November 2016
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New Books in November
Authors and/or publishers kindly sent me these new books this month: Tense Bees and Shell-Shocked Crabs: Are Animals Conscious? by Michael Tye (Oxford University Press, 2017). Berkeley's Principles: Expanded and Explained by Tyron Goldschmidt & Scott Stapleford (Routledge, 2017). The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Medicine edited by Miriam Solomon, Jeremy R. Simon & Harold…
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Girlfriend of accused hitman in Markel case indicted for first-degree murder
It seems clear the prosecutors expect either her or Garcia, the accused hitman, to cooperate, so that they can indict some of the Adelsons as well. Meanwhile, I wonder what patients of the Adelsons' dental practice think? I think I would have switched dentists some time back in this sordid affair.
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Castro, South Africa, and the fall of apartheid
A propos Prof. Albin's comment on an earlier post, the NYT has now run this informative piece. In both South Africa and the American South, it was white communists who opposed apartheid decades before other members of their race.
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The APA’s “Code of Conduct” on Anonymity
We've remarked already on some of the peculiarities of the APA's purported "Code of Conduct," but one aspect I've not seen discussed is this (again, bizarrely overreaching) provision: While sometimes unavoidable, anonymity in online posts should be used judiciously. In what possible sense is anonymity "sometimes unavoidable"? One can either post using one's name or not. And…
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The loss of music as a “profession”
Philosopher Peter Godfrey-Smith comments. (Thanks to Robert McGarvey for the pointer.)
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Signs that democracy is in trouble?
I wonder what informed readers know about this research. Comments, links, additional information welcome.
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Ruling class regroups after Trump victory
Another former Goldman Sachs banker will be Secretary of the Treasury. Markets will rally tomorrow. God Bless America! (My real hope, I confess, is that he picks the retired Marine General James Mattis for Defense Secretary–this matters, because a career military officer like Mattis understands what nuclear weapons are, unlike Dopey Donald Chump.)
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A tangle of lawsuits at Brooklyn Law School
BLS professor won't vacate apartment in building BLS sold to developer; developer sues BLS, BLS sues professor. Yikes!
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Why doesn’t political philosophy matter?
Philosopher Paul Weithman (Notre Dame) writes: As many readers of this blog will already know, the New York Times recently ranan article about some predictions of Richard Rorty's which Brian referred to on November 16. The predictions were made in Achieving Our Country, where Rorty forecast the election of someone who could channel just the discontents that…
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U.S. LLM Programs Probably Benefit International Students (Part 1): Students Who Stay in the U.S. (Michael Simkovic)
At a conference I recently attended, some law professors and administrators seemed willing to assume the worst about LLM and international JD programs.[1] They seemed to think that LLM programs provide revenue to law schools but do little to help students. This stoked my curiosity about international law programs. It seems likely, as conference attendees…
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Notre Dame’s Robert Audi receives “Quinn Prize” for “service to the profession”
More here. I think it's worth noting, given the APA's recent bad behavior, that Prof. Audi has had nothing to do with the absurd turn things have taken at that benighted organization. (Examples of the recent bad behavior include this, this, this, and this.)
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Free speech in the academy, redux
Philosopher Preston Stovall comments.
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A new blog for scholars and students of medieval philosophy…
…courtesy of Bob Pasnau (Colorado).
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Competing views of Castro
There's this and then there's this: The former (by a "Pedro Pan" child who fled Cuba in the early 1960s) is devoid of evidence for its assertions, some of which are pretty obviously false, while the latter is mostly anecdotal, but from someone who less obviously has an axe to grind. Probably the truth is somewhere inbetween,…
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So what did Anglophone philosophy faculty and students almost study instead?
So with nearly 800 responses to yesterday afternoon's poll, here are the results: What subject did you almost major in (or undertake postgraduate study in) other than philosophy? Area Studies (e.g., Near East, East Asian, African etc.) 1%7 Biology 3%23 Chemistry 2%13 Classics 3%24 Computer Science 3%26 Economics 5%40…
My former colleagues at another university in Middle East have also been moved to online teaching indefinitely, with the students…