July 2012
-
In Memoriam: William R. Jones (1933-2012)
The founder and director of the African-American Studies Program at Florida State University, Professor Jones was a pioneer in the development of African-American philosophy. There is a page with links to memorials and much information about his work, as well as remembrances. (Thanks to Chike Jeffers for the pointer.)
-
The Culture of Secrecy at Penn State that Made the Child Sex Abuse Scandal Possible…
…permeates the whole university according to a former graduate student in philosophy; an excerpt: When I first arrived on campus in fall 2007, I was required, along with all new instructors, to take what I thought was a routine training seminar on sexual harassment. Looking back, I clearly should have seen what transpired as a…
-
On the off chance someone forget America is the most backwards “developed” nation on the face of the earth…
…you can read some of the reactions to the mass shooting in Colorado.
-
Wide-ranging and interesting interview with Elizabeth Anderson (Michigan)…
…at 3AM Magazine, of course.
-
Memorial for Bernard Gert
Philosopher Joshua Gert (William & Mary) writes that "there will be a memorial service for my father, Bernard Gert, on Sunday morning, August 12th, at the Rollins Chapel in Hanover, NH, with a reception to follow. Anyone who wants additional information can contact me." You can reach Professor Gert with questions at jngert-at-wm-dot-edu.
-
A few changes to the sidebars
Some readers have noticed a few changes to the sidebars, but it's just reorganizing some material, and adding a photo, which folks have told me for years I should do in order to reveal my true, friendly nature (I'm told I sometimes come across as a bit harsh on the blog [who knew?] but, truly, I'm really a nice guy–devoted to my students and…
-
ABA Censures And Fines University of Illinois
After concluding that the University of Illinois intentionally provided false LSAT and GPA information, and misled the ABA when seeking a waiver of the Association's accreditation rules regarding the LSAT.the American Bar Association Section on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar announced a series of sanctions on the University of Illinois College of Law.…
-
“The Sad Saga of Jeremy Stangroom”
This is funny. Since Mr. Stangroom dabbles around the edges of philosophical topics in cyberspace, some readers may have encountered him.
-
If there’s any justice, when the ice melts…
…it will take out the Repugs first. As the leading climate change deniers, surely they earned it! UPDATE: More cheery news.
-
Personality Type Predicts Philosophical Beliefs
Geoff Holtzman writes: A couple years ago, you were nice enough to post a link to a study I was running, which explored the relationship professional philosophers’ beliefs and their personalities. The first article from this study, “Do Personality Effects Mean Philosophy Is Intrinsically Subjective?” is forthcoming in the Journal of Consciousness Studies in 2013, and I wanted…
-
In Memoriam: Alexander Cockburn (1941-2012)
The Nation has collected a nice set of recollections. I didn't read him regularly, but I almost always enjoyed his contributions to The Nation and Counterpunch when I did happen upon them. The recollections paint an attractive picture of the man behind the often delightful polemics.
-
UVA’s Liz Magill Named Dean at Stanford
An impressive choice, from what I know–I expect she will serve Stanford well.
-
Podcast with David Albert (Columbia) on philosophy of physics…
…the dispute with Krauss, and other topics.
-
Grad Student Representatives at Faculty Meetings?
A philosopher elsewhere writes: Do you have some sense of how widespread the practice of having graduate representatives at department meetings is? It seems to me that my department should have a graduate liaison at meetings, setting aside personnel matters naturally. I have anecdotal evidence only–I know some departments where grad students attend the faculty…
-
Why Romney Won’t Win
A sensible analysis from Robert Paul Wolff. It even leaves out one of Romney's major liabilities, namely, that he's not at all likable, while Obama is. And for the brain-dead "independents" who decide elections, "likability" often counts!
Re: enforcing the policy via Pangram. I must be a Large Language Model, then: Just checked one of my paper…