March 2010
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Some New Philosophy Books
Publishers are good enough to send me their new books, so the least I can do is mention them for the benefit of readers who might be interested. Here are some of those recently received: Paul Thagard, The Brain and the Meaning of Life (Princeton University Press, 2010) Susan Wolf, Meaning in Life and Why…
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York U in Toronto Continues to Embarrass Itself
A colleague in Canada writes about the continuing academic freedom scandal at York and its law school, Osgoode Hall: York University in Toronto has done it again. As your readers will remember, the Senior Administration has been embroiled in a long-running dispute about academic freedom at the Osgoode Hall Law School. Two tenured faculty members organized…
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Philosopher Lear Wins Mellon Distinguished Achievement Award in Humanities
I am pleased to report that my esteemed colleague Jonathan Lear is one of three winners of the Mellon Distinguished Achievement Award in the Humanities for 2009. Lear's work ranges widely over ancient philosophy, psychoanalysis, ethics and moral psychology, Wittgenstein, and many other topics. Among his many books is the splendid volume on Freud in the…
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How many philosophers went to your college?
You can find out about Oberlin and Amherst and Swarthmore. Feel free to post in the comments other websites listing undergraduate alumni from other schools who are now academic philosophers.
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The Role of Race in Law Faculty Hiring
Ming Zhu has a new paper out on SSRN – An Empirical Study of Race and Law School Hiring – that will be of interest to those who think about race in academia. Zhu studied the 2004-05 hiring year and concluded that, holding factors like law school grades and law review membership constant, race had…
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On “Cranks”
Michael Weisberg (Penn) calls to my attention these amusing excerpts from Martin Gardner's book Fads and Fallacies, in which he discusses "crank scientists," though, with a few suitable modifications, we can all think of some philosophers to whom this description applies: [Some cranks] are brilliant and well-educated, often with an excellent understanding of the branch of…
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Is Catholic U’s Daniel Coleman the Only Person in Academia Who is Glad King’s College, London Faculty are Being Fired?
Quite possibly. (In one iteration, Mr. Coleman's piece was even published under the heading "Fire More Professors"!) Even putting aside Mr. Coleman's weird focus on me (I'm not the one possibly being fired, it's the folks at KCL, and they're really and correctly incensed!), it apparently doesn't occur to this market fundamentalist that in a functioning market economy governed by…
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The Lateral Market Keeps Pace with Last Year
Last year at this time, there had been 15 faculty moves or offers reported in the New Year; this year, there have been 16 moves or offers. By contrast, between January 1 and March 30, 2008, there were more than 20 faculty moves or offers reported.
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The PhilPapers Survey on What Philosophers Believe Makes The Economist
Not a bad summary, though we will let Mr. Gottlieb's characterization of "analytic" and "Continental" philosophy pass in silence. (Thanks to Naftali Weinberger for the pointer.)
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Montana Man Claims to be Holy Ghost, Neighbors are Skeptical
Can't fool these folks. (Thanks to Eric Muller for the pointer.)
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Bermudez from Wash U/St. Louis to a Deanship at Texas A&M
Jose Bermudez (philosophy of mind and psychology) at Washington University, St. Louis will become Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University, effective July 1.
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Joe Harroz Named University of Oklahoma Law Dean
As Tim Zinnecker coyly suggested here, Oklahoma City lawyer Joe Harroz was named the University of Oklahoma Law Center's new dean. Harroz, a graduate of OU and Georgetown Law, served as general counsel to the university for over a decade before becoming president of Graymark Health Care in 2008. He also served as legislative director and legal counsel…
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Mark Osler from Baylor to St. Thomas (Minnesota)
Mark Osler, Professor of Law at Baylor University School of Law, has accepted a tenured position at St. Thomas Law School in Minneapolis. Professor Osler publishes in the area of sentencing law. He has been at Baylor since 2000 and is a graduate of Yale Law School. — Dan Filler
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Fitzpatrick from Virginia Tech to Rochester
William Fitzpatrick at Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, who has done very interesting work on a variety of topics in ethics, has accepted a tenured offer in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Rochester, to start this fall.
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Two More Senior Hires for Arizona: Pincione from Argentina, Russell from Wichita State
The Department of Philosophy at the University of Arizona has made two more hires with tenure: Guido Pincione (political philosophy, rational choice theory), Professor of Law at the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires; and Daniel Russell (ancient philosophy, ethics), Associate Professor of Philosophy at Wichita State University.
David J. Gunkel «Person, Thing, Robot: A Moral and Legal Ontology for the 21st Century and Beyond» (MIT, 2023) Link:…