May 2026
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Murphy from Georgetown to Notre Dame
Mark Murphy (philosophy of law, ethics, philosophy of religion), a longtime member of the Department of Philosophy at Georgetown University, has accepted an endowed chair in the philosophy department at the University of Notre Dame, where he earned his Ph.D. Among other things, Murphy is the most sophisticated and interesting philosopher of law working in…
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More on the persecution of Professor Mesyats and colleagues by the Russian government
A propos this earlier report, philosopher Elizaveta Shcherbakova at the Humboldt University in Berlin has now kindly shared this very detailed account of what is happening. Please take a few minutes to learn more about this case. I will post updates about any initiatives that the international community can take on behalf of these victims…
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Russian Aristotle scholar Svetlana Mesiats put under house arrest (UPDATED)
From Oxford historian Georgy Kantor on Twitter: The best Russian expert (and genuinely important scholar) on Neo-Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy, Svetlana Mesiats, has been put under house arrest in the investigation of ‘fraudulent translations of Aristotle’. https://iphras.ru/messiats.htm He explains: About 10 people been called for interrogation, there are searches in the Institute of Philosophy building.…
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“The Wit and Wisdom of Douglas Laycock”
A nice tribute by his (and my) former student, Christopher Lund, who has established himself as a major scholar in the law & religion field. (Laycock was a member of the legendary Class of 1973 from the University of Chicago Law School [which also included Frank Easterbrook, Douglas Ginsburg, and the late George Priest, among…
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The climate change catastrophe: India edition
All 50 of the hottest cities in the world were in India recently (temperatures of 110 degrees farenheit and up are not uncommon right now). Ghastly. And Modi is still pretending… (Thanks to Ruchira Paul for the pointer.)
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“Virtual Dissertation Groups”
Philosopher Joshua Smart writes: Virtual Dissertation Groups (VDG) will be running again this June – August. The VDG sign-up form is open for this summer’s groups through Saturday, June 6th. What it is: Virtual Dissertation Groups is a free service for those currently working on their doctoral dissertations in philosophy departments (or philosophy of science or…
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“Is U.S. democracy in danger?”
This documentary by a Turkish journalist doesn’t really answer its title question, but it does involve interesting interviews with the Rutgers historian Mark Bray (who fled to Spain after becoming a target of U.S. crypto- and-not-so-crypto fascists for writing about antifa), philosopher Jason Stanley (who wisely left for Canada), the infamous racist Penn law professor…
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“Great” moments in (extremely) obscure rock ‘n’ roll: Holy Rockin’ Band, “Uncle Karl,” 1981 or 1982
As we’re winding down my trip down memory lane with the Leiter & Williams “basement tapes,” here’s a song that reflects the musical fashions of “pop” music in the early 1980s, complete with synthesizer (and drum machine).
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In Memoriam: Ran Hirschl (1963-2026)
A leading scholar of comparative constitutional law, Professor Hirschl spent much of his academic career at the University of Toronto. The Toronto memorial notice is here.
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Nottingham faculty protesting proposed bloodbath
A philosopher at the University of Nottingham calls my attention to this: He summarizes the situation as follows: – the removal of just over 600 FTE posts, if necessary through compulsory redundancy in January 2027 (that’s around 50% of academics in arts). – local union (UoNUCU) has declared a Marking and Assessment Boycott (MAB) starting on the…
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Pettigrew from Bristol to Oxford
Richard Pettigrew (epistemology, formal epistemology, logic, philosophical logic), Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bristol, has accepted appointment as Wykeham Professor of Logic at Oxford University.
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This is why Republican officials are such craven cowards…
…because Trump has a grip on the votes of tens of millions of diehard Republican voters. And it’s that devoted minority of the electorate that is leading the country to ruin. (As a reminder, Thomas Massie, who occasionally bucked the Republican herd, is also a nut.)
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For Class of 2025, total jobs and BigLaw jobs both declined
Lawprof Derek Muller (Notre Dame) looks at the latest ABA data.
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With Trump, there is no bottom to the corruption
Just the latest. If this criminal and his political movement is ever defeated, the government will need to undertake legal proceedings to disgorge millions if not billions of ill-gotten gains. UPDATE: As if to prove the point, Trump and his family are now given immunity for their tax cheating by the Department of Justice. What…
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Federal judge orders Texas State to continue paying philosophy professor it wrongfully fired…
….in violation of his First Amendment rights. Thank goodness for judges, and FIRE, which retained the local lawyers representing Professor Robinson.
The Tractatus book is beautifully done, and the pop-out model is a great teaching aid when I discuss the Tractatus…