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Survey for philosophy PhDs only on moral decision-making
Stephanie Brown, a philosophy and psychology double major at Williams College, is "completing a psychology senior thesis on moral psychology, and one of the areas we are studying is how familiarity with philosophy impacts moral decision making." She, and her supervisor Professor Jeremy Cone, would like philosophy PhDs to respond to the following survey (Prof.…
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Jimmy Swaggart and Mark Alfano: when the morally self-righteous are wicked
Philosopher Daniel Kaufman (Missouri State) comments.
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In Memoriam: Emanuele Severino (1929-2020)
An Italian philosopher, better known in Europe than in the Anglophone world, he was a self-described "neo-Parmenidean". There is an obituary in Italian here.
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Three more senior appointments for the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne…
…for their Dianoia Institute of Philosophy: Dmitri Gallow (philosophy of science) from the University of Pittsburgh will join as Senior Research Fellow (equivalent to Associate Professor); Clayton Littlejohn (epistemology) from King's College, London will join as Professor; and Gillian Russell (philosophy of language) from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill will join as Professor. …
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The rise of Twitter and Facebook as social media platforms…
…is often invoked as explaining the general decline of blogs, something we have certainly seen in the philosophy blogosphere. With another year of blogging behind us, it's striking how stable things have been here, however. 2019 saw almost the exact same number of visits to the blog as in 2018: 3,566,545 in 2019 compared to…
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Hillary Clinton really is an appalling shill for the prudent wing of the ruling class…
…as this makes clear. ADDENDUM: Some useful context.
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And now: Rousseau on Twitter…
…with help from politcal theorist Boris Litvin (Stetson). UPDATE: And a skeptical response from a Rousseau scholar on Twitter.
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Malik on Scruton…
…at The Guardian. Of the various criticisms of Scruton, this seems to me the most measured and strongest version I've seen in the popular media. (Here's an unmeasured critical comment: a number of years ago, I picked up the new edition of Scruton's purported critique of "new left" thinkers. It was sophomoric, almost beyond belief…
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Historian Clayborne Carson (Stanford) interviewed about the NYT 1619 Project and what is called the “Civil Rights Movement”
Here; an excerpt: Q. 100 years after the Civil War this mass movement of very oppressed people takes place in the American South and then, as you said, it also grips the big cities. Why does it happen when it happens? Why in the 1960s? A. …Among the most important changes leading to the articulation…
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Peer-reviewed journal publishes a peer-reviewed paper some people don’t like…
…so it's time for a petition, which, after 24 hours and despite being linked from the Daily Snooze this morning, has only some two dozen signatories. (UPDATE: after 48 hours, 48 signatories!) It was launched by famed Twitter tough guy Mark Alfano (Macquarie), seen here threatening the paper's author, graduate student Nathan Cofnas (Oxford) (says…
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Preposterous philosophical views: the poll results
With more than 1300 votes in last Friday's poll, here are the results for "most" to "least" preposterous philosophical view: 1. External world skepticism (Condorcet winner: wins contests with all other choices) 2. Realism about possible worlds loses to External world skepticism by 621–597 3. Panpsychism loses to External world skepticism by 640–574, loses to Realism about possible…
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A report from Australia about the bushfires ravaging the country
Michael Matthews, an Australian in Sydney and editor of the newsletter of The Society for the History and Philosophy of Science and Science Teaching, shares a personal account on p. 3 here. (Thanks to Michael Ruse for the pointer.)
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Rousseau on impeachment…
…with some help from David Lay Williams (DePaul).
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Jacobson from Michigan to Colorado/Boulder
Daniel Jacobson (ethics, metaethics, moral psychology, aesthetics, political philosophy), Professor of Philosophy at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, has accepted a senior offer from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he will hold the first endowed chair (the Benson Professorship) in that department beginning fall 2020. In addition, he…
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: The Factory, “Gone,” 1968
British psychedelic band that released two singles and enjoyed no recognition at the time; this is the B-side of one of the two singles (which I rather prefer to the A-side, "Path Through the Forest"):
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Which currently fashionable philosophical view is the most preposterous?
Regarding my quip about panpsychism the other day, philosopher Mohan Matthen (Toronto) writes: "Goff anticipates your objection, which is the first listed in his SEP entry, under the title, 'Objections to Panpsychism: The Incredulous Stare.' I happen to think that the Incredulous Stare holds water though, because it’s beyond crazy to argue a priori for…
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Speaking of people defamed by the media, let’s not forget the horrendous treatment of Yale PhD student Sarah Braasch
We've noted before the raw deal Ms. Braasch got in the media in the misnamed "Napping while Black" story. Particularly striking is that her exoneration by Yale from the charges of racially motivated harassment received almost no media coverage, even though the whole alleged story was supposed to be about racially motivated harassment and calling…
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Harvard Law professor Larry Lessig sues NYT for defamation
Good for him. Given the terrible state of American law–which is more favorable to defamers than any other legal jurisdiction in a democratic society–he will have an uphill battle.
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Panpsychism makes “Scientific American”!
What's next, intelligent design? (OK, bad joke.) (Thanks to Phil Gasper for the pointer.)
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Six philosophers win NEH Fellowships
They are: Dorit Bar-On (Connecticut), Michael Jacovides (Purdue), Allison Kuklok (St. Michael's College), Gabriel Mendlow (Michigan [primary appointment in the law school]), Nathanael Stein (Florida State), and David Stern (Iowa). A good year for philosophers in the NEH competition!
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“Diversity blather” originated in corporate America, and its leading proponents are members of the managerial class in academia
Prior to Bakke and the constitutionalization of "diversity" blather in the late 1970s, people knew what affirmative action was actually about: a kind of reparations for the world-historic injustices suffered by African-Americans, for example. "Diversity" was cooked up in corporate HR departments in the 1970s, and then declared the sole permissible rationale for affirmative action…
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Philosophy, logic and clear thinking
Timothy Williamson is in favor!
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In Memoriam: Roger Scruton (1944-2020)
MOVING TO FRONT FROM JANUARY 12–UPDATED Professor Scruton, who taught for two decades at Birkbeck College, University of London, has died of cancer. He did important work in aesthetics, but became better known as the philosopher of the Tories in the UK over the past thirty years. There is an announcement at his website (it…
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Top 50 Universities by membership in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 2019
The AAAS website has finally added a better search engine (see an earlier iteration of this study before the new search engine), although it is not ideally precise so some results had to be tabulated manually (e.g., "New York University" turns up also members at the "City University of New York"). An * indicates the…
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Papers posted on-line in 2019
For those interested, here are links to the new and revised papers I posted on-line in 2019: "The History of Philosophy Reveals that 'Great' Philosophy is Disguised Moral Advocacy: A Nietzschean Case Against the Socratic Canon in Philosophy" "Culture and Value in Nietzsche" "Nietzsche's Naturalism: Neither Liberal Nor Illiberal" "Bernard Williams' Debt to Nietzsche: Real…
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“Human and Animal Minds”
Philosopher Peter Carruthers (Maryland) is blogging at the Brains Blog this week.
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In Memoriam: Douglas N. Walton (1942-2020)
Professor Walton was best-known for his work in informal logic, especially the theory of argumentation. He spent most of his career at the University of Winnipeg, although taught most recently at the University of Windsor. The Windsor memorial notice is here. (Thanks to Scott Wisdom for the pointer.)
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What is a realist theory of law?
This programmatic essay, which was written for translation into Portuguese and Spanish for legal philosophy journals in South America, may be of interest to some readers.
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The legacy of the Texas Taliban in school textbooks
On display in the NYT.
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2019 in review, for those who missed it (the review, that is, not the year!)
As traffic picks up post-holidays, I thought I'd note that under the category "Year in Review" (in which this post appears), you can find links to the various year-in-review posts covering 2019 at the blog.
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In Memoriam: Brian McGuinness (1927-2019)
MOVING TO FRONT FROM DECEMBER 24, 2019–UPDATED Best-known for his work on Wittgenstein, Professor McGuinness taught for many years at Oxford University and then later at the University of Siena in Italy. I will add links to memorial notices as they appear. UPDATE: An obituary from The Telegraph and another from the Austrian Wittgenstein Society. …
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: Spice, “Astranaza,” 1968
Before Uriah Heep and Ken Hensley, vocalist David Bryon and guitarist Mick Box played with a band called Spice, which recorded more material than it released, including this quirky tune that grows on you:
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In Memoriam: Colin Howson (1945-2020)
A well-known philosopher of science and decision theorist, Professor Howson spent some four decades on the faculty at the London School of Economics. There is a brief memorial notice from the LSE Department here.
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Crispin Sartwell (Dickinson) on “guilt-by-association” and the Twitter Red Guard
This is funny; an excerpt: Last week, I published a piece on the website Quillette. Founded by Aussie Claire Lehmann, Quillette has frequently been associated with the “Intellectual Dark Web” (IDW). It’s not left-leaning, though if you rummage around you’ll find pieces from a number of different orientations. They’ve sparked controversy here and there: on James Damore’s…
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Another entry for the Black Book of capitalism…
…rising deaths by suicide and substance abuse in the working class. As this account appears in the NYT, no discussion of actual causes and effects is permitted, thus we find this: We have deep structural problems that have been a half century in the making, under both political parties, and that are often transmitted from…
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JHP Article Prize for 2019
Philosopher Jack Zupko (Alberta), editor of the Journal of History of Philosophy, shared the following: The Board of Directors of the Journal of the History of Philosophy has awarded the prize for the best article to appear in volume 57 of the JHP to Jessica Moss and Whitney Schwab for “The Birth of Belief,” JHP 57.1 (January 2019): 1–32, with an…
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Summer school in philosophy at CEU Budapest
I usually don't announce these summer schools, but I'm making an exception for this one, led by Barry Loewer (Rutgers), given the unprecedented persecution of the CEU by the fascist Orban, wihch has forced the CEU to move its programs to Vienna. But this summer school is in Budapest, focusing on the history and philosophy…
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A new “School of Liberal Arts” at U of Wollongong, led by philosopher Daniel Hutto
The program is described here–a kind of "great books," liberal arts education within a large public research university–and they have already made multiple junior appointments of philosophers working in philosophy of mind and psychology, philosophy of science, ethics, ancient philosophy, and phenomenology. An impressive investment in philosophy and philosophical education!
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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…