January 2021
-
MLK’s philosophy of “Personalism”
Interesting essay by philosopher Aaron Preston (Valparaiso), about an aspect of King's thought I was not familiar with.
-
What the right-wing crazies may be planning for inauguration week
This is creepy beyond belief. (Thanks to Jason Stanley for calling it to my attention.)
-
Ithaca College announces plans for draconian cuts, including in Philosophy
Here. (Earlier coverage.) Comments are open for those with more information, additional links, etc. Submit comments only once, they may take awhile to appear. (Thanks to Zena Hitz for the pointer.)
-
Footage from inside the stormtrooper riot at the Capitol
This is pretty remarkable and appalling. Although most Capitol police did their job, a few were clearly on the side of the rioters.
-
Another perspective on the open letter on academic freedom opposing the anti-Stock letter
Philosopher Teresa Marques (Barcelona) writes with an interesting observation: The importance of this letter is not the in-fighting among factions in philosophy, but the broader conflict of rights at issue, and threats to academic freedom in universities around the world across a range of academic areas. The letter has been signed by more than 450…
-
For a Saturday evening change of pace
Today would have been my father's 88th birthday, had he not been an early victim of the COVID disaster in the United States. In lieu of the usual "obscure" rock 'n' roll, I thought I would post instead one of my father's favorite pieces of music: Mozart's Clarinet Quintet in A major, K 581. I…
-
Philosophy summer programs for “diverse” undergraduates
A list of programs here. (What each program counts as "diverse" varies a bit, so do read the descriptions.)
-
Violation of academic freedom at UIC John Marshall Law School
IMPORTANT UPDATE BELOW: PROFESSOR KILBORN WAS NOT SUSPENDED BECAUSE OF THE EXAM QUESTION FURTHER UPDATE: THE ADDITIONAL ALLEGATIONS AGAINST PROFESSOR KILBORN TURNED OUT TO BE BOGUS. Last month, we noted UIC John Marshall Dean Darby Dickerson's suggestion "that law schools should be 'transformed' into 'anti-racist institutions' [as distinct from being non-racist ones that comply with…
-
Trump, social media, the future of democracy
A good piece of writing by journalist Ross Barkan; an excerpt: Many on the left cheered Trump’s banishment from social media and the quick move by Amazon to dump Parler, the right-wing Twitter-like app, from its cloud computing services. Greg Bensinger, a member of the New York Times editorial board, praised the decisions from Facebook…
-
Chapman law professor and right-wing activist John Eastman spoke at the rally before the stormtrooper riot…
…and now some faculty want him fired. The problem is he didn't commit a firing offense (as the University President recognizes). He has not been convicted of a crime, only of world-historic stupidity and venality. Lisa Leitz, a Chapman professor of peace studies, is calling for him to be fired because "his appearance at the…
-
The U.S. Capitol police has a history of racial and other problems
This is pretty pathetic.
-
Christa Peterson’s “hit piece” on Kathleen Stock
Christa Peterson (Southern California) will be known to readers of the blog for her penchant to tell all philosophers to "fuck off," to denounce work by feminist theorists and philosophers she doesn't like as "dumb as shit,", or just "shit", and, of course, her frequent tweeting "fuck Brian Leiter," after she tired of merely expressing…
-
Blast from the past: Graduate school and starting a family: when?
Back in 2009, no doubt still highly relevant.
-
In Memoriam: John Corcoran (1937-2021)
Well-known for his contributions to mathematical logic and to the history and philosophy of logic, Professor Corcoran spent most of his career (from 1969 onwards) at the University at Buffalo of the State University of New York. I will add links to memorial notices as they appear.
-
More on the allocation of scarce medical resources during the pandemic, and a lack of consensus among bioethicists about how to proceed
Bioethicist Thomas Cunningham (Loyola Marymount Bioethics Institute) writes: Thanks as always for your continued commentary and wise read of the news of interest to the world and to philosophers, broadly conceived. Sometime around March, you discussed allocation of scarce resources in US hospitals on your blog. At that time I suggested there was a consensus…
The Wisconsin legislature made UW system implement post-tenure (5-year) reviews several years ago. The statutory requirements were fed into the…