November 2010
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Legal Historians Are Massing in Philadelphia
Drexel University School of Law is formally hosting this year's annual meeting of the American Society for Legal History. The meeting starts today and the schedule is here. As always, this is a stellar conference and for those of you on the fence – please join us. Philly is, after all, the hub of the Northeast Corridor. (Or the…
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Humanities Majors Have Not Declined in the Last 20 years…
…but what did decline in the 1970s and 1980s were majors in all serious academic subjects.
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“Philosophy Street”
Modelled on Sesame Street. A couple of good jokes here. (Thanks to Scott Wisdom for the pointer.)
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World University Rankings, Again
A piece from the New York Times. (Thanks to Gabriele Contessa for the pointer.) Our earlier discussions: here and here.
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How to Get Dean Search Committees to Stop Calling You to Ask If You’re Interested
I thought I'd found the solution a few years ago, by having a blog, in which I speak plainly and honestly (which Deans are forbidden from doing) and in which I expressed political opinions so far out of the mainstream in the reactionary United States as to make all but the most progressive schools nervous. This…
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So how might the APA better meet the needs of the profession?
MOVING TO FRONT FROM YESTERDAY TO ENCOURAGE MORE CONTRIBUTIONS to what has been a robust and informative comment thread. =================================== The results of last week's poll were pretty negative; here are the results as of late yesterday: How would you rate the APA\'s performance in meeting the needs of the profession? Excellent 1% (12)…
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What factors/characteristics do you consider most important in evaluating a law school?
As Dan noted, Wayne State has hired a consultant to survey law professors and lawyers (among others) about the characteristics they consider in evaluating a law school. The readership here is primarily academic, and I thought it might be interesting to pose this question to you folks. I've tweaked the choices the Wayne State consultants were…
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Quantitative Easing Explained
This is funny (though I can't say it's entirely accurate, but it is still funny). (Thanks to Phil Gasper for the pointer.)
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What is philosophy?
Philosophy Bites asked lots of philosophers–you can listen to their answers here.
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In Memoriam: Kurt Baier (1917-2010)
MOVING TO FRONT FROM OCTOBER 24–SEE UPDATE A leading 20th-century moral philosopher, Professor Baier passed away yesterday. He taught originally in Australia and then for many years at the University of Pittsburgh. I will link to memorial notices as they appear. UPDATE: Allen Hazen (Melbourne) forwarded this informative obituary by Charles Pigden (Otago) that was circulated…
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“Defend the Arts and Humanities”
The blog. UK-centric in its main focus, but much of the material is relevant in the US (and elsewhere) as well.
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UNESCO Cancels “Philosophy Day” in Iran
Several folks sent me this story. Perhaps it is the right decision, though as the earlier letter from an Iranian philosopher made clear, it will be a loss for many philosophy students and teachers in Iran.
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Deconstructing the US News Reputation Survey
I have confirmed that for the 2011 law school ranking, US News incorporated the opinions of 646 voters in determining overall law school reputation. (Additional voters were involved in the specialized rankings.) That 646 number includes both academics (who contribute to the academic reputation ranking – which is 25% of a school's overall score) and lawyers/judges (whose…
On (4), and with the usual caveat that I’m not an expert here: The US has 400 land-based ICBMs, carrying…