April 2022
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Art and offense at Vermont Law School
Historian Amna Khalid (Carleton) comments.
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In Memoriam: Aaron Smuts (1975-2022)
MOVING TO FRONT, ORIGINALLY POSTED MARCH 25–UPDATED I was very sorry to learn of the untimely passing of Professor Smuts, who wrote widely in value theory (including both aesthetics and ethics), and was, at the time of his death, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Department at Rhode Island College. You can learn…
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2021-22 philosophy job market
Philosopher Marcus Arvan (Tampa) offers his informative annual assessment, with useful comparisons to prior years.
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The Dunning-Kruger effect is still real
Dunning responds to critics. Every day on Twitter confirms its existence, of course.
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PLF letter to California Community Colleges on the constitutional problems with proposed DEI requirements
This is a useful letter, which canvasses a number of constitutional problems. (I disagree with some of the "diversity" arguments they make against the requirements, but I think the letter gets it right on the constitutional infirmities.)
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What are standard law school teaching loads these days?
Professor Jeff Sovern (St. John's) writes: I wonder whether schools that perform better on lists like the citation lists posted on this blog from time to time have lower requirements for the amount of teaching professors do and if so, how much. I am also curious to know what standard law school teaching expectations are…
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AFA sends letter to St. Olaf College after it removes director of the center that invited Peter Singer
AFA letter here. The event itself went off without a problem, despite protests and calls to boycott. But the center's director, Professor Santurri, is now being punished for inviting Singer and other "controversial" speakers. What a disgrace!
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Front page of NYT: U.S. wants to see Russian military “weakened”
That's great, then Russia will have to rely even more on its nuclear arsenal. I hope to God we are not sleepwalking into Armageddon.
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British Journal for the History of Philosophy announces 2021 “Best Article” prize…
…and others (also). (Thanks to Alix Cohen for the pointers.)
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Thomas Kuhn and the ashtray
Long ago, we noted the filmmaker Errol Morris's allegation that during a heated discussion with Kuhn, Kuhn threw an ashtray at him. We've also noted that Mr. Morris has a low opinion of Kuhn's contributions. Philosopher of science Brad Wray (Aarhus U) now investigates the Morris-Kuhn history, and corrects the record.
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Florida’s Gov. Viktor DeSantis strikes again!
This time it's the brazenly unconstitutional "Stop WOKE Act," described by F.I.R.E. here. Fortunately, a law firm has already filed suit to enjoin it.
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Blast from the past: best Anglophone philosophers of law since 1945…
…who were at least 60 in 2016. One thing that is certain is that a similar poll in a generation will not be so Oxford-centric.
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Great moments in British rock ‘n’ roll that remain obscure in the U.S.: Status Quo, “Down Down,” 1974
Here's another great number by Status Quo; this song was a worldwide hit, but not in the U.S.:
To be worth using, a detector needs not only (A) not get very many false positives, but also (B) get…