June 2025
-
When you’re too much of a reactionary bigot even for the Lt. Governor of Texas
That's really something. But let's face it, it's only because his bigotry includes Jews as well as Muslims that all the local Republicans are turning on him. After all, that kind of rhetoric from "Bo French" doesn't fit with the Trump's valiant campaign to crush fake anti-semitism on campus (imagine if someone on campus had…
-
RFK Jr’s plan to kill us all: measles edition
If he depresses vaccination rates further with his pathological ignorance, then we're in big trouble: Measles was eliminated in the U.S. decades ago, but millions of new measles cases could pop up across the country over the next 25 years if vaccination rates continue to fall, new modeling suggests. In a study published Thursday (April…
-
Another penetrating critique of the ABA proposal to double the number of experiential credit hours required
This one from Notre Dame lawprof Derek Muller, which is worth reading in its entirety. If the Council does not withdraw this ill-considered and inadequately justified proposal, then it really will be time to seek alternative accreditation agencies for law schools, ones that respect both law students and the academic freedom of law faculties to…
-
The NYC mayoral race
Zohran Mamdani, a state assemblyman and democratic socialist, scored an upset victory in the Democratic primary over Andrew Cuomo (the former Governor, whose father had also been Governor of New York). He ran on an actual "populist" economic platform (not a fake Republican one), calling for rent freezes, free buses, free childcare, and making NYC…
-
Excellent letter by Marquette Law Dean Kearney in opposition to the terrible ABA proposal to double the required number of experiential hours
The full letter is here (earlier coverage). As Dean Kearney writes: [T]he Council’s proposal would mandate a startling redirection of resources. Given the integrated nature of a program of legal education, the proposal would constitute an unprecedented invasion into the upper-level curricula of law schools, diminish substantially the schools’ appropriate autonomy, and impair their ability…
-
Philosopher and Kant scholar Paul Guyer elected to the American Philosophical Society
Here. The APS typically only elects one philosopher each year.
-
Iran, Trump, Thucydides
As the Athenians spoke to the Melians, so too does Trump speak to Iran: "Let’s work out what we can do on the basis of what both sides truly accept: we both know that decisions about justice are made in human discussions only when both side are under equal compulsion; but when one side is…
-
A celebration of the philosophical art work of Helen De Cruz
MOVING TO FRONT FROM JUNE 17–UPDATED A week from today, on Zoom, organized by philosopher Georgi Gardiner. Tragically, Professor De Cruz is now in hospice care with a terminal illness. UPDATE: Professor Gardiner reports at the link, above, that Professor De Cruz died yesterday. Next week's Zoom event will thus serve as a memorial conference. …
-
If this report is correct, then everyone should boycott the Harvard Law Review
Is this for real? [Harvard Law Review] Editors complained that a piece had cited "A LOT of old white men," attempted to guess whether a scholar was "Latina," complained that an author was "not from an underrepresented background," and praised an article for citing "predominantly Black singers, rappers, and members of Twitter." Another article was…
-
Grzankowski from Birkbeck to KCL
Alex Grzankowski, Reader in Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London has accepted appointment as Senior Lecturer in Mind and Metaphysics at King's College, London, effective September 1. ADDENDUM: Dr. Grzankowski writes: It is old news that the state of higher education and its funding in the UK is extremely strained. Universities that do not…
-
Another sordid tale of harassment of a visitor at the border for their lawful political speech
This guy was trying to visit the U.S. from Australia. Australia, not Afghanistan or some other officially disfavored country. He had engaged in lawful political speech in the psat, so was detained and then deported. What a disgrace.
-
Some gallows humor from an Israeli academic friend
He writes: "A few hours ago a missile that was headed to Ben-Gurion University hit a hospital instead, and there is a lot of damage there. Many missiles are targeted at universities. (The joke among Israeli academics is that the Iranians understand the importance of higher education much better than the Israeli government does)."
-
Faculty hiring freezes?
At my philosophy blog, I'm collecting information, please contribute there.
-
A measured and systematic critique of the AAUP’s Committee A on academic freedom…
…by law professor and academic freedom expert Matthew Finkin. Among other things, Professor Finkin documents how shoddy the work of Committee A is, in addition to its betrayal of core academic freedom principles. These days, FIRE and the Academic Freedom Alliance are leading the way in defending core academic freedom values.
Georgy Maksimovich pointed me to this article in Russian: https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2026/05/25/antisovetskie-filosofskie-kontratseptsii