December 2007
-
The Duke Lacrosse Case: An Expose of KC Johnson
KC Johnson is the Brooklyn College history professor who became obsessed with the Duke lacrosse case and particularly obsessed with harassing and deriding Duke faculty whom he deemed to have any involvement with the case. (Among the targets of his harassment has been the distinguished philosopher of biology Alex Rosenberg.) A Duke professor has now…
-
The Duke Lacrosse Case: A Duke Professor Pens An Expose of KC Johnson
KC Johnson is the Brooklyn College history professor who became obsessed with the false charges filed against Duke lacrosse players (after an allegation of rape by an African-American stripper hired to entertain them at a party), and has since written a book on the subject with a journalist. Johnson attracted attention well before that in…
-
“I’ve looked at brains from both sides now”
A song inspired by the work of David Chalmers (ANU). (The photos accompanying the song do raise an important philosophical question: why did he stop shaving?)
-
New Philosophy Listserve for North America
Fritz Allhoff (Western Michigan) and some of his students have put together a new listserve: I would like to invite you to join Philosophy Updates; this is a mailing list meant to disseminate information regarding philosophical happenings in North America, as well as international happenings of broad appeal. To join, please click the link at…
-
Some Muddled Philosophy of Science Makes the New York Times
Here. This quote (from the article) may explain a lot about why scientists make such confused remarks about what they’re doing: “Philosophy of science is about as useful to scientists as ornithology is to birds,” goes the saying attributed to Richard Feynman, the late Caltech Nobelist, and repeated by Dr. [Steven] Weinberg.
-
Cornell’s Wippman Named Dean at Minnesota
David Wippman (international law) at Cornell Law School has been named the new Dean of the University of Minnesota Law School, effective July 1, 2008. Wippman, who was a finalist here at the time we chose Larry Sager as Dean in 2006, was an impressive candidate and will, no doubt, be a very good Dean…
-
Demleitner Named Dean at Hofstra
Nora Demleitner (criminal, comparative, and immigration law), currently Interim Dean of the Law School at Hofstra University, has been named Dean, effective January 1, 2008.
-
Advertising on this Blog…Again
Advertising is available for one-month slots: book publishers, journals, or even authors that want to promote their work may purchase advertising space in one of the three spaces at the top left or top right of this blog; so, too, departments wanting to advertise job openings, or departments or organizations that want to advertise conferences and the…
-
2007 Winners of Leverhulme Prizes in U.K. Announced
Here. Five philosophers are among the winners: Hannes Leitgeb (Bristol), Christian List (LSE), Oliver Pooley (Oxford), Duncan Pritchard (Edinburgh), Alison Stone (Lancaster). These Prizes should not be confused with the "Major Research Fellowships" awarded by the Leverhulme Trust, which go to more senior philosophers; recent winners there include the philosophers Helen Beebee (Birmingham) and Robert…
-
Don’t Be Fooled by the Picture!
A useful cautionary note: A paper published online in September by the journal Cognition shows that assertions about psychology — even implausible ones like “watching television improved math skills” — seem much more believable to laypeople when accompanied by images from brain scans. And a paper accepted for publication by The Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience…
-
On Intuitions in Philosophy
From the illuminating review by Michael Liston (Wisconsin/Milwaukee) of the new book by Penelope Maddy (UC Irvine) Second Philosophy: A Naturalistic Method (OUP, 2007): [This book] presents the best exploration and defense of naturalism I know of. A primary lesson is that we ought not to build philosophical theories on anything as shaky as intuitions that…
-
The Pointlessness of Arguing with Most Denizens of the Blogosphere
Philosopher John Protevi recounts his own exhausting experience with a random know-nothing. I empathize! "The less they know, the less they know it." Or in the immortal words of Ezra Pound: "you can’t talk to the ignorant about lies, since they have no criteria."
-
Rated “R” for “Metaphysics”
From The New York Times review of Francis Ford Coppola’s film "Youth Without Youth": “Youth Without Youth” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Gun violence, sexual congress, female nudity, metaphysics. If only they’d cut the metaphysics scene, it might have been PG-13! (Thanks to Charles Huenemann for the pointer.)
-
Philosophy Job Market Wiki
Judging from the wiki, and what I’m hearing locally, it’s been a busy week for the scheduling of APA interviews–my guess is that will continue at least into the middle of next week. (I can recall, many years ago, getting an interview call from a "top ten" department on Dec. 23! Of course, that was…
I respond to this report here https://jasonstanleyantifascist.substack.com/p/on-the-philosophical-muddle-that