October 2017
-
New Books in October
Authors and/or publishers kindly sent me these new books this month: The Routledge Handbook of Evolution and Philosophy edited by Richard Joyce (Routledge, 2018). The Routledge Handbook of Metaethics edited by Tristram McPherson & David Plunkett (Routledge, 2018). Religion, Violence, and the Secular State by John C. Caiazza (Routledge, 2018). Awakening: An Introduction to the…
-
The Internet and the crisis of epistemic authority
This is an excerpt from my Paolo Bozzi Prize address, "Realism and Moralism in Political Thought," last week in Turin at the conference on "Post-Truth, New Realism, and Democracy"; I'll put the whole paper on-line before long, but perhaps this bit will be of interest to some readers: Most of what we think we know…
-
ABA issues notices about possible non-compliance with ABA standards
Blog Emperor Caron collects links to them all, but they differ quite a bit. The notice to Buffalo reflects record-keeping issues, I suspect, while those to Appalachian and Thomas Jefferson, for example, seem far more ominous.
-
Truth beyond reason?
Philosopher Corine Besson (Sussex) and others discuss at IAITV.
-
Ethics of self-driving cars
I get worried when philosophers get involved in stuff like this. No one will buy a self-driving car that will sacrifice the driver to save others. Full stop. If the law mandates that self-driving cars do so, people will not use them. Self-driving cars will simply have to mimic the self-preservation instincts of drivers. Perhaps…
-
PhD programs (including in philosophy) where one can study Indian philosophy
Here's a listing, that looks right as far as the philosophy side of things goes. Alberta, British Columbia, Buffalo, UT Austin, and New Mexico would seem to be the best overall philosophy programs where one can pursue Indian philosophy these days, though I only know about one of the specialists, Stephen Phillips at UT Austin,…
-
Wiley now permitting journals to offer publication option: on-line soon, or hard copy PLUS on-line at a later date
Philosopher Steve Gross (Johns Hopkins) shared this interesting message he recently got from Pacific Philosophical Quarterly: We want to let you know that Wiley, the publisher of the PPQ, has just instituted a policy designed to lessen the time it takes between acceptance and publication for the articles accepted by their journals, namely, to publish…
-
On-line job portals that will not accept letters from Interfolio?
A reader writes: In the comments below one of your recent posts, Daniel Kaufman (and others) shared eye-opening reports that some online portals don't accept letters from Interfolio, even though to applicants they appear to. Many universities use customized versions of the same few portals. So if, e.g., MSU (Daniel Kaufman's employer) doesn't accept Interfolio…
-
Socrates on political correctness
The missing dialogue. (Thanks to Matt Lister for the pointer.)
-
Tuition-discounting at law schools
There's a lot of it, unsurprisingly, according to a new study (which included data from only 36 schools, however).
-
A pretty good short essay on Sartre’s philosophy…
…in TLS. Lots one could argue with, but given the format, not bad.
-
Dave Mason, “Shouldn’t Have Took More Than You Gave,” 1970
Dave Mason's 1970 solo album, Alone Together, is one of the greatest albums of the 1967-1973 period, but apart from one song, one rarely hears the rest of the album (I even own one of the original "marble" vinyl copies). Mason had become famous with Traffic prior to 1970, and in the late 1970s became…
-
More on the MP seeking Brexit syllabi from universities
Political philosopher Thom Brooks, who is Dean of Durham Law School in the UK, writes: I've seen you've posted a link to a news story about a letter from a Tory MP – and junior government whip – requesting information on "European affairs" teaching. Lists of courses can be readily found online and most department…
-
The PGR in the real world of students, part 391
A student writes: I studied history in addition to philosophy in undergrad and still have only a vague sense of where the top departments are for that subject. Since the first time I saw the PGR in high school, the same was never the case for philosophy. What you did in creating the PGR has…
Generative AI has the potential to do catastrophic harm to higher education. This is because learning is a biological process…