October 2022
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Travelling this week, so more posts next week
Also Typepad, the blog service provider, melted down over the weekend, but seems to have come back to life. Apologies to readers.
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Typepad, the blog service provider, had another meltdown over the weekend…
…so if you had trouble accessing the blog on Saturday evening or on Sunday, that would be why. If readers have suggestions for better blog platforms, please make them here! Thanks.
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Brazil’s election
As most readers will know, the civilized candidate Lula beat the fascist Bolsonoaro, although just barely. This is remarkable, when one consider that Bolsonaro makes Trump look urbane and moderate by comparison–not to mention his complete mishandling of the pandemic, with horrible consequences for hundreds of thousands of people. Lula will also face majorities aligned…
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The brief arguing that the super-legislature should overrule Grutter (2003) and outlaw “diversity” in university admissions
The brief contains an interesting history of "holistic" admissions practices, among other things. This also was striking (pp. 59-60): Shortly after Grutter was decided, the defendant in that case confessed that he had pressed “the ‘diversity’ rationale” as a litigation strategy. Bollinger, A Comment on Grutter and Gratz v. Bollinger, 103 Colum. L. Rev. 1589,…
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Competitive debate and philosophy
Philosopher Ben Holguin (Johns Hopkins) discusses this and related topics at Dialexicon. (The related article is here.)
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“The Philosopher’s Day”
Nathan Ballantyne shares on Twitter Anthony Kenny's account of "The Philospher's Day."
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A new “Creative Commons” license that permits users to “remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially”
Some academics are concerned; law professors should feel free to weigh in on the discussion in the comments at the link.
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Blast from the past: Is aesthetics underrepresented in leading departments?
Back in 2014. I think it's fair to say it's still underrepresented, just like 19th-century German philosophy and several other areas.
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“Thumos,” the Platonic rock band
Philosopher Aaron Preston writes: A curiosity, possibly of interest to readers of Leiter Reports: I’ve just discovered that there is a “progressive doom/post-metal” band called Thumos, whose music is inspired by the works of Plato. Among other things, they have a full-length album of instrumentals based on the Republic (available on YouTube). I can’t speak…
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Typepad has been a bit messed up today with respect to comments
I just approved a couple of comments, but have heard from others they have had difficulty submitting comments. Apologies.
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Blast from the past: 2011 in review
The Synthese scandal, Linda Alcoff's fake "Climate for Women" report, and more.
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A new “Creative Commons” license with some odd features
A philosopher in Australia writes: I've just become aware of an issue that strikes me as worthy of discussion among professional philosophers. I'm not aware of any such discussion so I thought it might be something you may wish to broach on your blog? The issue is about the particular licence that many (not all)…
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McDowell talks to Davidson about subjectivity…
…in 1997: (Thanks to Richard Marshall for the pointer.)
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Articles in top 5 journals like Phil Review and Nous are cited a lot more than articles…
…in less prominent journals (which still get cited, but not as much on average). That's at least what struck me from Professor Schwitzgebel's analysis, but he draws other conclusions.
I never met Alan, sadly, but his work leading the charge in making philosophy of sex “a thing” in contemporary…