January 2020
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Historian specializing in white supremacy responds to critiques of the NYT 1619 Project
Alex Lichtenstein (Indiana), the current editor of the American Historical Review, has penned a response, of sorts, to the various critiques of the 1619 Project. Professor Lichtenstein's "work centers on the intersection of labor history and the struggle for racial justice in societies shaped by white supremacy," which may explain his embarrassing sneering throughout at…
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Richard Marshall interviews Liam Murphy (NYU)…
…at 3:16 AM. This is well-said (including its description of the positivist view): All sensible views treat matters of brute social/political fact as partly determining law’s content but some, the nonpositivists, have it that moral judgment is inevitably required in interpreting legal materials to figure out what the law says. Others, the positivists, have it…
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Surprisingly large number of law professors believe in God and are religious compared to other highly educated academics
That isn't the takeaway emphasized by the Blog Emperor or the study's author, but it's surely what must leap out at any person knowledgeable about the academy. For example, more than 50% of law professors generally believe in God or a "higher power" (21% are absolutely certain that God exists), while only 24% are atheists. …
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: The Attack, “Magic in the Air,” 1967
Another forgotten British psychedelic band that released a few singles in the late 1960s; this tune, which wasn't released at the time, is better than the singles in my opinion:
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In Memoriam: David Efird (1974-2020)
MOVING TO FRONT FROM JANUARY 10–UPDATED I'm especially sorry to report the untimely death of Dr. Efird, a philosopher of religion and Anglican priest, who had taught philosophy at the University of York for nearly twenty years. I will post links to memorial notices as they appear. UPDATE: The York memorial notice is here.
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Consumer Reports: Leaked White House plan to slow progress on fuel economy standards will hurt consumers’ health and finances (Michael Simkovic)
From Consumer Reports: "A Trump administration plan to lower automotive mileage targets for future model years that could be approved in a matter of weeks would result in hundreds of dollars in [annual] added costs for consumers, according to a new U.S. Senate analysis. . . . The proposed regulation, called the Safe Affordable…
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Best introductory texts in philosophy of art/aesthetics?
MOVING TO FRONT FROM JANUARY 22–ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WELCOME Continuing with our new series about the best introductory texts in various areas of philosophy, I now invite readers to name what they think are the best introductory texts in philosophy of art or aesthetics. As before, don't just name a text, but say something about why…
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Philosopher David Wallace (Pitt) vs. any random commenter on a philosophy blog
This image captures it!
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Survey for philosophy PhDs only on moral decision-making
Stephanie Brown, a philosophy and psychology double major at Williams College, is "completing a psychology senior thesis on moral psychology, and one of the areas we are studying is how familiarity with philosophy impacts moral decision making." She, and her supervisor Professor Jeremy Cone, would like philosophy PhDs to respond to the following survey (Prof.…
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Jimmy Swaggart and Mark Alfano: when the morally self-righteous are wicked
Philosopher Daniel Kaufman (Missouri State) comments.
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In Memoriam: Emanuele Severino (1929-2020)
An Italian philosopher, better known in Europe than in the Anglophone world, he was a self-described "neo-Parmenidean". There is an obituary in Italian here.
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Three more senior appointments for the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne…
…for their Dianoia Institute of Philosophy: Dmitri Gallow (philosophy of science) from the University of Pittsburgh will join as Senior Research Fellow (equivalent to Associate Professor); Clayton Littlejohn (epistemology) from King's College, London will join as Professor; and Gillian Russell (philosophy of language) from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill will join as Professor. …
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The rise of Twitter and Facebook as social media platforms…
…is often invoked as explaining the general decline of blogs, something we have certainly seen in the philosophy blogosphere. With another year of blogging behind us, it's striking how stable things have been here, however. 2019 saw almost the exact same number of visits to the blog as in 2018: 3,566,545 in 2019 compared to…
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An open letter regarding a controversial tenure decision at USC Law
The letter is here, and includes many prominent signatories (the letter is accepting more signatories as well). The case concerns Shmuel Leshem, who was denied tenure in 2013; the controversy concerns the solicitation and use of confidential journal referee reports as part of the tenure process. I would agree, for the reasons given in the…
I respond to this report here https://jasonstanleyantifascist.substack.com/p/on-the-philosophical-muddle-that