z of harassment (even falsely). In that case, surely, we should stand shoulder to shoulder with the Y and instead shun the Z who resorts to law. Unless, I guess, the Z in question resorts to law only to accuse the Y in question of harassment (even falsely). In that case, I assume, we should stand shoulder to shoulder with the Z and instead shun the Y who resorts to lawUnless, I suppose, that same Y resorts to law only to accuse that same Z of harassment (even falsely). In that case shouldn't we stand shoulder to shoulder with the Y and instead shun the Z who resorted to law? Unless, perhaps, that Z resorts to law … etc. etc. He started it. No, she did. No, he did.

One important aim of living under the rule of law is to control (by final authoritative determinations of who did what to whom, made in open court following full contestation of evidence) the baneful effects on all concerned of this facile morality of the playground. If resorting to law is itself available as a kind of playground intimidation, that only goes to show that we do not live under the rule of law. It seems to me that we should put our energies, not into shunning law-users, but into creating an adequately funded legal aid system that can retain excellent lawyers chosen by those they represent. In a barbarian land (like mine) where funding such a legal aid system through taxation is ruled out by the forces of darkness, I guess we may have to fall back on other sources of funding (such as university indemnification), tant pis. But turning against legal determinations of fact – that's playing right into the hands of the forces of darkness by abandoning the system that gives us our last line of protection.

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