February 2008
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Friday Poem: “Flyer”
Flyer II see by the A&P flyerThat Passover foods are a featureAm I the only Westchester creatureWho doesn’t post a calendarAlongside his refrigeratorWhat a shock to my delicate natureFor holidays to burst upon the nationIn the midst of my disorientation I’m a boat torn from its mooringsA pigeon…
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The “Top 100” Public Intellectuals in the World (including a few law professors!)
I recently came across this UK magazine’s survey of readers identifying the "top 100" public intellectuals from a couple of years ago. Since it was a UK-based survey, the list doesn’t have the same kinds of parochial horizons the same exercise would generate in the US (so, e.g., Noam Chomsky, quite plausibly, is #1, and…
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Rouse on Two Kinds of Naturalism
I thought this was a provocative way of demarcating two naturalistic tendencies in philosophy, from a review by Joseph Rouse (Wesleyan): Within the broadly secular practice of contemporary philosophy, two alternative oppositional stances have replaced anti-supernaturalism in defining a naturalistic orientation, leading to at least two divergent strands of philosophical naturalism. One approach, sometimes characterized…
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So What *Do* Your Colleagues Earn?
As usual, Blog Emperor Caron has the scoop, though my guess is these figures do not include summer salaries.
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Is the “Rule of Recognition” a Conventional Rule?
I know you folks have been wondering!
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Nevada’s Howarth Named New Law Dean at Michigan State
The MSU press release is here.
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Steven Gey
Steven Gey, a distinguished First Amendment scholar at Florida State University, has been suffering from Lou Gehrig’s Disease for the last year. His colleague Dan Markel has posted a remarkable statement from Professor Gey about his illness, remarkable both for its candor and its humor. I hope everyone will read it, and also consider supporting…
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William & Mary President (and Law Professor) Nichol Forced Out for Upholding the Constitution
News story here and statement by President Gene Nichol here. This is pretty embarrassing for William & Mary, and I imagine many faculty and students there are outraged (faculty and students at other state universities in Virginia should be worried too!). Nichol, who was previously Dean of the Law School at the University of North…
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More Bad News for Philosophy in the UK: The Fall 2008 AHRC Research Leave Competition Has Been Cancelled
Details here. Coming on the heels of this, one wonders what is going on in the UK. Are we about to see a general cutback in support for the humanities, including philosophy? Or are these isolated events? The combination of an improved financial situation in British universities over the last decade, plus a weak dollar,…
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Is the “Rule of Recognition” a Conventional Rule?
I know you folks have been wondering!
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Chicago’s Nussbaum Declines Harvard, Brown Offers, Will Remain at Chicago
Martha Nussbaum (ancient philosophy, political philosophy, ethics), who holds appointments in the Law School, Philosophy Department, and the Divinity School at the University of Chicago, has declined the senior offers from Harvard University and Brown University. That’s the second significant retention coup for Chicago recently, one about which I am, needless to say, especially pleased.
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Nussbaum Declines Harvard, Brown Offers, and Will Remain at Chicago
I am particularly pleased to report that Martha Nussbaum (ancient philosophy, political philosophy, ethics), who holds appointments in the Law School, Philosophy Department, and the Divinity School at the University of Chicago, has declined the senior offers from Harvard University and Brown University. I look forward to working with her in making Chicago the destination…
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“Superdelegates” and the UnDemocratic Party
This line in this article caught my attention: Superdelegates, created in 1982, were intended to restore some of the power over the nomination process to party insiders, tempering the zeal of party activists. About 15 to 20 percent of the delegates at Democratic conventions are superdelegates. The "zeal of party activists" is a reference to…
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Leiden’s Philosophy Department in Trouble!
Eric Schliesser, a philosopher at Leiden University in the Netherlands, writes: I write you because I hope you would be willing to publicize the predicament of Leiden University’s Philosophy department. In the guise of transforming graduate education at Leiden University, the new University President wishes to merge the philosophy department (and a bunch of others)…
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Obama is a Nietzsche Man!
Details here.
Georgy Maksimovich pointed me to this article in Russian: https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2026/05/25/antisovetskie-filosofskie-kontratseptsii