January 2021
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New philosophy magazine: “The Raven”
Philosopher David Velleman (Johns Hopkins) writes: I am writing to announce the launch of The Raven, a new magazine of philosophy edited by me and David Johnson with support from the philosophy department at Johns Hopkins. Our mission is to publish original philosophy written for intellectually curious readers with or without academic training in the discipline,…
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“Consciousness Live” with philosopher Richard Brown (CUNY)
Professor Brown has announced the line-up for season 4.
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Vaccines are working: the case of Israel
Three weeks after the first shot, there's been a 60% drop in hospitalizations for those sixty years old or over. Israel has been vaccinating aggressively and more quickly than most countries. ADDENDUM: An article appeared today in the NYT about Israel and the vaccine with additional details.
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Classics of Western literature: shorter versions
(Click on the image if the margins are cut off on your screen to see it all, or choose "view image".) On Twitter, Jesse Showalter suggested a shorter version of Plato's Apology: "Pro se defendant on trial for his life gives rousing speech. Loses. Receives death sentence." Others welcome in the comments.
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Brace yourselves: we may be years away from not worrying about the coronavirus
The South African variant is leading major vaccine makers to update their vaccines. We are, I suspect, looking at at least yearly vaccines to protect against this virus. Perhaps, as with influenza, vaccines that are not wholly effective will nonetheless protect against serious illness and mortality from the virus. I'm as hopeful as the…
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Using images to persuade COVID skeptics
Philosopher Nathan Ballantyne (Fordham) and others discuss.
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“Why Trump isn’t a fascist”
This is right as far as it goes. He of course had an authoritarian mindset and contempt for democracy and democratic norms. The analogy made to the fascism of the 1930s may be highly imperfect (it is), but the fact that there are any points of similarity is bad enough, and there is plenty of…
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Empathy as a basis for morality?
Dan Zahavi (Copenhagen & Oxford) discusses the problems.
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Proof at the Salem witch trials
An entertaining and informative essay.
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Petition calling on University of Kansas *not* to implement the Regents’ policy purporting to suspend tenure
The petition is here, and I urge readers to sign. (Earlier coverage.) It's worth noting that four of the six state universities (including Kansas State University) have announced they will not make use of the new policy. The University of Kansas should follow suit.
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: Steamhammer, “Contemporary Chick Con Song,” 1969
Part of the British blues explosion in the 1960s, this is far and away their best-known number, and what a great one it is (you'll have it on replay I predict):
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New COVID worries: the new Brazilian and South African variants of the coronavirus
Here; an excerpt The more transmissible variant, B.1.1.7, is already spreading rapidly in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Denmark, and probably in many other countries. But scientists are just as worried about 501Y.V2, a variant detected in South Africa. Some of the mutations it carries, including ones named E484K and K417N, change its surface protein,…
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Widespread political protests in Russia
Remarkable. Some accounts suggest they are bigger than any protests during the Putin era.
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Efficacy of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines on the new variants of the coronavirus
This paper suggests the vaccine is likely to need updating at various intervals for maximum effectiveness. If that's right, it means the current mass vaccinations which are just getting started may need to be undertaken again next fall. If I'm misunderstanding the paper, or if readers have links to other helpful information about this issue,…
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Cancel culture redux: think tank fires VP for funny tweet that offended Repugs
Story here. I thought that was a pretty good joke, actually, and Mr. Wilkinson should not have apologized. But for God's sake, everyone on Twitter posts jokes that fail or tweets something off the cuff they later regret. Shame on the Niskanen Center. (Longtime readers may recall Mr. Wilkinson from when he was more of…
I’d like to pose a question. Let’s be pessimistic for the moment, and assume AI *does* destroy the university, at…