June 2005
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The Philosophical Genealogy Project Has Arrived Already!
That was quick! Behold the fruit of work by my colleague Josh Dever, who invites additional information, corrections, etc. at the e-mail address given at that site. Interesting stuff! UPDATE: David Velleman (Philosophy, NYU) writes: I doubt whether any philosophical genealogy project will be interesting in the way that the mathematical project is. The mathematicians…
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UT Austin President Larry Faulkner to Step Down
Details here. He has been a good and honorable President, and served the University well. My God, though, it’s a hard job, and I can imagine after the length of his tenure, he’s exhausted! I’m sure I speak for most faculty in expressing sincere appreciation and thanks for his service on behalf of our collective…
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Grades are In, Teaching Evaluations are Out
Grades are in, and so teaching evaluations are out. Nothing quite as interesting as last year’s remark that mentioned the blog, but many gratifying and funny student comments from both Jurisprudence and Evidence. One of my colleagues posts his student comments on his door; I’ll use my Cyber-door instead. (This may be especially timely given…
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Political Philosopher Gaus from Tulane Accepts Arizona Offer
He’ll start in 2006-07. More details here. That’s the third tenured, lateral appointment for Arizona this year! Others are Shaun Nichols (philosophy of mind, ethics, experimental philosophy) from the University of Utah and Connie Rosati (ethics, philosophy of law) from the University of California at Davis. These hires should certainly push Arizona squarely back (at…
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July Blogging Hiatus
Except for some posting on Fridays (including tomorrow), I’m checking out of the blog for the month of July, but should resume more regular posting again in early August. This isn’t for travel (alas!), but so I can make some serious progress on some writing projects: a paper on Nietzschean moral psychology (with Joshua Knobe…
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Ironic Juxtaposition
The State Department issued this travel advisory on Tuesday, the same day as Bush’s pack of lies about Iraq.
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“The Mathematical Genealogy Project”
Maintained by North Dakota State University, this web site charts "family" trees for mathematicians, based on their supervisors and their students. If anyone sets one up for philosophy, let me know, and I’ll publicize it. It might be interesting (or at least amusing). For example, my supervisor was Peter Railton, whose supervisor was David Lewis,…
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On Rhetoric, “Persuasion,” and Tone…or Knowing the Difference Between Hard and Easy Questions
UPDATE MAY 2, 2010: If you're coming here via the post by the always comical David Bernstein, please note that the actual subject of this 2005 entry is political blogging, not "academic discourse," though, unsurprisingly, that distinction eludes Professor Bernstein. On what gets people to change their moral and political views, do see the interesting work…
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Originalism Redux
In my discussion of the constitutional case for impeaching Bush, I remarked on the current reigning pathology of American constitutional law, namely, the infatuation with originalism on both the right and the left; I wrote: Originalism (whether about intentions or meanings) is now the dominant, almost entirely unquestioned touchstone of constitutional argument and interpretation in…
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What does the average above-average philosopher look like?
Dennis Des Chene (Wash U/St. Louis) has the answer.
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Which “Liberal” Media? Bashing Justice Kennedy in the NY Times
Philosopher Samuel Rickless (UC San Diego) writes with kind words and apt observations: I do so enjoy reading your blog. I look forward to it every morning,and consider it a breath of fresh air, especially after spending mostof my breakfast cursing at the NYTimes. Case in point: today’s front page story about how much the…
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Arizona State Hires Leading International Trade Lawyer Abbott from Northwestern
A big catch for Arizona State University’s College of Law: they have recruited Kenneth Abbott, a leading scholar of international trade law, from Northwestern’s (troubled) law school, where he had taught for more than 25 years. This is the latest in a long series of embarrassing senior departures from Northwestern’s law school. Meanwhile, Arizona State…
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Question: Does Anyone Know of a Resource Listing the Staff Size of U.K. Universities?
Please e-mail me if you do. What I’m after is the approximate total faculty size for the various major research universities in the U.K. Thanks.
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The Criminal War Monger Bush…
…told another series of bald-faced lies, spiced up with some fibs and half-truths, on national T.V. this evening. The text of the speech is here, but skip the text and go to the comments which cut to the chase. (Not all comments are of equal merit, needless to say, but some are pretty good.) By…
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A “Dean’s Fellow” at Indiana-Indianapolis too “Uncollegial” for Reappointment?
This story out of the law school at Indiana University at Indianapolis raises serious questions about what’s going on at that school. William Bradford, a tenure-track faculty member, who has been extremely prolific, and was recognized by his own institution for scholarly excellence this past academic year, was up for re-appointment after three years on…
There is a lot to reflect on here but, having already commented enough, I won’t. Just one thing on climate…