August 2017
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DeNiro on Trump (from last October)
It's clearer and clearer how right he was:
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Philosopher’s Annual: Best Papers from 2016
Professor Grim forwarded the announcement this morning to all the Nominating Editors (I've added institutional affiliation of the author for 2017-18 in parentheses); I'm pleased to see several excellent historical papers among the winners this year: The final selection– The Philosopher’s Annual volume 36 from the literature of 2016 Luc Bovens (LSE, but moving to…
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On Antifa, the anti-fascist movement
This is informative. (Thanks to Daniel Buk for the pointer.)
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On the history of America, the “White Settler” nation
Robert Paul Wolff comments with his usual clear eye for the facts that are morally relevant. (And see also.)
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Ways of doing metaphysics
A useful short typology courtesy of philosopher Amanda Bryant (Trent).
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Charlotte Law School officially closes
Local news item here. We've now seen three law schools close: in addition to Charlotte, also Whittier and Indiana Tech, all victims of the collapse in applications to law schools, which occurred in the wake of publicity about the recession in the market for new lawyers post-2008. Back in 2013, I guesstimated we might see…
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Law schools ranked by American Academy of Arts & Sciences membership, 2017-18
FACULTY QUALITY BASED ON MEMBERSHIP IN THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS & SCIENCES, 2017-18 August 2017 The American Academy of Arts & Sciences each year elects members based on their contributions to scholarship, the arts, education, business, or public affairs. In reality, the Academy tends to be a bit “chummy”—schools already “rich” with members get…
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The forgotten history of Korea, north and south
A useful capsule summary of work by the noted historian Bruce Cumings, whose books I also commend to anyone interested in understanding how North and South emerged from the ashes of World War II. (Thanks to Jerry Dworkin for the pointer.)
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NY Times makes its contribution to “normalizing” the NeoNazis…
…by putting a "balanced" article on its front page about whether they're being "normalized."
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The APA’s draft “good practices guide”
I haven't had the time or motivation to engage with this, though several people have written me about the indefensible section on the pseudo-science of "implicit bias", and now there is some cogent pushback at the APA blog discussion of this section. It's embarrassing that the draft should have included such a one-sided and misleading…
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The “hard problem” of consciousness is not THAT hard
Philosopher John Heil (Wash U/St Louis) comments. (This is a very nice short essay, that clearly explains the official "hard problem" and clearly states its objections.)
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A clinical psychologist comments on the appeal of Ayn Rand
Amusing, but not deep (there may not be anything deep to say, admittedly, about the mediocre narcissists who are Rand's usual prey). (Thanks to Michael Swanson for the pointer.)
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Mediocre White People Watch: Peter Cvjetanovic edition
Josh Marshall has the amusingly pathetic details. Meanwhile, his University of Nevada, Reno classmates really go to town on their now notorious colleague.
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Trump is an accidental Nazi…
…as this rather sober report from Politico makes clear. His narcissism and mafia mentality overwhelms everything else. He doesn't hate Jews, he knows how to do business with them and his son-in-law is one, so they're safe. Blacks, well they pay their rent, mostly, so he can abide them, especially when they behave nicely like…
I’m a mathematician who works in AI, and although I’m not directly involved, what I hear from my colleagues is…