September 2016
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Thoughts on the PGR from a foreign student
A graduate student writes: I am a student of philosophy and a refugee coming from a Middle Eastern country [name omitted]. I obtained my most recent degree from [a university in Canada]. Let me clarify that my current refugee status is a direct result of my “conscientious objection” to the military operations of the [name omitted] army which…
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Against Canary Mission, redux
Following up on this (many of you signed), there is now a website with the letter and the full list of signatories. Someone really needs to create a list of faculty and students behind "Canary Mission," since a list of disgusting fascists would be useful!
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50 Best Law School Faculties in Terms of Scholarly Distinction, 2016 edition
Here's a list of 76 faculties that might have some claim on having one of the 50 strongest law faculties in terms of scholarly distinction (with apologies to any wrongly omitted). Have fun! Detailed ballott reporting will make attempts at strategic voting obvious, so don't! I'll call out your school! Remember, this is about the scholarly…
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Even if Clinton wins the election, we won’t be done with Trump
This is worth emphasizing: the Trump nightmare won't end with the election. Even if (as I still expect) Clinton wins, we know (he's told us) that Trump won't be a graceful loser, since he's psychologically incapable of that. The threat to the constitutional and democratic order will continue, as Trump hurls reckless accusatiosn of voter…
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SCP/Swinburne controversy, redux
Now there's a letter calling for the SCP to apologize to Professor Swinburne! (Earlier post for context.) If anyone hears of a letter from SAF members calling for an apology to Prof. Shelby, please let me know.
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ABA will *not* be suspended for one year from its accreditation role
Bullett dodged, for now! But I expect we will see more cases of the ABA being a bit tougher on law schools, especially those seeking accreditation.
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Best PhD Programs for Philosophy of Mind for 2016-17
Following up on this post, and once again taking account of faculty changes since the fall 2014 PGR, here's an attempted update of the top (3.5 or higher) programs for philosophy of mind for 2016-17, again by rough "clusters" of peer programs: Group 1 (1) New York University Group 2 (2) Rutgers University, New Brunswick Group…
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Debate post-mortem…
…from data maven Nate Silver. I didn't watch it, so have no comment at all! I hope Silver is right. UPDATE: And see this from a right-wing columnist at the New York Post. AND ANOTHER complete with transcriptions of Dopey Donald Chump being dopey.
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Another keynote speaker rebuked (not as badly) at the Society for Christian Philosophers midwest meeting
The other keynote speaker controversy making the rounds concerns a talk by philosopher of religion Richard Swinburne (Oxford) at a regional meeting of SCP at Evangel University in Missouri. This appears to be a sympathetic account of what transpired from someone in attendance. Briefly: Swinburne offered the usual awful arguments for anti-gay bigotry that "natural…
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Dick Cavett on Paul Weiss
From an interview with the former T.V. host about his undergraduate days at Yale: Q: To what extent did Yale teach you the art of critical thinking? DC: Any critical thinking that I got from Yale was in my undergraduate courses, maybe in the true sense of the term, from the great Paul Weiss, Sterling…
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Choudhry’s lawyers file motion for a preliminary injunction against Berkeley’s second disciplinary procedure against him
You can read it here: Download 2016-09-22 PL Motion in Support of Preliminary Injunction – Doc No 13. I'm glad they've taken this step. Berkeley has been out of control in this matter, and needs a federal judge to intervene. (Thanks to Sam Issacharoff for the pointer.)
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Tommie Shelby (Harvard) suggests that moral duties apply to the “oppressed” too and the Society for Analytic Feminism apologizes for his remarks (MOVING TO FRONT FROM EARLIER TODAY, SEVERAL UPDATES/CORRECTIONS)
The comical sanctimony of certain segments of the philosophy "profession" is a regular topic of conversation and head-shaking among adults, but the insulting treatment of philosopher Tommie Shelby (Harvard) after his keynote at the meeting of the Society for Analytic Feminism (SAF) sets a new low. Justin Weinberg (South Carolina), who always has his finger on…
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Meanwhile, the Society for Christian Philosophers…
…yes, I'll get to that one too, but today is the first day of the quarter, so there's work to be done, and I've already spent too much time on the earlier brouhaha. The details of this one are available here. I'lll just note the comment of philosopher Chris Swoyer (Oklahoma) at Prof. Rea's FB…
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Reading’s Patrick Tomlin wins 2017 Berger Prize in Philosophy of Law
The APA announcement is here.
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For those following the race between the neoliberal war-monger and the mentally unstable authoritarian fraud…
…for leadership of the most dangerous country on earth, you'll want to watch some of the debates. It turns out they don't matter very much, but the odds that Dopey Donald Chump can control himself are low, so hopefully they will generate lots of negative headlines, which will help the Democrats.
I’d like to pose a question. Let’s be pessimistic for the moment, and assume AI *does* destroy the university, at…