September 2018
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New Books in September
Authors and/or publishers sent me these new books this month: Taxation: Philosophical Perspectives edited by Martin O'Neill & Shepley Orr (Oxford University Press, 2018). The Ethics of Climate Change: An Introduction by Byron Williston (Routledge, 2019). The Lost History of Liberalism: From Ancient Rome to the Twenty-First Century by Helena Rosenblatt (Princeton University Press, 2018).…
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: Street, ‘Multilevular Conversational Tightrope Walkin’ Shoes,’ 1968
This may be the most unusual title of a rock song in history, but it's also a decent tune. It's the lead number from the debut album of the NYC-based and loosely "psychedelic" band Street, featuring female lead singer Anya Cohen (this was, after all, the era of the Jefferson Airplane, with Grace Slick, and…
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Brett Kavanaugh, psychoanalyzed
This is brilliant, from Robert Paul Wolff.
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This essay makes a strong case that Judge Kavanaugh lied or dissembled about a lot in his testimony
There's too much lead-in blather, but when it gets into the meat of the testimony it makes clear that Judge Kavanaugh was not honest with the Judiciary Committee on a lot of points. His dishonesty about the stuff in his high school yearbook is particularly egregious and will come back to haunt him in subsequent impeachment…
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Endowments and Climate Change (Michael Simkovic)
Public pension funds in New York and California are increasingly considering Climate Change related risks as a criteria for guiding their investment decisions. The move to consider climate change is driven in part by a perception of insufficient federal action on these issues and the prospect of environmental harm eroding long term performance for a…
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Baylor Title IX update
I'm told the department will be making an announcement today regarding the issues noted in this earlier post. Already, philosopher Trenty Dougherty is no longer listed on the department's faculty page. I will add a link to Baylor's public statement later today. UPDATE: The Baylor announcement. ANOTHER: Thanks to readers who sent along Professor Dougherty's…
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Rachel Maddow dissects the testimony by Judge Kavanaugh
Useful if you didn't have the time or the stomach to watch the whole ordeal; the judge does not come off well:
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An informative piece on the math paper accepted and then rejected by two different math journals…
…at The Scientist. (Earlier coverage.)
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‘the feminist cause’
MOVING TO FRONT FROM MAY 22, 2018, SINCE RELEVANT AGAIN–ALSO UPDATED You really can't make this stuff up: Stock’s essay was recently signal-boosted by a cis male blogger [i.e., Leiter, who is not a cis male though is a blogger] who is hostile to feminism in the philosophy profession, and who has been linking to…
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Testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on the “State of Intellectual Freedom in America” (Michael Simkovic)
I testified earlier today at the House Judiciary Committee on the "State of Intellectual Freedom in America." A copy of my written testimony can be seen here. My shorter oral remarks are available here. An excerpt appears below: "Disagreement between knowledgeable scientific experts and median political views often do not suggest political bias on the…
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Farewell Judge Kavanaugh, but who will be next?
Dr. Ford seemed to me a highly credible witness (I watched bits and pieces of the testimony), straightforward and almost guileless, not someone who could concoct such an extraordinary story for ulterior purposes. I've checked with a few other folks, academics and civilians, who had the same reaction. Given how awful Kavanaugh was on TV…
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This isn’t a good sign
This announcement suggests that Mr. Oseroff's suspension for his professional misconduct may only be temporary. APA members need to contact their divisional representatives about this. I know folks have strong feelings about this–as one philosopher wrote me the other day, "I think Oseroff’s work at the APA is a disgrace, and he has attacked friends of…
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What to look for in a book contract with an academic press
A young philosopher in Europe writes: I’m soon about to receive a book contract proposal from a prestigious university press. I was wondering if you or the readers of Leiter Reports might be able to offer any advice on this: what to watch out for; what might I regret in the future; are the terms…
Georgy Maksimovich pointed me to this article in Russian: https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2026/05/25/antisovetskie-filosofskie-kontratseptsii