October 2025
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Trump used to be a “dove,” but now he is a war-monger
I guess that’s the nature of social systems. In any case, he’s increasing the chances of nuclear war now. (Robert Paul Wolff had called him a “dove,” for good reasons at the time.)
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On this year’s Nobel “Peace” Prize
Like the “literature” (and to a lesser extent the economics prize), the “peace” prize has an erratic record. Consider this year’s winner.
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“Prosthetic Gods” podcast
Philosopher Nir Eisikovits writes: I think your readers might find some of the recent episodes of Prosthetic Gods interesting: they touch on questions that many academics are grappling with: AI and the future of writing, AI and the future of higher ed, and some more philosophical debates such as the merits (or lack thereof) of…
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It’s not every day that a law professor is on the front page of the NY Times…
…but it’s UVA’s Caleb Nelson’s turn. I don’t bet on his scholarship affecting the super-legislature, but one may hope!
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In Memoriam: William Twining (1934-2025)
Professor Twining, who was the emeritus Quain Professor of Jurisprudence at University College London and also taught for a number of years at the University of Miami, was well-known for his intellectual biography of Karl Llewellyn (with whom he studied at Chicago in the 1950s) and for his work on evidence law, among other topics.…
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“After the Hunt,” the tale of possible plagiarism and sexual harassment putatively set in the Yale philosophy department…
…sounds as awful as one might hope it would be. This line from the linked review was a giveaway that the film’s creators have no idea what goes on in Yale’s philosophy department (or in philosophy): And because Hank and Alma are assistant professors of philosophy in hot pursuit of tenure, the story is littered…
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Will the current authoritarian administration in Washington DC be appeased….
…if universities adopt a non-discrimination principle regarding political ideology? Universities obviously cannot agree to the administration’s outrageous demand to hire based on “conservative” political ideology and to shut down programs hostile to “conservative ideas.” But universities could, consistent with academic freedom, endorse a “statement of non-discrimination based on political ideology”: All candidates for faculty positions…
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Eisgruber’s selective account of the universities and free speech
Len Gutkin at CHE holds Princeton President’s Eisgruber’s feet to the fire, rightly so.
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Supreme Court of Texas tentatively recommends removing the ABA’s authority to determine which law school graduates can sit for the Texas bar
Here. The ABA brought this on itself with its continued heavy-handed attempts at regulating law schools to pursue the goals of the special interests that have captured the Council on Legal Education.
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: Christine McVie, “I Want You,” 1970
Before she married Fleetwood Mac bassist John McVie, Christine Perfect was already part of the British blues scene, most notably with the band Chicken Shack. This great tune was a solo number recorded in 1970: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJONhfJOEII Feel free to add links to other Christine Perfect favorites, including with Chicken Shack.
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Williamson “the bullet-biter”
I found this review of Timothy Williamson’s latest book by philosopher Daniel Greco illuminating, and it raises some deep issues about methodology in analytic philosophy. Curious what informed readers think about all this.
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MIT responds to Trump “compact”: no thanks
The full response from the MIT President is here, and is worth reading. She makes the correct point that scientific funding should be awarded based on scientific merit. Unfortunately, prior administrations have not always observed that principle (recall, e.g., when “diversity” was a criterion [or strong desideratum] for federal science funding), but the Trump proposal…
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A Republican Governor speaks out against deployment of Texas National Guard in Illinois
The “federalism” and “state’s rights” angle (emphasized by Professor Hunt the other day) has moved the Oklahoma Governor to come to the (partial) defense of Illinois: Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, a Republican and the chairman of the National Governors Association, on Thursday criticized the deployment of Texas National Guard troops to Illinois as a…
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Still more on the authoritarianism unfolding daily
From Thomas Edsall at the NYT (read the whole thing to get the full list of authoritarian behaviors) (all that follows is quoted from his article): President Trump has unleashed new weaponry in his war against Democrats, liberals and the left. Over the past four weeks, he has initiated what amounts to a unique form…
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More signs of the times: Rutgers historian who writes about Antifa relocates to Spain…
…after death threats. (Thanks to several readers who sent this along.)
The phrase ‘Does the fact’ naturally invites howls of derision: it’s a fact that every child knows that the Japanese…