November 2018
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Clifford Sosis talks to Barry Lam (Vassar)
Here. An apt observation from the interview: I think the future of philosophy is going to be one of wide inequality, mirroring the growing wealth inequality in the country. Institutions that are flooded with money will have vibrant research departments, with well-paid and comfortable philosophers who will be, as they always have been, leaders in…
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“Interdisciplinary Visitor Grants” at the Northwestern Center for Fundamental Physics
http://cfp.physics.northwestern.edu/interdisciplinary-grants.htmlDue to Google's recent enforcement of "https" links, some readers may have trouble reaching the website advertised in the left-hand column aimed at philosophers of physics. If you manually remove the "s" from "https" you should be able to get there. Here is the link, which you might also copy and paste: http://cfp.physics.northwestern.edu/interdisciplinary-grants.html
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Reader mail
From a young philosopher in Europe: Your blog and Gourmet Report have helped me a lot over the years. They guided my grad school applications and final decision and are probably a large part of why I'm employed today. I don't always agree with everything you say, but I applaud you for saying it and…
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Berkeley Law to drop the “Boalt Hall” name
A sensible explanation from Berkeley Dean Erwin Chemerinsky.
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In Memoriam: Alan Watson (1933-2018)
A leading authority on Roman law, legal history, and comparative law, Professor Watson taught for many years at the University of Georgia and, prior to that, at the University of Pennsylvania. The Georgia memorial notice is here.
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University of Reading, in accordance with a foolish U.K. law, “warns” students about an essay by politics professor
When last seen around here, the late Norman Geras was shilling for the criminal war of aggression against Iraq. Prior to disgracing himself, he had been a politics professor at the University of Manchester and author of some decent articles on Marx and other topics in political theory. But one of them has now garnered…
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The ruling class vs. the rest
No surprises here, but good to have it set out plainly: Most of the wealthiest US billionaires – who are much less visible and less reported on – more closely resemble Charles Koch. They are extremely conservative on economic issues. Obsessed with cutting taxes, especially estate taxes – which apply only to the wealthiest Americans.…
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On racist and sexist stereotypes found in the “great” philosophers
Julian Baggini makes sensible points here, although it's telling about the current Geist that this kind of essay even needs to be written. (Thanks to David Ozonoff for the pointer.)
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More on the case of Professor Kesan at the University of Illinois
Blog Emperor Caron has some new details and information.
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Green on Gardner on the “escapability” of law and the (alleged) “inescapability” of morality
Leslie Green and John Gardner are two of the best (maybe the two best) legal philosophers in the world active today; here Green critically considers some of Gardner's recent work. Definitely worth reading for anyone interested in philosophy of law, broadly construed.
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New “Journal of Controversial Ideas” to feature pseudonymous articles
Philosopher Jeff McMahan (Oxford) is among those involved with the project. This is a predictable response to the right-wing crazy part of the media and Internet that specializes in targetting faculty with verboten ideas–although, alas, a similar, if less visible, set of thought police operate on the identity politics neoliberal left as well. As someone…
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: The Open Mind, “Magic Potion,” 1969
British psychedelic band active from the late 1960s into the early 1970s. This song is very much of its moment!
Pangram costs $20/month for 300,000 words / month, so a small journal receiving 20-30 10,000 word articles per month would…