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Philosopher vs. tabloid in Canada
MOVING TO FRONT FROM FEBRUARY 21–UPDATED The philosopher is Daniel Weinstock (McGill), whose views were misrepresented by a malevolent columnist. Since it's Canada, a jurisdiction less protective of defamers than the U.S., I hope he sues them! The fabrications have now cost him an official position. (Thanks to Mike O'Brien for the pointer.) UPDATE: Quebec…
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Thomas Piketty discusses his new book, “Capitalism and Ideology”…
…at Tocqueville 21.
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Did the AAUP make it easier for institutions to fire tenured faculty?
This CHE article suggests as much: Experts on [the AAUP's] standards-setting Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure revised the definition of financial exigency in 2013. Under the previous definition, a university’s financial condition had to be so dire that it "threatens the survival of the institution as a whole." "We decided, frankly, that that…
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: The Factory, “Try a Little Sunshine,” 1969
The second single from this largely forgotten British psychedelic band we featured last month; a good tune, very much of its moment:
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Members of the “White Rose” resistance to Nazism were executed on this day in 1943
If you don't know the story, you can check out this short video. (This longer film is very good.) Actual examples of moral courage are few and far between, but this was the real deal.
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Yale faculty (philosophers and law professors) vouch for Sarah Braasch, the real victim in the “napping while Black” manufactured scandal
MOVING TO FRONT FROM FEBRUARY 18, UPDATED The letters of support, after Ms. Braasch was the target of vilification on both actual and social media platforms, are now available for those readers who would like to know who Ms. Braasch really is: Alan Schwartz, Scott Shapiro, Jason Stanley, Zoltan Szabo. These letters make it unsurprising…
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“Escape from Wuhan”
Gripping piece of writing by philosopher Spencer Case, who had been on faculty at Wuhan University. Professor Case tells me that his "colleagues Matt Lutz, Tim Perrine and many Chinese philosophy faculty — I'm not sure how many — remain stuck in the lockdown."
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Bloomberg at the Las Vegas Democratic debate
I saw it with my own eyes! In a demonstration of the high level of enthusiasm the former New York City mayor enjoys among the electorate, surging presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg was met with a standing ovation during the Democratic debate Wednesday as he promised to “rule you peasants with an iron fist.” “Kneel before…
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$1 million from the Mellon Foundation to Northwestern’s Prison Education Program…
…started by philosopher Jennifer Lackey! Kudos to Professor Lackey and her colleagues.
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BJHP Article Prize for 2019
The British Journal for the History of Philosophy has awarded the 2019 Rogers Prize—its annual prize for the best article it publishes—to Nicholaos Jones (University of Alabama in Huntsville) for his The architecture of Fazang’s six characteristics (Vol. 27, no. 3). Here’s the abstract of his article: This paper examines the Huayan teaching of the six characteristics as presented in…
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Blast from the past: not enough space in leading journals, so why aren’t more on-line?
Back in 2010, with lots of comments. The situation has changed a good bit since!
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“Extremism” is psychological, not political
Philosopher Quassim Cassam (Warwick) comments. I'm not sure I find this plausible, but it is worth considering (and is a more serious proposal than the usual fare).
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On Althusser
This author doesn't like him (I don't either), but he points out some things I did not know: He’d done precious little of the donkeywork required of a professor of philosophy. As he admitted in that posthumously-published memoir, though he’d been the École’s go-to guy for counsel on the most abstruse philosophical ackamarackus, he’d actually…
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David Rieff did not like Samantha Power’s book
Not philosophers (although I encountered it on a philosophy friend's FB page), but amusingly damning: Power writes in her introduction that, “We make sense of our lives through stories.” It is a revealing moment. …[N]ot all of the stories we tell ourselves are true, and in Power’s case the stories she tells herself and now…
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On Frank Ramsey’s contributions
An illuminating essay (a kind of precis of her forthcoming book on Ramsey) by philosopher Cheryl Misak (Toronto).
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Strong statement by former Department of Justice lawyers protesting political meddling in prosecutions and sentencing
More than 1100 signatures, including, according to one law professor, about 100 former lawyers who served in the DOJ in the Trump Administration; 85% overall served DOJ in Republican administrations. AG Barr needs to go.
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: Frijid Pink, “Sing a Song for Freedom,” 1970
Another number from this Michigan band; this was a single, that missed the top 40, but did chart:
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Bloomberg’s “stop-and-frisk” policy in NYC
This is a quite damning account. (By the way, I do wish people on the left would stop calling Bloomberg a "racist": he's plainly not (as the multiple endorsements from Democratic African-American elected officials might suggest). He's a member of the ruling class, and he's incapable of significant empathy with those not in his class. …
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A propos the coronavirus…
…and our post the other day: this is not good news (e.g., 8 of 50 documented cases from Singapore [which does more reliable reporting than China] are in the ICU).
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If Sanders doesn’t carry union voters, including in the midwest, he can’t win…
…so this is a hugely ominous sign. Other unions will have similar reactions I strongly suspect. ADDENDUM: On the other hand…but it's still early days.
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Not-so-obscure rock ‘n’ roll
Black Sabbath's first album was released 50 years ago today. I still think it's their best, and one of the best albums in a year full of excellent ones. (Thanks to James Bondarchuk for the pointer.)
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Jonathan Mitchell did not like Tom Stern’s “New Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche”
From the review's conclusion: Overall this volume is idiosyncratic and mixed. Instead of a state-of-the-art snapshot of Nietzsche-studies married with perspicuous introductions and overviews of central texts, many of the contributions lacked philosophical depth. Those that were of a more philosophical bent flirted with obscurity and verbosity, not infrequently straw-manning the so-called analytic [i.e., philosophical]…
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Near-death experiences?
Philosopher John Martin Fischer (UC Riverside) debunks them at the NYT; comments are open only today, and John tells me he will try to respond to them. He would no doubt be grateful if some philosophers weighed in!
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Battle of the New York “billionaires”
Trump v. Bloomberg. Bloomberg does have the potential to make Trump apoplectic, since he's got many of the same New York verbal street-fighter instincts. In terms of winning, I think the Sanders approach is ultimately better, which is to keep his eye on the ball (i.e,. the issues), instead of on the goofball.
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William Barr’s moment of truth
This sums up his choices. His choice has profound implications for the rule of law, at least at the federal level. (Since the U.S. has a federal system, the state attorney generals have considerable autonomy, although some offenses may be purely federal ones.)
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Attention Democratic Party: the blog readers have spoken!
So with more than 800 votes since yesterday afternoon, here are the results: Bernie Sanders: 49% Elizabeth Warren: 20% Amy Klobuchar: 12% Mike Bloomberg: 10% Pete Buttigieg: 6% Joe Biden: 2% Tom Steyer: 1% I've notified the DNC that the people…
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Blast from the past: on visiting departments as a prospective PhD student
Back in 2014, but since it's getting to be that time of year again…
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Only a poll of blog readers can bring clarity to the 2020 Democratic nomination contest
Only Americans should vote! The masses await your guidance!
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More reason to think the Democratic primary contest will come down to Sanders and Bloomberg
Biden's dysmal fifth-place finish in New Hampshire is the beginning of the end. Creepy Pete will do poorly in South Carolina and Nevada. Senator Warren, sadly, looks to be finished. Senator Klobuchar will also do poorly in South Carolina and Nevada. Bloomberg, meanwhile, is targetting the crucial demographic he needs for the Democratic nomination,…
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For those who use Twitter…
…I'm continuing my practice of tweeting out links to new posts on the blog, so you can follow the new links there. I occasionally tweet out other stuff as well unrelated to the blog.
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Brownlee from Warwick to British Columbia
Kimberly Brownlee (moral, political & legal philosophy), Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick, has accepted a senior offer from the Department of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, effective July 2020. This will further solidify UBC's place as the #2 department in Canada, after the University of Toronto.
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Britain’s UCU calls for more strikes by academic staff (LINK NOW FIXED)
Philosopher Alexander Douglas (St Andrews) is skeptical.
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Moral grandstanding at the Oscar ceremonies?
Philosophers Justin Tosi (Texas Tech) and Brandon Warmke (Bowling Green) comment. The discussion is quite nuanced, making it all the more remarkable that it appears on the CNN website! (Thanks to Alan White for the pointer.)
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The Attorney General of the United States appears to be a fascist
This is beyond shocking: this is what one expects in Russia and Hungary and Poland; this is what one expects when the rule of law is dying. Attorney General Barr is a disgrace to the legal profession. One can only hope the sentencing judge ignores the Department of Justice's recommendation to reduce the sentence for…
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Not a great piece of “public philosophy”: on Strawson and the coronavirus
I've noted with appreciation some of philosopher Regina Rini's past public work, but her debut essay for a new "ethics" series at the TLS is neither a good piece of work nor a good advertisement for philosophy. The subject is the arrival of the novel coronavirus in Toronto, where Professor Rini teaches (at York University):…
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Good news for unmarried fornicators in Virginia
You'll soon be legal!
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Will it come down to Sanders and Bloomberg?
If you take a look at the national and state polls at 538, the big story is the rise of Bloomberg in the "Super Tuesday" states and nationally. With Biden poised to come in 4th or 5th in New Hampshire, after a bad loss in Iowa, his only hope is South Carolina, where he probably…
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“Creepy Pete”
This is actually pretty apt: “We had the belief that in the face of exhaustion and cynicism and division, in spite of every trampled norm and every poisonous tweak,” [Mayor Pete] said, “that a rising majority of Americans was hungry for action and ready for new answers.” What action? What answers? What is this? The…
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If much of the interest of high-quality papers lies between the lines—in the metaphorical fire that a paper lights in…
I would also recommend that potential grad students make inquiries into how far the compensation package actually goes towards cost…
It’s a mix. I’m still in the UAE with my family, and we feel safe. But some students and faculty…
In the above comment, Michel wrote: “As an aside, every once in a while I check out how the chatbots…
I could imagine LLMs having saved me a *ton* of time in graduate school–e.g., by having supplied reasonable answers to…
The McMaster Department of Philosophy has now put together the following notice commemorating Barry: Barry Allen: A Philosophical Life Barry…
My former colleagues at another university in Middle East have also been moved to online teaching indefinitely, with the students…