May 2025
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Philosopher Alex Guerrero talks about lottocracy…
…at Brain in a Vat.
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Republican proposals for endowment tax coming into focus
CHE reports (drawing on various sources, which have slightly different details): [T]he proposed new system would be tiered, and only colleges with endowments valued at more than $750,000 per student would pay a higher tax rate. (Currently, colleges that have endowments valued at $500,000 or more per student — and meet certain other conditions —…
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Spacetime, Einstein, and the Hole Argument
Philosopher John Norton discusses at IAITV.
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Trumpistas threatening to suspend habeas corpus for migrants
Trump's henchman Stephen Miller, who not only thinks like Joseph Goebbels but looks like him (see below the fold), has indicated that they are "thinking" [sic] of suspending habeas corpus for migrants. Law professor Stephen Vladeck has a clear explanation of why Miller's claims are false, misleading and dangerous. Habeas corpus and courts are all…
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: Family, “Emotions,” 1969
ORIGINALLY POSTED APRIL 23, 2016 These Brits are not quite as obscure as some of the others recently featured, but they hardly achieved the success they probably warranted. Psychedelic, "progressive," even some British folk influences. This is one of my favorite tunes by the band, though their first album, Music in a Doll's House, is…
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Federal judge orders immediate release of Turkish Tufts student detained…
…because of her lawful political speech. Three cheers, again, for the courts!
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A memorable “funding statement” in the Journal of Value Inquiry
A philosophically-minded political scientist, Professor Michael Munger, was asked to review an OUP book of political philosophy for the Journal of Value Inquiry, published by Springer. Here is his required "funding statement": For reasons that are literally incomprehensible, the publisher is insisting that I include a “funding statement” in the manuscript. It is worth pointing…
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Tenured philosophy professor at West Point will resign in protest over the attack on education at the military academies by the Trumpistas
Professor Graham Parsons explains what's going on here; an excerpt: Mr. Trump’s order prohibited any educational institution operated by the armed forces from “promoting, advancing or otherwise inculcating” certain “un-American” theories, including “gender ideology” and the idea that “America’s founding documents are racist or sexist.” Mr. Hegseth’s memo went further, adding that the service academies…
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We have a new Dean: Adam Chilton
I'm delighted with this outcome. I should note we had three remarkable finalists, all outstanding, so we were very fortunate indeed. (A public "thank you" to my colleague Jonathan Masur who led the Dean Search Committee, and did a great job!) As Professor Chilton comments in the preceding news release: "I strongly believe that the…
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Stanford, one of the three or four richest universities in the country, preparing for possible budget cuts…
…on the order of 10-15%, thanks to the Trump war on the universities. Stanford has a huge medical school and a huge investment in the life sciences, so is a top recipient of NIH money (and, I would expect, also NSF money). Notice the possible cuts are across the board.
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Stanford, one of the three or four richest universities in the country, preparing for possible budget cuts…
…on the order of 10-15%, thanks to the Trump war on the universities. Stanford has a huge medical school and a huge investment in the life sciences, so is a top recipient of NIH money (and, I would expect, also NSF money). Notice the possible cuts are across the board.
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Blast from the past: “Ayn Rand defended” (not by me!)
Back in 2009. Of the three cults that afflict philosophy and philosophy-adjacent fields–the Derrida cult, the Strauss cult, and the Rand cult–the last one is certainly the weirdest and most pernicious.
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As expected, the NSF has cut “indirect cost” reimbursements to 15%…
…and many universities have filed suit. As with the cut to NIH funding, the problem is the way the Trumpistas did it, without following any of the required procedures under the Administrative Procedure Act. I expect the courts to enjoin this as they did the NIH cuts. But the fact remains that unless the Democrats…
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Legal actions on behalf of those whose NEH grants have been terminated?
MOVING TO FRONT FROM APRIL 16–UPDATED A scholar elsewhere writes: Though I haven’t been notified, so I am not completely sure, it seems [my NEH Fellowship] has been terminated. At least that is what I have just now gleaned from the website for my grant. Are you aware of any legal actions by individuals or…
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Richard Marshall interviews Dennis Diderot…
…at 3:16 AM. I don't know how he manages to land these guys!
I only just learned of Barry’s passing, and I’m enormously saddened at the news. I wrote my PhD on his…