August 2011
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New Philosophy Books Received in August
Publishers and/or authors kindly sent me the following books this month: John Mikhail, Elements of Moral Cognition: Rawls' Linguistic Analogy and the Cognitive Science of Moral and Legal Judgment (Cambridge University Press, 2011). J.B. Kennedy, The Musical Structure of Plato's Dialogues (Acumen, 2011). Harold Langsam, The Wonder of Consciousness: Understanding the Mind Through Philosophical Reflection…
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Pseudo-Science Watch
A blog we often enjoy making fun of for its charming assortment of wacky and earnest ideologues of the far right is now featuring a political "scientist" selling his snake oil about "liberal bias" in the media, in, it appears, roughly the original formula: see here and here for earlier discussions. UPDATE (SEPTEMBER 6): David Bernstein (George Mason), the legal academy's poster…
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“About.Com” Starts a Philosophy Page…
…under the direction of philosopher Andrea Borghini (Holy Cross).
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In Memoriam: Bernard Wolfman
Last week, Bernard Wolfman, the Fessenden Professor of Law Emeritus at Harvard Law School,and the former dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, passed away. He was 87. Wolfman received his law degree from Penn and led that institution from 1970 to 1975. In 1976, he joined the Harvard faculty where he remained…
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Parfit Profiled
The Sepember 5 New Yorker has an interesting profile of Derek Parfit, though it is subscription-access only. Lots of interseting tidbits, for example: When Derek was seven, he became religious and decided to be a monk. He prayed all the time and tried vainly to persuade his parents to go to church. But at eight…
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Philosopher Ivanhoe Receives Major Grant for Work on Korean Philosophy
P.J. Ivanhoe (City University of Hong Kong), a leading scholar of Chinese philosophy, has been awarded roughly 1.3 million U.S. dollars from the Korean Studies Promotion Service of the Academy of Korean Studies to conduct a major research project on Korean Philosophy from Comparative Perspectives. The period of the grant is five years. The aim is to…
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An Illinois College to Ask about Sexual Orientation on Application Form
Interesting development. In a triumph of he said/she said reporting, the last paragraph has to quote an anti-gay bigot having a tantrum. Sigh. (Thanks to Matt Keeler for the pointer.)
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In Memoriam: Greg Scott
There was particularly sad news out of Columbia, Missouri last week. Professor Greg Scott, who was a popular professor of legal writing at the University of Missouri, passed away last week. He collapsed walking into his class and passed away at the hospital. He was a young 54.
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Professor Bainbridge is cranky that the University of Chicago Law Review…
…asked him to referee an article. While I agree that they should have given him a bigger window of opportunity in which to do it, I find the rest of his crank a bit puzzling. (Professor Bainbridge needs to drink some more of the fine wines he often recommends!) It's actually a welcome development that law…
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Deciding to write a book and getting published: some questions
A young philosopher writes: I’m a recently tenured associate professor at a strong liberal arts college. I have a decent number of articles published at solid journals. I’m somewhat known in the areas I work in, but I’m far from a big name or rising star. I’ve been thinking of writing a book for a…
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Amsterdam and the Hague: Restaurant and Sight-Seeing Recommendations Gratefully Received!
In Amsterdam, we'll be staying in the city center, roughly equi-distant between the Centraal Station and the Nieuwe Kerk. In The Hague, we're just a few blocks from the Peace Palace. I'll be travelling with kids, so restaurants in either place that welcome children (10+) will be welcome. In Amsterdam, we already plan on the Van…
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Conducting a Job Search Entirely On-Line?
Alex Rosenberg (Duke) writes: Do you know of any phil dept which has run a search for new faculty entirely electronically? By electronic I mean submission of all materials in a job application via the internet. Has any dept required it? Would it work a hardship on potential applicants if one required it? Are there…
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First an earthquake…
…now this. Locusts can't be far behind. And no doubt Pat Robertson (or Rick Perry!) will weigh in soon to explain it all. Good luck to all readers in the path of this hurricane and be safe! (I was a youngster in Manhattan during Hurricane Agnes in 1972, which was the most direct hurricane 'hit' on NYC…
I wonder how feasible and time-intensive it would be to make it a standard policy check for undisclosed AI usage.…