May 2013
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More on the shoddy “subject” rankings by QS
Here; an excerpt: [I]f the rankings are to be used just to evaluate the quantity or quality of research, they are frankly of little use. They are dominated by the survey of academic opinion, which is not of professional quality. There are several ways in which people can take part in the survey. They can …
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The non-scandal about the IRS’s scrutiny of political front organizations
The facts begin to come out.
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Rookie hiring summary courtesy of UCI’s Sarah Lawsky…
…here. As a percentage of candidates on the market, here's how the schools fared in terms of tenure-track placement of their alumni (Lawsky's numbers are a bit different, at least in part due to a failure to count tenure-stream jobs in non-US law schools; I list only schools that had at least five candidates on the…
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Rumfitt from Birkbeck to Birmingham
Ian Rumfitt (philosophy of language), Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London, will take up a Personal Chair in Philosophy at the University of Birmingham, effective this fall. On top of other recent hiring at Birmingham, this appointment will probably push the reconstituted Birmingham Department into the UK top ten.
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Memorable first lines of journal articles?
Eric Schliesser (Ghent) has started an entertaining thread on the topic here.
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Are the QS subject rankings a fraud on the public?
A linguist comments. Earlier discussion here.
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UK Philosophy Students: the druggiest of all!
This is a curious item (and not exactly a rigorous survey of student practices). (Thanks to Michael Richards for the pointer.)
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Nice presentation on the U.S. News ranking methodology…
…from Pitt Dean William Carter, who had the unhappy task of dealing with a big drop in Pitt's overall rank in U.S. News. As with all such movements, it has nothing to do with the real world, and everything to do with artifacts of the ranking method. I commend Dean Carter's approach to the matter…
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New job opening…
…for ME.
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Plight of Iranian Philosophy Student, Farsani, Noted in Amnesty International’s 2013 Report
Here. (Prior coverage of Mr. Farsani's situation is here.)
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PhD students: what do you wish you had known *before* you began the program?
A student who will be starting a PhD program in philosophy writes: Being a fan of your blog and an incoming PhD student in philosophy, I was wondering if you'd think it'd be useful to open your blog up to commenters about things philosophy PhDs wish they had known about graduate school in philosophy before they…
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In Memoriam: Daniel Schaffer
Professor Daniel Schaffer of the Northeastern University School of Law passed away on May 8. He was 74. Schaffer, a tax expert, joined the Northeastern faculty in 1970.
Georgy Maksimovich pointed me to this article in Russian: https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2026/05/25/antisovetskie-filosofskie-kontratseptsii