September 2024
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More Wiley journal troubles
Last March, the editors of a Wiley linguistics journal resigned, and started a new open access journal. Unless Wiley shifts gears, I expect this will continue across Wiley journals in most disciplines. (Thanks to Paul Elbourne for the pointer.)
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Great moments in (somewhat) obscure rock ‘n’ roll: Humble Pie, “Bang!”, 1969
Steve Marriott left the Small Faces to form more of a blues rock band with Peter Frampton and others; they made it fairly big in the U.S. in the early 1970s (Frampton left shortly thereafter), but this song comes from their first album, As Safe As Yesterday Is, which had some success in the UK,…
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10 most cited Law & Philosophy faculty in the U.S., 2019-2023
Based on the latest Sisk data, here are the ten most-cited law faculty in law & philosophy in the U.S. for the period 2019-2023 (inclusive) (remember that the data was collected in late May/early June of 2024, and that the pre-2024 database did expand a bit since then). Numbers are rounded to the nearest ten. …
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U of Michigan faculty committee recommends adopting “institutional neutrality” and other principles related to expression and academic freedom (CORRECTED)
The 131-page report on "diversity of thought and freedom of expression" is here, and the news release is here. Philosopher Chandra Sripada, who was on the faculty committee that prepared the report, summarizes the main themes: 'It endorses and defends institutional neutrality. It documents, via comments solicited from about 4,000 faculty, staff and students, that…
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Millions to die from anti-microbial resistant infections in the coming years
Isn't this cheery? More than 39 million people will die due to antimicrobial-resistant infections over the next 25 years, a major new study has predicted. Known as the ‘silent pandemic’, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) happens when bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens evolve to evade the drugs used to treat them. The new study, which was partly…
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“Prosthetic Gods,” a new podcast on the “ethics of emerging technologies”
Philosopher Nir Eiskovits (U Mass/Boston) writes: I’m writing to let you know about a podcast I recently launched with my colleague, the sociologist J Hughes, on the ethics of emerging technologies. It’s called “Prosthetic Gods”. The premise is a techno-progressive (J) and a luddite (me) debating new tech. The first three episodes have covered Chatbot…
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More controversy at Berkeley Law
Students are protesting a class on "anti-semitism and law" by leading corporate law expert Steven Davidoff Solomon, primarily because of an op-ed he wrote encouraging employers not to hire his "anti-semitic" students. Let me comment on this purely from the standpoint of the academic freedom rights of faculty: (1) Davidoff's op-ed was inappropriate: as we…
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SSHRC Grants, 23-24 cycle
Philosopher Corey Dyck (Western) kindly shared the following (comments are open for additions to the list): In case it might be of interest to your readers, I am sending along a list of this year's Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) "Insight Grant" recipients. As you likely know, this is the primary…
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Richard Marshall interviews Kendall Walton…
…at 3:16 AM. Very interesting!
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The unusual case of Barrington Jones: from elite philosophy to plumbing
MOVING TO FRONT FROM SEPTEMBER 2: Dr. Jones's widow has kindly comented, below, both confirming and clarifying the story. A scholar of ancient philosophy, Jones taught at Princeton in the 1970s, then at Oxford, and then according to various sources (for example), quit philosophy to become a plumber. This seems a bit like the famous…
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“Philosopher’s Magazine” is defunct (in print)
Reader Howard Simmons writes: Did you know The Philosopher's Magazine had closed down? I don't think this has been widely publicized online. I only know because I tried to submit a paper to them and the email bounced back. The website gives a phone number, which I called, and was told they had closed. Comments are…
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Academics looking to get out of Florida…
…because of the erosion of tenure and academic freedom; A survey of professors at Florida universities found that new state government limits on tenure and academic freedom, plus the state’s political climate, have prompted many of them to apply for jobs outside the Sunshine State. Of approximately 350 faculty working almost exclusively in Florida public…
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15 most cited Law & Social Science faculty in the U.S., 2019-2023
Based on the latest Sisk data, here are the fifteen most-cited law faculty in "law & social science" (excluding economics; including "law & society," "empirical legal studies," sociology, political science, psychology, anthropology) in the U.S. for the period 2019-2023 (inclusive) (remember that the data was collected in late May/early June of 2024, and that the…
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Blast from the past: Philosophers, eating, ethics–discussion of a poll
Back in 2012. I would guess the percentage of vegans and vegetarians among academic philosophers is even higher now.
I respond to this report here https://jasonstanleyantifascist.substack.com/p/on-the-philosophical-muddle-that