September 2023
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Statement by Dianoia Institute of Philosophy on Proposed ACU Change Plan
The following statement from the Dianoia Institute at the Australian Catholic University was shared with me: The Australian Catholic University has recently proposed a change plan that includes the disestablishment of the Dianoia Institute of Philosophy. After the creation of the Dianoia Institute in 2019, ACU’s PhD programme in Philosophy became the second highest ranked…
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Amy Wax, academic freedom and Penn, once again
As I've noted before (also here), most of Penn's case against Amy Wax involves trying to punish her for her lawful extramural speech, and is thus a flagrant violation of the University's contractual commitment to her academic freedom. But the student newspaper now reports that Professor Wax has once again invited Jared Taylor–an actual white…
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“Save the Humanities at Australian Catholic University”
Professor Finlay calls to my attention a new petition on behalf of all the programs and faculty targeted by the "restructuring" plan.
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How to support the philosophers at the Dianoia Institute at ACU
MOVING TO THE FRONT FROM THIS MORNING–MULTIPLE UPDATES (COMMENTS ARE ALSO NOW OPEN FOR MORE INFORMATION) See the comments by Stephanie Collins and Stephen Finlay on the earlier thread (and scroll down) for information about how to voice your support for the Institute and the philosophers whose livelihood is being threatened. The faculty union has…
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The downsides of virtual reality
Philosopher of science James Ladyman (Bristol) discusses these and other issues in connection with David Chalmers's recent book: (Professor Laydman flags for me two errors: Erik M Conway is the co-author of Merchants of Doubt. Also the term ‘digital enclosures’ comes from sociology, specifically Mark Andrejevic: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10714420701715365?journalCode=gcrv20.)
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Blast from the past: SEP’s coverage of Marxism and feminism, a revealing study in contrasts
Back in 2019, and still relevant, although there has been some improvement (there is now an entry on Gramsci, for example).
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Two senior hires for Oxford University: Chadha from Monash, Fletcher from Minnesota
Monima Chadha, currently at Monash University, will become Professor of Indian Philosophy at Lady Margaret Hall (effective April 1, 2024); and Samuel Fletcher, currently at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis-St. Paul, will become Professor of Philosophy of Physics at Merton College (effective September 1, 2024).
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AI means professors need to raise their grading standards
English professor Michael Clune comments.
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Australian Catholic University proposes to “disestablish” its Dianoia Institute of philosophy… (UPDATED)
…and eliminate 11 faculty lines, although these faculty can compete for just four positions that will now be located in the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry (another research institute that is surviving this process). (The draft plan–which I've been unable to upload–was sent to me by someone not in philosophy or even at the…
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The situation in Israel: “what’s all the fuss about?”
Philosopher David Enoch explains in this video:
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Peter Ludlow asked ChatGPT to rank philosophers and departments…
…and the results are entertaining (and not wholly ridiculous, either, although some answers are bizarre): Download ChatGPT philosophy rankings
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Interview with Bob Goodin, former editor of JPP, in a Swedish philosophy journal, who discusses the disaster that “Open Access” has been for quality journals
Professor Goodin discusses the JPP fiasco, noted previously, although legal liability constrains what he can say: I can’t say much about that episode, or dealings with Wiley around the journal more generally, without rendering myself liable to lawsuits for breach of ‘commercial-in-confidence’. Not, I hasten to add (to avoid other lawsuits), that they have made…
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Mistranslation of Newton’s First Law discovered after nearly 300 years…
…by philosopher Daniel Hoek at Virginia Tech!
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Plato’s Cave raising the rent
Sign of the times. (Thanks to Ethan Seidenberg for the pointer.)
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A student Law Review Comment that solves a standing puzzle in First Amendment doctrine
Richard Stillman, a 3L here (with a PhD in philosophy), has just published a quite ingenious solution to the puzzle of what the Court's test is for nonverbal "expressive" conduct, involving a judicious use of some philosophy of language. Free speech scholars should read this!
@ The Pacific: Good questions. My point isn’t that journals can’t adopt that stance, only that I won’t referee for…