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Trump as symptom
This is very apt, from the platform of the Socialist Equality Party: Though his bourgeois opponents portray him as a monster risen from hell, Trump—whose wealth is derived from decades of fraud in the financial, real estate, casino gambling and entertainment industries—is far better understood as the personification of the parasitism of the American ruling…
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Stoicism as ideology
It makes its way to Silicon Valley. (Thanks to David Zimmerman for the pointer.)
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Virtual Dissertation Groups, once again
Joshua Smart (Ohio State) asked me to share this, which I'm happy to do: Virtual Dissertation Groups VDG is a free service that connects graduate students to provide feedback on dissertation work. Members are grouped with two others working in the same general area of philosophy. About once a month, one member sends some work…
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More on the fascist attack on the universities in India
A propos this, a reader in India (who did not want to be named for the obvious reasons, given the fascist thugs roaming around) writes: I’m writing with some more information on the follow-up of the attack on JNU which is about as outrageous as the incident itself. So far, two days after the attack,…
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Two senior term appointments for Rutgers: Antony (quarter-time) from U Mass/Amherst; Hausman from Wisconsin (UPDATED)
MOVING TO FRONT: ANTONY PART-TIME APPOINTMENT CLARIFIED, BELOW Louise Antony (philosophy of mind, feminist philosophy), Professor of Philosophy at the University of Massachussetts, Amherst, has accepted appointment as Distinguished Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University, New Brunswick for (at least) the next five years, where she will teach a graduate seminar one semester per…
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While “diversity statements” are being used system-wide in the University of California…
…we don't, at this stage, know whether all campuses are using them perniciously and illegally, as Berkeley and perhaps also Davis, and Santa Cruz are, in some significant number of their searches. The potential for this misuse is there at all the campuses, of course, and it remains to be seen how things develop elsewhere.…
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Living without smart phones
Students (prompted by their philosophy professor) write about their experience, and it's revealing. (Thanks to Dean Rowan for the pointer.)
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Sarah Braasch v. Yale, redux
Sarah Brasch is the Yale philosophy PhD student who was the victim of a media mobbing after being framed as a "racist." In order to clear her name, Ms. Braasch is trying to force Yale to release the Yale police recording of what actually transpired that evening; Yale, inexplicably and outrageously, is refusing. Here is…
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Another historian interviewed about the 1619 Project: Richard Carwardine (Oxford)
Here. An excerpt: I understand where this [1619] Project is coming from, politically and culturally. Of course, the economic well-being of the United States and the colonies that preceded it was constructed for over two-and-a-half centuries on the labor and sufferings of slaves; of course, like all entrenched wielders of power, the white political elite…
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Deja vu all over again? Remembering America in the early 2000s
Back in 2004: Less than nine months after fundamentalist religious zealots inflicted mass casualties on the civilian population of the United States, and only about six months after the U.S. toppled the regime that harbored them, a country of no consequence or relevance to the safety of the United States–a country hated by the fundamentalist…
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: The Groundhogs, “Cherry Red,” 1971
Long-lived British rock band, this comes from their most successful period (at least in the UK):
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The U.S. “act of war” against Iran
How bad will this turn out to be? No one knows, but it's hard not to be filled with a sense of dread. ADDENDUM: See also.
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Hindu fascists in India are becoming more brazen
This is horrifying, a further step along the way to mass murder by the state. (Thanks to Ruchira Paul for the pointer.)
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Colorado summer seminar in philosophy for 2020
Philosopher David Boonin (Colorado/Boulder) writes: I’ve just now finalized the topic for this summer: “Agreement, Disagreement, and Uncertainty” and am ready to start accepting applications. The link to the site containing all the information is here: https://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/events/summer-seminar I’d greatly appreciate it if you’d again post something on your blog about it. I've always heard good…
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The decline of white Christianity in America
Interesting, and hopeful, especially since the biggest declines appear to be in the most conservative Christian sects; an excerpt: I noted that the percentage of white Christians in the general population had dropped from 53 percent to 47 percent between 2010 and 2014 alone. Now, at the end of the decade, only 42 percent of…
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Everything is bigger in Texas…
…including the morons.
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Have you been rejected in a search requiring a mandatory “diversity statement”?
I've received permission from the lawyer (alluded to here) to share his information, which he also posted at Professor Coyne's blog. Here it is: If anyone was rejected for a position in such a search or any other search requiring a mandatory diversity statement, please reach out to me. I am an attorney at the…
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Berkeley “Diversity Statements” in action in a life sciences search
Biologist Jerry Coyne (Chicago) has the gory details. This is a lawsuit for unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination (and maybe also race discrimination) waiting to happen. From Professor Coyne's post: 893 applications were…vetted for diversity statements alone, rating the statements in three areas: knowledge about diversity, track record in advancing diversity, and plans for advancing diversity if…
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New Books in December
Authors and/or publishers kindly sent me these new books this month: Uncertainty: How It Makes Science Advance by Kostas Kampourakis & Kevin McCain (Oxford University Press, 2020). Nietzsche's Free Spirit Works: A Dialectical Reading by Matthew Meyer (Cambridge University Press, 2019). On Trade Justice: A Philosophical Plea for a New Global Deal by Mathias Risse…
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2019: Philosophers who passed away
The passing of the following philosophers was noted on the blog during 2019: Stephen Barker, Myles Burnyeat, Tom Campbell, Francisco Miró Quesada Cantuarias, Michael Detlefsen, Randall Dipert, John Gardner, Gary Gutting, Rom Harre, Agnes Heller, Tony Honore, Pamela Huby, Jaegwon Kim, Bryan Magee, George Mavrodes, Brian McGuinness, Ruth Anna Putnam, Anita Silvers, Karola Stotz, Barry…
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Is this really the feminist interpretation of this story?
The NYT ran this very sad and moving story the other day: a couple married a half-century, the husband devoted to his wife, even as Alzheimer's robs her of her sense of self and knowledge of her own family; he refuses help from his adult daughters, who are the main source for the story; finally,…
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Academic life in the UK vs. the US
Interesting reflections by philosopher Richard Yetter Chappell (now at the University of Miami, previously at the University of York in England). Comments are open at Professor Chappell's site for those with additional perspectives.
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A grim forecast for the UK under the Tories
Here. The threat in England is actually worse than than in the US under Trump: without a federal system, the check on centralized power is much less (contrast the U.S., where more than 100 million people live in solidly Democratic, anti-Trump states, with all branches of state government aligned against the Trump agenda); the universities…
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Non-sequitur watch, political science edition
Two British political scientists writing in the NYT about the "realignment" of British voters, in particular, the ability of the Tories to carry traditonal Labour strongholds in northern and central England: Why is this happening? The popular answer on the left is that this is about economic insecurity, economic globalization and imports from China. But…
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An entry for the Black Book of Capitalism
Here. (Some background.) (Thanks to Justin Schwartz for the pointer.)
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Buffalo philosopher Newton Garver and “loyalty oaths”
I've been doing some research on the constitutional fate of the "loyalty oaths" in the various states (prompted by this), and discovered that longtime University at Buffalo philosophy faculty member Newton Garver was one of those who challenged, successfully, the constitutionality of New York's "loyalty oath" in a decision that paved the way for the…
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Not even Karl Kraus could have imagined James Bennet, the NYT editorial page editor
This account is horrifying. If the quotes are accurate, the man is both illiterate and an imbecile. Here he is commenting on Brett Stephens, the worst NYT op-ed writer since Abe "I'm writing as bad as I can" Rosenthal: "I just think he’s an exceptional writer and thinker.” Only someone not familiar with writing or…
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Historian Gordon Wood’s response to the NYT’s failure to take criticisms of the 1619 Project seriously
This is well-said; an excerpt: I have no quarrel with the idea behind the project. Demonstrating the importance of slavery in the history of our country is essential and commendable. But that necessary and worthy goal will be seriously harmed if the facts in the project turn out to be wrong and the interpretations of…
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2019 in review, 4th quarter: October, November, December
October More on whether evolution really selects for veridical perception Philosopher Jamie Edwards (St. Norbert) interviewed A documentary about Paul Robeson Philosophical Gourmet Report, 2019-20 Berggruen decides philosophers aren't really worth $1 million after all Letters of recommendation are essential November Pedigree and quality Philosophy graduate student at Berkeley gratuitously (and rather stupidly) insults rural…
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“Violence is sometimes the answer”
Obviously correct, as even the over-hyped "Founding Fathers" of the United States realized.
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2019 in review, 3rd quarter: July, August, September
July I've been keeping some of the lesser minds in philosophy busy "for decades" Statement in defense of the academic freedom of philosophers to discuss sex and gender Twitter is not the real world, an on-going saga Tuvel-style mobbing comes to sociology August On the replication crisis in psychology As I first observed more than…
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This Xmas day, let’s remeber the medieval barbarians ruling Bahrain…
…who like to execute political prisoners on days when the Christian West won't notice.
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Nikole Hannah-Jones and Shell Oil
Now isn't this interesting.
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A military veteran returns to college (at Yale) at age 52
This is a charming essay. (Philosopher David Charles [Yale] also makes a brief appearance.)
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2019 in review, 2nd quarter: April, May, June
April Anti-lesbian discrimination at Facebook group for LGBT philosophers Books you should have read but haven't Hate apparently also never means having to say you're sorry DePaul University students embarrass themselves with frontal assault on academic freedom The Stanford Encyclopedia's coverage of Marxism and feminism: a revealing study in contrasts May Cambridge University fires post-doc…
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An interview with Adolph Reed about the NYT 1619 Project
Here; this isn't the best interview I've read with him, but it has a few good points. An excerpt: Q. We’ve spoken to a number of leading historians, including James McPherson, James Oakes, Gordon Wood and Victoria Bynum, and Hannah-Jones launched into a Twitter tirade against them, dismissing them as “white historians.” She is not…
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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…