August 2006
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Leaving Soldiers in the Lurch (Nadelhoffer)
It’s bad enough when Congress blindly goes along with a deceitful war-mongering president when he decides it’s time for regime change in the Middle East. But to then underfund research that would help the soldiers whose lives are destroyed as the result is simply inexcusable. You see, having already caved in to the hawks at…
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In Memoriam: Ellery Eells (1953-2006)
I received the following e-mail last night from Professor Larry Shapiro, Chair of the Department at the University of Wisconsin at Madison: I write to convey the news that Ellery Eells died today. His health had deteriorated over the past year and after entering a coma on Friday, his organs failed and he died shortly…
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On Banning Good Heartedness (Nadelhoffer)
I meant to post something a few weeks ago when the story first broke–but I suppose I naively thought that the good people of Las Vegas would come to their senses. You see, the city of Las Vegas passed an ordinance that makes it illegal to feed homeless people in public spaces–an ordinance that anti-poverty…
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Rookie Faculty Hiring: Which Factors Matter Most?
Daniel Solove (GW) has initiated a discussion of this topic here. Personally, I give most weight to the references (if they are from reliable people) and the quality of any writing the candidate has done. Later on, the job talk can be useful for assessing likely classroom performance, and sometimes for assessing intellectual ability (though…
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UK Liquid Explosives Plot (Leiter)
Historian Juan Cole (Michigan) has some interesting details and grounded speculations. He also links to this astute analysis; an excerpt: What we now know about the London-based plot to destroy ten civilian airplanes points to six conclusions. First, what stopped this plot was law enforcement. Law enforcement. Not a military invasion of Pakistan, Iran, Lebanon,…
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Misplaced Outrage (Leiter)
Jim Lindgren (Law, Northwestern) here protests lack of attention being paid in the US media to the fact that Israel is killing large numbers of civilians in Lebanon, one-third of them children. Whoops, sorry, I misread that: his moral outrage is reserved for the fact that US media won’t give sufficient attention to the fact…
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More Interviews with Philosophers (Leiter)
From the folks who brought us the book of (often entertaining) interviews with practitioners of "formal philosophy" that we noted some time ago, there now come books of interviews with those who work on philosophy of mathematics, political philosophy, normative ethics, legal philosophy, philosophy of technology, and game theory. As with the formal philosophy volume,…
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Scholem on Frege (J. Stanley)
From Gershom Scholem, Walter Benjamin: The Story of a Friendship: Philosophy in Jena was rather annoying to me. I despised Rudolf Eucken, who looked unbelievably formal and spoke that way as well….Bruno Bauch’s lectures, on the other hand, were mandatory, and to the extent they dealt with Kant, of interest to me, for I read…
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“Independent of Reality” (Nadelhoffer)
A recent poll revealed that 50% of Americans still believe that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction (see here for details)–prompting Charles Hanley of The Associated Press to suggest that people’s beliefs somehow tend to become "independent of reality." Over at The Progressive, Amitabh Pal had the following to say about the truly staggering…
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Snowjob’s Lecture On Democracy (Nadelhoffer)
In a press conference yesterday, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow–aka Snowjob–managed to say something insightful, even if he obviously lacks the foresight to see just how ironic it is (see here). Here is an excerpt: Democracies operate on different principles than totalitarian states. In a democracy, you have to respond to the will of…
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truth to power (Nadelhoffer)
I wanted to take this opportunity to engage in a bit of shameless self-promotion. You see, given how much fun I have had this summer guest-blogging here on Leiter Reports, I have decided to start my own blog on things socio-political (see here). I already have two other people on board with more in the…
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UK Security Alert (Wolff)
The police here claim to have disrupted a terrorist threat to blow up planes in flight between the UK and US. ‘Disrupted’ is an interesting word. It is rather different to ‘thwarted’ which would be more comforting, but better than ‘delayed’ I suppose. Details are murky, but from the precautions now being taken it appears…
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Tom Bell: Some Recommended Reforms for US News
Here; an excerpt: Earlier this summer, I began a series of posts about the U.S. News & World Report’s law school rankings. (Please see below for links to each post in the series.) My research uncovered many interesting and troubling things about the rankings. I discovered errors in the data that USN&WR used for the…
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Israel and Lebanon: Four Perspectives (Leiter)
This is very revealing.
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Venezuela Meets “The Little Tramp” (Leiter)
From the L.A. Times: In his classic 1936 film, "Modern Times," Charlie Chaplin has to work so fast tightening bolts in a steel factory that he finally goes crazy. In a memorable scene that has become a metaphor for labor exploitation, the Little Tramp is run through the factory’s enormous gears. For President Hugo Chavez’s…
“given the actual number of career-worthy jobs (i.e. not per-course or adjunct positions)” The “id est” seems mistaken. Many tenure-track…