August 2003
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Donald Davidson dies
IN MEMORIAM Donald Davidson (1917-2003) Professor Davidson died yesterday in Berkeley. As soon as memorial notices are available about his distinguished philosophical career and seminal contributions, I will post them here and on the Update Service. Much useful information about Davidson and valuable links to philosophical work about him are available here.
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US News Undergraduate Rankings
The new U.S. News rankings of undergraduate institutions once again tie the University of Virginia and the University of California at Berkeley as the top state schools in the country…which brings to mind something I wrote on an earlier occasion, inspired by the parochial journalists at The New York Times. The University of Pennsylvania also…
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The Taliban Aren’t Only in Texas
That’s what makes this present moment in American history so scary. For example…
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Correction
Cornel West’s PhD was earned in philosophy at Princeton. Since the other points stand, all I can say is: so much the worse for the Philosophy Department at Princeton. Of course, the University of Texas has the misfortune (during the Silber era, long ago, happily) of having awarded a PhD in philosophy to William “shame…
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Larry Summers and Harvard Law School
The New York Times Magazine here profiles Larry Summers, the unusually blunt President of Harvard University. Two aspects of the article are likely to be of interest to readers of this site: (1) The discussion of the dispute between Summers and Cornel West makes for a good read, though West is described, I am dismayed…
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Derrida and Bullshit
It was John Searle who famously remarked that Derrida’s work is the kind of stuff that gives bullshit a bad name. And now we have yet another case in point, thanks to interviews with Habermas and Derrida about the September 11th attacks on the U.S. Although I have my reservations about Habermas as a philosopher,…
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“Some Philosophers are Really Strange,” Part II
I confess I’m with Brad DeLong: Richard Heck is very strange, and he gets stranger as time goes on. I was perplexed initially when the guy who claimed–after the fact, of course (Richard is the master of post-hoc revisionism)–that he simply wanted to “initiate a discussion” then failed to discuss almost all my detailed responses…
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Other Arguments for Intelligent Design
My colleague Herb Hochberg has reminded me of Ben Franklin’s argument for intelligent design: As for the human elbow, Franklin explained, it was important that it be located at the right place, otherwise it would be hard to drink wine. If Providence had placed the elbow too low on the arm, it would be hard…
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Major Law Faculty Moves, 2003-04 (with corrections)
THIS IS A CORRECTED VERSION OF AN EARLIER POSTING Here it is, by school, for 2003-04. This list attempts to be comperehensive for the top 30 schools (as measured by faculty quality); updates or corrections would be welcome. (Most, but not all of the moves noted below, took place before the survey on faculty quality;…
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An Exchange with Holt, Rinehart about Changes to Their Biology Textbook
Judith Fowler, President of Holt, Rinehart, defends the decision to make changes in their biology textbook (up for adoption in Texas) in response to suggestions from the Discovery [sic] Institute here: Download file I have replied to Ms. Fowler here: Download file
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A New Letter to the State Board of Education
My colleague Sahotra Sarkar is professor of both philosophy and biology here at UT Austin; indeed, he is, to the best of my knowledge, the only philosophy PhD in the U.S. to have published work of such significance in peer-reviewed biology journals that he has now been appointed half-time and with tenure in a top…
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Why the Holt Biology Textbook Change Matters
Philosopher John Holbo has a useful post documenting exactly why the change Holt is proposing to make in its biology textbook in response to a “suggestion” from the Discovery [sic] Institute is so worrisome. (I will be posting Holt’s letter to me, and my own response once I’m back in the office.)
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Why is it so easy to get tenure in law schools?
So asks a colleague in philosophy, who was recently a tenure referee for a law professor at a very reputable law school who got tenure, notwithstanding what struck the colleague as quite weak work. The answer is somewhat complex, and perhaps a bit speculative, but it goes something like this: (1) Up until roughly the…
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The Discovery [sic] Institute, R.I.P.
We bid farewell to the conmen and pathological liars at the Discovery [sic] Institute, who, like history itself, began in tragedy, but have now ended in farce. Their August 19, 2003 press release informs us that “two dozen professors from seven Texas universities have signed an open letter to the State Board of Education…urging it…
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More Real Scientists Wiping the Floor with the “Discovery [sic] Institute” Creationists
There is an amusing exchange in the Boston Review between biologist Allen Orr and Discovery [sic] Institute propagandist William Dembski. (The debate begins with Orr’s demolition of Dembski’s latest book here.) Orr, who is a good writer as well as smart, delivers this scathing and apt conclusion to the exchange: “Dembski, Behe and associates may…
My former colleagues at another university in Middle East have also been moved to online teaching indefinitely, with the students…