July 2021
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Michigan philosophy will not be accepting PhD applications this fall, but will resume accepting applications the following year
Announcement here; they had unexpectedly large yields the last two years, so want to get back to a more normal size for the graduate program. (Thanks to Abdul Ansari for the pointer.)
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Memorial events for philosopher Joseph Margolis
Professor Espen Hammer, chair of the department at Temple University, kindly shared the following information about memorial events for Professor Margolis: The memorial ceremony for Professor Joe Margolis is planned for Sunday July 25, 12:00PM-3:00PM, at Banca, 600 Spring Garden Street in Philadelphia. In addition to that, the Temple Department of Philosophy will be hosting…
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Right-wing cancel culture watch: Scientific American removes pro-Palestinian opinion piece…
…by doctors lamenting the medical crisis wrought by the most recent Israeli bombardment of Gaza. Suppression of speech critical of Israel and in support of the Palestinians has been the one consistent thread in "cancel culture" for decades now (recall Steven Salaita, Norman Finkelstein, etc.). Scientific American has disgraced itself. (Thanks to Fábio Shecaira for…
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Five most notable lateral moves in 2020-21
Since July 1, 2020, there have been 27 lateral moves reported on this blog: 12 women, and 15 men. (The prior year, for comparison, there were 48 lateral moves noted–my sense is that is more typical of yearly movement.) Based on what I've heard from readers together with my own judgment, these were probably the…
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Fascists in Idaho target the public universities
CHE story here. They should target me, since I am promoting Marxism and anti-Americanism, albeit not really in my classes (sorry), but at least on my blog! And I favor repeal of the absurd Second Amendment. (On the other hand, I don't "attack law enforcement" [the armed faction of the working class, after all] and…
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Open letter from philosophers at University of Liverpool in support of the work stoppage protesting the Administration’s firing of faculty in Life & Health Sciences based on citation metrics and grant capture
The letter is here, and includes concrete suggestions for how academics can offer support. (Prior coverage.) It would be fair to say that the administrators at Liverpool who cooked up this scheme deserve to be consigned to oblivion and kept far away from any serious university.
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Being an academic philosopher in Ghana
It's not easy. Also has some interesting remarks on Ghanian philosophers.
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In Memoriam: Mathew McCubbins (1956-2021)
A leading and influential scholar of the legislative process, Professor McCubbins was, at the time of his death, a professor in both political science and law at Duke University. The Duke Political Science memorial notice is here.
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Finding academic mentor(s)
A junior philosopher on tenure-track writes: I wonder if you could put a question -anonymously- to your readers, which might interest other (early career) scholars as well. How would you go about finding an academic mentor, specifically to discuss and strategize about scholarly and career-related questions at the tenure-track level? I’d be interested to learn…
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The indictment of Trump Org CFO is not about “fringe benefits,” but criminal “fraud”
An illuminating breakdown of how serious the allegations are by tax expert Daniel Shaviro (NYU).
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Blast from the past: publishing while in graduate school
Back in 2016, with comments from readers.
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Great moments in live (in the studio) rock ‘n’ roll: Albert King & Stevie Ray Vaughn, “Born Under a Bad Sign,” 1983
I'd never seen this clip before, a recording of a live studio session with two great blues guitarists: (Thanks to Frank Saunders for the pointer.)
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The U.S. is a “young,” not an “old,” democracy
Apartheid was only dismantled in the U.S. a half-century ago, after all: We sometimes brag that we are the world’s oldest democracy, and that is true enough in a technical sense. But if you use a more modern definition of democracy, one that includes voting rights for women and minorities as a prerequisite, then we…
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“Harm” and academic freedom in Australia
Three philosophers–Luara Ferracioli (Sydney), Matthew Lister (Deakin), and Sam Shpall (Sydney)–comment.
Well now we know you CANT find arbitrarily close approximations in all cases because there is no true function to…