March 2023
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Trouble for ethical vegans and vegetarians
Plants "cry" (and animals hear them!). (Thanks to Joshua Selby for the pointer.)
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Blast from the past: Descartes and Teresa of Avila
Back in 2017, with expert reader discussion of the relationship.
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Bidadanure from Stanford to NYU
Juliana Bidadanure (political philosophy), Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University, has accepted appointment as Associate Professor of Philosophy (with tenure) at New York University, effective this fall.
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Maley, Robins from Kansas to Purdue
Corey J. Maley (philosophy of computation, cognitive science, and neuroscience) and Sarah Robins (philosophy of mind and cognitive science), both Associate Professors of Philosophy at the University of Kansas, have accepted appointment as Associate Professors of Philosophy at Purdue University. A good set of appointments for Purdue, which should help propel the department into the…
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Blast from the past: A conversation about guns
Back in 2012, still relevant of course given that America is still nuts on this subject.
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Enemies of academic freedom watch: Michael Berube edition
Professor Berube is a partner-in-crime with another serial enemy of academic freedom, Jennifer Ruth (we noted awhile back a critical discussion of their terrible [indeed, incompetent] book putatively on academic freedom). A mutual friend on Facebook alerted me a few days ago to the fact that at a recent talk at Smith College, Professors Berube…
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“On the impractical gifts of an intellectual life”
An interview with philosopher Zena Hitz.
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Professor Lawsky’s “Entry-Level Hiring Report” for the 2022-23 season…
MOVING TO FRONT FROM MARCH 8–PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR INFORMATION! …is now open and collecting information. When you accept an entry-level position this year, submit your information to Professor Lawsky please.
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In Memoriam: Maria Rosa Antognazza (1964-2023)
A longtime member of the philosphy faculty at King's College, London, Professor Antognazza was especially well-known for her work on Leibniz, on epistemology and on philosophy of religion. The KCL memorial notice is here. Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Antognazza or who wish to comment on the significance of her…
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Oxford’s other “diversity crisis”: it helps to be rich to become an academic
A story at The Economist (behind their paywall alas); an excerpt: Notably, Oxford does not publish data on the socio-economic backgrounds of its permanent academics. But I found, in nearly 30 interviews with fixed-term, permanent and former academics, that those who were not from affluent families found it difficult to withstand the precarity imposed by…
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On the “normativity” revolution in philosophy
I was out at Stanford a couple of weeks ago, giving a talk (about ideology) in the philosophy department. I corresponded a bit afterwards with philosopher Jorah Dannenberg, who had asked me a good question at the workshop. In the course of our correspondence, he pointed me to his paper on the ubiquity of "normativity"…
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Yes, I work with PhD students here
Periodically I get asked, so let me reiterate in public that I work regularly with PhD students here at Chicago (and some elsewhere), mostly in philosophy. (Indeed, I worked closely with 3 of the 4 Chicago PhDs who got tenure-track jobs this year.) If you have questions, shoot me an email.
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Blast from the past: Another keynote speaker rebuked, this time at the midwest meeting of the Society of Christian Philosophers
Back in 2016. Happily, this kind of stuff has not happened recently to my knowledge.
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I do wish certain humanities professors would stop embarrassing the academy with pointlessly inflammatory social media posts
The latest culprit is Steven Shaviro, an English professor at Wayne State, who posted on Facebook his view that it would be better to kill bigoted speakers rather than simply protest them, offering this analogy: The exemplary historical figure in this regard is Sholem Schwarzbard, who assassinated the anti-Semitic butcher Symon Petliura, rather than trying…
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Blast from the past: The sexual harassment crisis in philosophy, the poll about student disruption of teaching and the sometimes toxic cyber-environment in which these issues are discussed
Back in 2014. The concluding paragraph of that post was more prescient than I would have liked it to be. (An earlier version of the post had referred to Rachel MacKinnon as "singularly unhinged," which back then was "controversial," although everything since has confirmed the aptness of the characterization.)
I’ve only just heard this news and am sorry to read it. I was taught as an undergrad and postgrad…