November 2022
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On the experience of chronic pain
Philosopher Kieran Setiya writes about his experience.
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The upcoming American midterms
As many U.S. readers will know, whatever pro-Democratic effect resulted from the super-legislature's reactionary abortion decision last June has now evaporated, and the clueless undecideds (who decide every election) are now gravitating towards the Repugs. What should have been slam dunk Democratic victories (like the social democrat Fetterman vs. the absurd Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania)…
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Birkbeck, University of London is in financial crisis and plans on firing 1 out of 4 academic staff…
MOVING TO FRONT FROM NOVEMBER 1–SEE THE UPDATE …and more than that in philosophy. UPDATE: There is a petition in opposition to the draconian Birkbeck cuts here, https://www.change.org/p/no-job-cuts-at-birkbeck-university-of-london?utm_content=cl_sharecopy_34900592_en-GB%3A6&recruited_by_id=b6cf89a0-5cf9-11ed-91a3-1154886f4a03&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial&share_bandit_exp=initial-34900592-en-GB which I have signed and I urge readers to consider signing as well.
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Bob Dylan is apparently a very unpleasant person
So I learned from this. I rather like two periods in his output (roughly 1962-1966, and 1975-1976), but it did strike me as preposterous, even by the idiosyncratic standards of the Nobel Prize in literature, to award it to him. (Thanks to John Doris for the pointer.)
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“Peter Singer is the philosopher of the status quo”
This is basically right (and I've written to similar effect previously), although parts of the piece are off base (e.g., Singer's terrible little book on Marx has not been influential). An excerpt: For Singer and his brand of moral philosophy, nothing fundamental can be changed. The forces that are in control of our lives and…
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UK House of Lords discusses philosophy in the state (pre-university) schools
Philosopher Onora O'Neill is among the discussants. (Thanks to Peter Atterton for the pointer)
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Is there any centralized source of information about philosophy PhD programs…
…regarding size of the program and time to degree? I know some departments make this information (especially the latter) available on their homepages, but I don't know of a centralized source aggregating all this data. Feel free to post links in the comments. A colleague elsewhere inquired.
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In Memoriam: Fr. Harry Gensler, SJ (1945-2022)
A longtime member of the philosophy faculties at Loyola University, Chicago and John Carroll University, Professor Gensler wrote widely in ethics and also produced several widely used texts in ethics and logic. He died this past June. There is a memorial notice from the Midwest Jesuits here. (Thanks to John Tilley for the pointer.)
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Did a logic journal publish a supposedly pathbreaking piece with a mistake?
MOVING TO FRONT FROM YESTERDAY–UPDATED Philosopher Thomas Mulligan calls to my attention this peer-reviewed article, which then seems to be refuted in the comments on this blog. Peer review isn't perfect, of course, but this is an interesting case. Curious to hear from readers better-informed about logic. UPDATE: A reader points out in the comments…
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This year’s PhD/MA admissions spreadsheet…
MOVING TO FRONT FROM OCTOBER 31–UPDATED …is here. UPDATE: Lindsay Whitaker, a graduate student at the University of Washington who maintains this site, tells me that, for now, this is the up-to-date link.
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Blast from the past: 25 “must read” books before starting graduate school
Back in 2015, with many suggestions from readers.
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More on the super-legislature’s “diversity” in higher education case
Following up on yesterday's post, this NYT article makes clear that "color blindness" was not the point of Brown v. Board of Education: race was used to denigrate and subordinate the disfavored race, that was the problem. The use of race to advantage the subordinated race was not even on the table as a topic, for…
Then my question is how many of ordinary mathematicians also qualify as artists of their profession…