November 2013
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New Books in November
Authors and/or publishers kindly sent me these new books this month: Portraits of American Philosophy edited by Steven M. Cahn (Rowman & Littlefield, 2013) (intellectual autobiographies by, among others, J.B. Schneewind, Judith Jarvis Thomson, Ruth Barcan Marcus, and Harry Frankfurt). Hegel's Thought in Europe: Currents, Crosscurrents and Undercurrents edited by Lisa Herzog (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).
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Help sought for a biography of Richard Montague
Professor Ivano Caponigro, a linguist at UC San Diego, asked me to share the following: I'm working on a biography of Richard Montague (1930-1971) that aims to reconstruct his intellectual and personal life, his contributions, and his legacy. Please contact me if you knew him personally (or just met him a few times) or have…
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“The Truth is Terrible”
This was the annual Epes Humanities Lecture at Davidson College, which some readers here might perhaps enjoy. (Some law colleagues told me they did enjoy it, so I'm posting it here as well.)
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Arthur Danto remembered
Gayle Greene, a professor of English at Scripps College, who took her PhD in English at Columbia, shared this charming story about her experiences with Professor Danto: “Julius Caesar!” He looked up with genuine astonishment. He was a philosopher. Why on earth would anyone ask him to read a dissertation about Julius Caesar? “Shakespeare’s Julius…
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“the most important questions facing us”
I was struck by this from a short Times piece about Appiah, in which he mentions "the most important questions facing us — gender, the environment, animal rights." Are those the "most important questions facing us"? Discuss.
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Either don’t live near pythons…
…or don't get drunk, you can't have it both ways. UPDATE: I was afraid this was too "good" to be true! (Thanks to Alex Parrish for the pointer.)
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For philosophers of perception…
…UCL's Michael Martin interviewed by the student philosophy journal at Oslo.
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Ten Best “Business Law” Faculties
MOVING TO FRONT FROM YESTERDAY DUE TO EGREGIOUS CHEATING BY SUPPORTERS, BERKELEY WILL PROBABLY BE DROPPED FROM THE TOP TEN (OR RESTORED TO WHERE IT WAS BEFORE THE CHEATING BEGAN) A new poll, for your holiday entertainment. "Business law" is fairly broadly defined to include antitrust, bankruptcy, contracts, commercial law, corporate law and finance, and…
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Windfall multi-million dollar gift from 1940 alumnus…
…for the University of Washington School of Law. (Thanks to Nicholas Marritz for the pointer.)
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Big discounts for Pennsylvania residents at Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law
Another sign of the times.
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Pope Francis, Marxist?
Not really, superficial similarities notwithstanding. When he endorses the theory of ideology and non-teleological historical materialism, that will be different. Right now he's at the moralizing utopion socialist stage.
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Hobby Lobby’s challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s insurance mandate, including contraception
The latest lawlessness by the religious. Jeez!
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The “aristocracy of sex” in philosophy
Jonathan Wolff (UCL) comments. At the end of the column, he runs together two issues that should be kept separate: the combative nature of philosophy and how one should treat students. Professor Ishiguro's approach on the latter seems the right one, but that is independent of whether philosophy as practiced among peers should, or should not…
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Appiah from Princeton to NYU
Anthony Appiah (ethics, political philosophy, philosophy of race) at Princeton University has accepted a senior offer from New York University, to start in 2014. According to the university press release, "He will spend half the year in New York teaching in the Department of Philosophy and School of Law; the other half of the year…
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Turmoil over the “Sexton Plan” at NYU continues
The latest installment from the faculty opposed to the Sexton Plan here Sexton, it is worth noting, has already announced his intention to step down from the Presidence in two or three years, though much of his Plan may still go forward (including the massive construction project that will take place right next to a…
David J. Gunkel «Person, Thing, Robot: A Moral and Legal Ontology for the 21st Century and Beyond» (MIT, 2023) Link:…