September 2024
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Leslie Green on jurisprudence and its relation to its history
He's made a very interesting, new paper available here.
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The military’s obligations to the U.S. President
An interesting perspective from philosopher Graham Parsons, a professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. (You'll note his by-line notes specifically that he is not speaking for the Academy or the militiary.) I hope Professor Parsons's view has some influence.
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In Memoriam: Gerald J. Massey (1934-2024)
Professor Massey, who spent most of his career at the University of Pittsburgh, where he was emeritus, was best-known for his work in logic, philosophy of science, and philosophy of language; he also wrote on a number of historical figures in philosophy as well. You can learn more about his career here. Comments are open…
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Caltech (and other schools) are asking to be sued for consumer fraud
This NYT article may inspire some lawyers to bring the case.
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Nietzsche’s moral anti-realism
I talk about it with Johnathan Bi here, in the second part of the long interview I did with him (part I). Mr. Bi tells me he is now doing series of interviews on ancient Greek philosophy with, among others, Tad Brennan, Agnes Callard, Rachana Kamtekar, and Richard Kraut, among others.
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Why is this race so close? There is no mystery
The "undecided" or "waivering" voters have no idea what's going on and do not understand cause and effect. Consider this from the latest NYT polls showing an essential tie in the key Northern battleground states: The polling results fit a recurring theme with voters in battleground states: Many tend to believe that Mr. Trump’s time…
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: Tear Gas, “Lay It On Me,” 1971
ORIGINALLY POSTED AUGUST 8, 2020–COMMENTS NOW OPEN Another great rollicking number from the Scottish rock band: 2024 UPDAT: Feel free to add links to other Tear Gas favorites or live performances (the latter are hard to come by!).
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Blast from the past: Should graduate students use social media?
Back in 2013, with reader discussion (including, amusingly, comments from one of the bigger social media maniacs in professional philosophy of recent years).
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On academic predictions of the future
Sociologist Randall Collins looks back at some unsuccessful ones, and offers reflections on why and how they went so wrong. Quite interesting. (Thanks to Howard Berman for the pointer.)
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Corrupt mayors, New York City style
As a native of NYC, I've been following with some bemusement the travails of the eccentric and now indicted current Mayor, Eric Adams; it brought to mind an earlier, and far more corrupt, NYC Mayor, William O'Dwyer, who was saved by President Truman. I doubt President Biden, or a President Harris, will come to Mayor…
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PGR update
Professors Kar and Pynes have been hard at work finalizing the faculty lists for the surveys, as well as consulting with the Advisory Board for nominations of evaluators and other matters. The survey will launch in October, probably not later than mid-October, and the goal is for results to start being available before the American…
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An ominous change in nuclear policy by Russia
This really deserves more attention than it is receiving: Mr. Putin said, Russia would treat “aggression against Russia by any nonnuclear state, but with the participation or support of a nuclear state” as a “joint attack on the Russian Federation.” The language was a clear reference to Ukraine, which does not have nuclear weapons, and…
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Tenured professor at Muehlenberg College fired for lawful extramural speech in support of Palestine and against Zionism
There is an account at The Intercept, with a quote from AAUP officials who are on this case (I hope FIRE and the AFA are too). On the facts reported, the college has acted illegally. This looks to be another example of weaponizing Title VI for purposes of punishing lawful political speech. Please email me if you…
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Calculating “indirect costs” (IDC) on federal grants for humanities projects
A philosopher elsewhere writes: I've been wrestling with my office of sponsored research on the issue of IDC rates for federal grants, in my own case for a translation proposal for the NEH. My university has a newly negotiated rate with the federal government of 39%. In previous years, they were willing to reduce the…
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“My dinner with Nozick”
Philosopher David Schmidtz recounts the interesting experience. I'm curious what readers make of this claim: "The difference in the styles of Rawls and Nozick was momentous. Rawls cultivated apostles. Nozick did not. Nozick had no interest in becoming a religion." Signed comments will be preferred (full name, valid email address.)
Georgy Maksimovich pointed me to this article in Russian: https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2026/05/25/antisovetskie-filosofskie-kontratseptsii