Mick Hartley

MIT philosophy professor Alex Byrne on his dealings with Oxford University Press:

We philosophers are used to asking difficult questions. How do I know other people exist? Is the universe real? Do I have free will?

But in the strange times we live in, one question — at least to some people — seems to be even more perplexing.

What is a woman?

As a philosophy professor of 28 years' standing, I was delighted when Oxford University Press (OUP), arguably the world's most prestigious academic publishing house, enthusiastically accepted my proposal in 2020 for a book on the philosophy of sex and gender: Trouble With Gender — Sex Facts, Gender Fictions.

Well, we know how this goes. "What is a woman?" is the question you can't ask.

Perhaps naively, I thought that all this could prove an important subject for lively philosophical study. Most book-buyers are inquisitive people who want to be provoked and challenged, and are willing to change their views if the evidence is strong.

Yet when I delivered the text exactly as promised, OUP changed its tune entirely. To my shock and dismay, the publisher rejected my manuscript, alleging that the book did not treat the subject 'in a sufficiently serious and respectful way'.

This, as anyone who reads it could tell you, was frankly absurd. I was not even offered the courtesy of making revisions, as an author typically would be.

It appears that my offence was seemingly to be open-minded — a prerequisite for any philosopher — rather than to have written with foregone conclusions.

What has happened when a great publishing institution is too fearful to produce books that explore challenging topics?

We know what's happened: they've been taken over by the gender kids. 

But, as I have learned, the publishing industry is especially vulnerable to wokeness. It is staffed almost exclusively by graduates, and in many universities freedom of speech is regarded as a toxic privilege espoused by the extreme Right-wing, used to punch down on the marginalised. Dissident voices are rarely heard on the campus.

I worry this attitude is being carried into large parts of the publishing world. Younger members of staff are simply not equipped for open debate and disagreement.

Still, one thing my experience has taught me is that some publishers do have a backbone.

My new publisher, Polity — which gladly accepted my manuscript — is one. Another reassuring thing I have learned is that there are many courageous people who value free speech and who are not afraid to put their careers or reputations on the line — such as the philosopher Kathleen Stock and J.K. Rowling herself.

Coming out next month – though not with OUP.