X-Message-Number: 15674 Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2001 21:01:20 -0500 From: Paul Antonik Wakfer <> Subject: Use of Titles - CryoNet #15661 References: <> > Message #15661 > Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2001 13:06:48 +1100 > From: Damien Broderick <> > Subject: suicide and cryonics > > Dr Ettinger (I believe I'm correct in using that title, although people > here sometimes refer to `Mr' Ettinger, usually when disparaging him, so I'm > not sure) wrote: Mr Ettinger has no doctorate of any kind, nor did he teach at an institution where senior teachers were entitled to be called professor. (Please see the website page: http://cryonics.org/bio.html where it clearly states his academic credentials as a BA plus two MA degrees.) Therefore, it is incorrect to call him either Doctor Ettinger or Professor Ettinger and, ethically, *he* should immediately inform anyone who does so of their error. We might all wonder why he does not do so. Calling him "Mr Ettinger" is a mark of courtesy as opposed to simply calling him by his last name alone as he constantly does to me and to all others who he wishes to belittle. On the other hand, since I was an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the University of Toronto, I could ethically and legally use that title any time that I wished. (Note that all my mail from the University of Toronto comes addressed to "Professor Paul Wakfer".) I long ago choose not to use the title because I don't think highly of credentials, but instead only of words, writings, and deeds produced by an individual; and that is how I want to be appreciated, by my reason, my words, my actions, and my accomplishments. -- Paul -- Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=15674