Like a Flu

In political science departments, graduate students sometimes catch this “epistemology and ontology” flu. They think it is cool to use these terms — some are more heavily infected than others, and it’s contageous. In most of the cases, they soon realize that it is actually not as cool as they thought, and that they should avoid using them unless it is absolutely necessary. I could almost trace the spread and retreat of the flu among students in the department I was in, and it is quite funny.