August 2019
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Richard Marshall interviews Sharon A. Lloyd (USC)…
…at 3:16 AM. It's a nice overview of Lloyd's influential revisionary reading of Hobbes.
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: Black Widow, “Sacrifice,” 1970
British hard rock/progressive band of the late 1960s and early 1970s, this is the title track of their second, and most successful album:
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Free college proposals should include private colleges (Michael Simkovic)
From an essay I recently published at "The Conversation": "Students can use federal financial aid to attend any college they want, whether public or private. But the “free college” proposals floated by some 2020 presidential candidates would increase federal funding only for community colleges or state-run universities. Private nonprofit universities would be excluded. . . .…
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Scaramucci on Trump
He's another New York "trash talker" (recall), and he's quite funny now that he openly hates Trump; an excerpt: [L]et me explain to you why he’s not a racist, ’cause this is very important. He’s actually worse than a racist. He is so narcissistic, he doesn’t see people as people. He sees them as objects…
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Faculty appointments committees for 2019-20…
MOVING TO FRONT (ORIGINALLY POSTED JULY 18) …you can announce yourselves (and your school's hiring priorities) here.
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Class, “wokeness” and the New Infantilism at Yale (and elsewhere no doubt)
This long essay I find convincing on some points, less so on others (e.g., about the responsibilties and burdens of elites–that strikes me as just more Yale narcissism which the author learned well it seems). Here's an excerpt of what strikes me as interesting (the Yale Halloween fiasco is one of her central examples): What…
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Big trends in jurisprudence? There ain’t any!
From an interview with the great legal philosopher Leslie Green (Oxford & Queen's U/Canada): What are some big trends in Jurisprudence these days and how do you feel about them? There are no big substantive trends: pluralism reigns…..Other trends are worrying: too many articles are too long and too wrong; young scholars are pressured to…
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“Woke” jeans
This is funny (sorry about the ad that may come first); make sure to get to the zipper! (Thanks to Brad Wray for the pointer.)
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Philosophy’s “woke triangle”
This is funny and apt about the "woke" cult in philosophy; an excerpt (but read it all, really): As is so often the case, these recent woke outbursts were caused by something utterly ordinary and reasonable, specifically, a short piece that appeared in Inside Higher Education, in which twelve philosophers called for an end to…
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A memorable commencement address
Many readers will, I think, enjoy the commencement address to the Law School's Class of 2019 delivered by my colleague David Weisbach. At the preceding link, you'll find a transcript and also a link to a video of the talk. It produced a spontaneous standing ovation, a first in the history of commencement addresses at…
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: White Witch, “It’s So Nice to be Stoned,” 1972
Eclectic Tampa, Florida band, ranging across many styles, this tune comes from their debut album (thanks to Davd Wasser for the tip):
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Karen Kelsky, aka “The Professor is in,” is a nut
Engaging with Kelsky pretty clearly violates Shaw’s dictum “never wrestle with a pig” but there needs to be a brief public record of her outrageous misconduct if only for the benefit of people who might be thinking of paying her for "professional" (!) advice. Kelsky found an obscure blog post on-line vilifying me for things…
I respond to this report here https://jasonstanleyantifascist.substack.com/p/on-the-philosophical-muddle-that