November 2010
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New Books Received in November
Kindly sent by publishers and/or authors: Nietzsche and the Ancient Skeptical Tradition by Jessica N. Berry (Oxford University Press, 2011). This is certainly the major publication event in Nietzsche studies this year. Philosophy of Physics: 5+1 Questions edited byJuan Ferret & John Symons (VIP Press, 2010) Sustainability Ethics: 5 Questions edited by Rune Raffaelle et…
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Block on Damasio on Consciousness…
…in The New York Times book review.
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“Jewish Poker” Philosophy
Just in case some readers missed Michael Rosen's deliciously wicked comments (in a thread right before the American Thanksgiving holiday) about a certain style of philosophy (illustrated by this review), I thought they were worth reposting as a separate thread: Ephraim Kishon has a story called “Jewish Poker”. Jewish poker is played without cards so…
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“the weird and wonderful world of British Higher Education policy”
One could not have a better, or more eloquent and penetrating, guide than Iain Pears.
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KapLaw? Hints of a New Bricks & Mortar Law School for Kaplan
According to the Washington Post, Kaplan (a division of the WaPo) is scouting Washington D.C. real estate for a possible new addition to its law school portfolio. Kaplan currently operates the unaccredited, online, for-profit Concord Law School and has apparently been pondering a move into the accredited law school market. Concord has been remarkably successful offering…
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Guidelines for Journal Referees: Input and Ideas Sought
MOVING TO FRONT FROM SATURDAY (NOV. 27) TO ENCOURAGE MORE FEEDBACK Thom Brooks (Newcastle) writes: I was hoping that you could help publicize some comments for feedback from your readers concerning referee guidelines. I am part of an APA committee looking into journal practices and sit on a subcommittee on guidelines for referees. We have…
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The Big Picture, Redux
A propos an earlier item by Robert Paul Wolff, this article is relevant.
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The Most Important Characteristics in Evaluating Law Schools
With 184 votes cast on last week's poll, here are the five factors deemed most significant in evaluating a law school by the largely academic readership of this blog: Scholarly distinction/quality of the faculty Students numerical credentials (LSAT, GPA) Emphasis on legal doctrine & analytical skills Emphasis on legal research & writing skills Small class…
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John Searle’s 50 Years at Berkeley
I just came upon this interesting video of the February 2009 event marking the occasion. I haven't yet watched all of it, but I do recommend the remarks by Thomas Nagel (NYU) and the concluding remarks (roughly the last 15 minutes) by Searle. Nagel makes an especially interesting point about the move away from "institutional insularity" towards forming…
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The comments policy
A reminder.
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Does Wall Street Produce Anything of Value?
Yes, but not much, according to this sensible assessment. John Cassidy, the New Yorker's economics reporter is a journalist with ideas and the ability to express them. An excerpt (but do print out the whole piece, it's a good read): From the end of the Second World War until 1980 or thereabouts, people working in…
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“Remembering Chalmers Johnson, 1931-2010”
From The Nation.
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“Just when you thought this NY Times column [“The Stone” blog] could not get more ridiculous…”
Josh Cohen (Stanford) tweets. More ridiculous than Andy Martin's piece? Probably not.
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Political Theory Humor
Courtesy of some grad students at Harvard: Miss Teen South Carolina talks about Hegel (inspired by this). Leviatan, a new product for impotent sovereigns. (Thanks to Michael Rosen for the pointers.)
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Philosophers on “The Stone,” the NY Times Philosophy Blog: It’s Time for a Change
So with more than 800 votes cast, it's pretty clear that philosophical readers are, overwhelmingly, not at all happy with where things stand, though most remain optimistic that the series can be salvaged. Here are the responses to the question what the Times ought to do with "The Stone" series: Votes Discontinue the series, overall it…
I taught in the philosophy department (“mental and moral sciences – philosophy”) at TCD in 1977-1979, and so had David…