July 2021
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In Memoriam: Bob Moses (1935-2021)
One of the great figures of the Civil Rights movement, a man of extraordinary courage and moral clarity, Moses had studied philosophy as an undergraduate and graduate student, before more pressing matters commanded his attention. The NYT obituary is here. Philosopher Michael Wedin (emeritus, UC Davis), who wrote me last night about his passing, kindly…
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Blast from the past: L’Affaire Swinburne and the now-defunct “Rightly Considered” blog
Back in 2016; this bit is worth quoting again: [L]ife is short, the world is fully of idiotic arguments that depend on absurd premises, this is particularly true when it comes to arguments inspired by religious dogma, therefore adults with real jobs and limited time devote their time to challenging arguments. Of course, it's possible…
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Do academic norms and politics mix? The case of Richard W. Painter (UPDATED AGAIN, 7/30)
Prior to last week, I'd never had (to my recollection) any interaction with Professor Richard Painter of the University of Minnesota, a moderately well-known expert on corporate law and legal ethics. As some readers will recall, Professor Painter had the dubious distinction of agreeing to serve as the White House ethics lawyer for George W.…
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Deleuze did not like Wittgenstein
Amusing: (Thanks to Guy Elgat for the pointer.)
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Review of Tom Stern’s “Nietzsche’s Ethics” now out at…
…Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. Only a few minor edits from the version posted earlier.
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Percentage of tenure-stream faculty who are female in PhD programs in philosophy increased about 40% since 2004…
(MOVING TO FRONT FROM JULY 22–SOME CORRECTIONS TO THE ADDENDUM) …with some variation depending on the caliber of the program: top analytically-oriented departments saw significant increases (18% of tenure-stream faculty were female in 2004, now 26% are), but still do not have as high a percentage of female faculty as programs in the SPEP universe…
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Great moments in the blues and their rock ‘n’ roll covers: William “Big Foot” Harris, “Bullfrog Blues,” circa 1927-29
Little is known about William "Big Foot" Harris, who recorded a dozen or so songs in the late 1920s, of which this has become the best-known over time: The greatest covers of this number are all by Rory Gallagher, of which there are many versions on YouTube. Here's one of my favorites, from 1976:
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2020-21 Update for U.S. schools for the 2017 Philosophical Gourmet Report
MOVING TO FRONT from May 26, 2021, UPDATED (MOST RECENT: 9/2/2021)–ORIGINALLY POSTED AUGUST 24, 2020 (recent updates [retirements] to Columbia, Cornell, Wash U/St. Louis). Since the 2020-21 PGR has been delayed, this is a summary of changes at the tenured (or almost tenured) ranks at roughly the top 50 PhD programs in the U.S. since…
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Two philosophers elected Fellows of the British Academy
They are: Richard Holton (Cambridge) and Helen Steward (Leeds). In addition, Philip Kitcher (Columbia) was elected a Corresponding Fellow. ADDENDUM: Professor Holton kindly calls to my attention that David Dyzenhaus, on the law and philosophy faculties at the University of Toronto, and well-known for his work on Carl Schmitt, was also elected a Corresponding Fellow.
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Justin Garson (Hunter/CUNY) discusses madness…
…at Brain in a Vat.
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Farewell Delta variant, hello Gamma variant
The Gamma variant of the coronavirus–responsible for the devastating second outbreak of COVID in Manaus, Brazil earlier this year–is already four times more common than Delta in, for example, Illinois. And while initial evidence is that the RNA-based Pfizer vaccine protects against Gamma, the CDC released yesterday an alarming report out of South America:
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The actual left in America has always supported robust civil liberties…
…unlike the New Infantilist left in the universities, on social media today, and even in some of the leftist media. This piece is a useful reminder; an excerpt: The founders of Dissent were fiercely anticommunist, yet you’ll find them repeatedly, heatedly, defending the free speech rights of Stalinists. I’ll cite just one example. In an…
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“Moral Injury and Stoic Resilience”
Philosopher Nancy Sherman (Georgetown) discusses.
My “headline” was a reference to the earlier thread on “existential” risk. I’ve written multiple times about the threat to…