Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog

News and views about philosophy, the academic profession, academic freedom, intellectual culture, and other topics. The world’s most popular philosophy blog, since 2003.

  1. Jamie Goodrich's avatar
  2. No today's avatar
  3. Daniel Kaufman's avatar
  4. Howard James Simmons's avatar
  5. Mr Richard H Marshall's avatar
  6. Charles Pigden's avatar

    Interesting that Daniel Came and I both have happy memories of being taught logic as undergraduates by Timothy Smiley even…

  7. BRYAN FRANCES's avatar

How are Philosophy & Public Affairs 2.0 (post-exodus) and the new open access “Free and Equal” faring?

Brian Leiter

Over two years ago (May 2024), the old PPA imploded when its publisher pressured the editors to publish more articles. The old editorial team created the new open access journal “Free & Equal,” while PPA 2.0 was taken over by the “libertarian Mafia” (replacing the old “Rawls mafia”) led by Jason Brennan. (Of course, the old team was not all Rawlsians, and the new team is not all libertarians, but both have, shall we say, “leanings” in opposite directions.)

I have not been paying much attention to either (I find most contemporary normative moral and political philosophy pretty dreary I confess), but you can see recent articles at F&E here, and the current issue of PPA 2.0 here, and some others here and here.

It would no doubt benefit junior scholars and PhD students working in moral and political philosophy to hear some expert opinion about how these “new” journals are faring. Is PPA 2.0 up to the standards of the original PPA? Has F&E maintained the standards of the original PPA? (Is it too soon to say in either or both cases?) Where would you encourage someone to submit their work and why? Is some work better suited for one rather than the other?

If you do not want to post with your name, please indicate who you are (e.g., tenured professor at a top PhD programs, junior professor at a liberal arts college etc.), and you must use a valid email address.

,

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

2 responses to “How are Philosophy & Public Affairs 2.0 (post-exodus) and the new open access “Free and Equal” faring?”

  1. No today

    It’s hard to see the old PPA publishing some of what the new PPA has been publishing, although that’s not about quality but ideology and point of view. PPA 2 is definitely a different journal, but that’s a positive in my book–junior faculty at an R1.

    Reply
  2. Jamie Goodrich

    I doubt enough experts have read enough of the articles published in the top 10 value theory journals over the last two years for the comparisons to be completely fair. Nevertheless, I’m happy to share my impressions as just one data point.

    I think Free & Equal has published at least as many truly excellent papers as Ethics since Free & Equal’s founding. And while PPA 1.0 was publishing many excellent papers, I think Ethics had a greater edge on PPA 1.0 than it has had on Free & Equal. (I’ve read a greater proportion of the total output of these two journals than others.) Free & Equal has thus been a rousing success.

    I have published in, reviewed for, and support the project of PPA 2.0 (despite being no member of a “libertarian mafia”). I lack a considered view, but if I had to guess, PPA 2.0 would sit just outside of my top 10 value theory journals. But again, a more systematic review of the articles published in the top 15 journals in the last two years could easily change my mind.

    Reply

Designed with WordPress