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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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When will the EU cut off funding to the fascists in its midst?
The EU has done nothing about Orban in Hungary, what about PiS in Poland? (Even the Financial Times, which presumably has the ear of the EU ruling class, is worried!)
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On the experience of being in a “manic” state
Philosopher Paul Lodge (Oxford) comments. (Thanks to Daniel Kodsi for the pointer.)
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In case anyone forgot that Rush Limbaugh is the scum of the earth (with apologies to scum)…
…a small sampling, but one that does no justice to the extent to which he has damaged the polity and the democracy over the last thirty years.
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: Blodwyn Pig, “It’s Only Love,” 1969
After Mick Abrahams, the original guitarist for Jethro Tull, left the band after a dispute with Ian Anderson about the musical direction of the band (This Was, Tull's debut, was a much more British blues-style album than later work), Abrahams formed a new band Blodwyn Pig. This tune comes from their debut album (and doesn't…
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More academic visa craziness in the UK
Together with Brexit, this stuff will be a disaster for UK academia, which is already under tremendous pressures.
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The Godfather strikes back!
Does this remind you of this: It should. You heard it here first!
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UC Santa Cruz also using “diversity statements” to weed out faculty job candidates
My colleague biologist Jerry Coyne has the details. See also this.
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On philosophy as “curating”
Interesting reflections from Leslie Green (Oxford/Queen's U), relevant to yesterday's discussion. (Thanks to Grant Lamond for the pointer.)
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Bertrand Russell’s “politics of logic”
Philosopher Alexander Klein (McMaster) comments.
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It really doesn’t matter whom the Democrats nominate, as long as they beat Trump and take the Senate
On this, I fear Krugman is correct. A Democratic Senate will not go along with a lot of what a President Sanders or Warren want; a Democratic senate will make progress on healthcare, guns, and other issues even under a President Bloomberg or Klobuchar. No Democrat can win without huge African-American turnout, so we can…
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Iowa caucus humor
As we await the pony express with the final results from Iowa, I thought I'd share this funny joke from a friend on Facebook: "Just finished 62% of this novel and I'm so excited for Gatsby and Daisy."
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Is pansexuality obligatory?
Philosopher Robert Gressis (Cal State/Northridge) comments.
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Advertising update
There's still one 3rd-from-the-top spot open in both March and April, and several spots (including one top spot) still open in May. E-mail me if you're interested.
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Is time an illusion?
Philosophers Tim Maudlin (NYU), Emily Thomas (Durham) and others discuss. (I'm still trying to figure out why the moderator mentioned the charlatan Derrida in her opening remarks, but don't let that put you off!)
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Britain suffers worst productivity decline in 250 years!
How's that Brexit working out?
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Buchak from Berkeley to Princeton
Lara Buchak (decision theory, formal epistemology & ethics, philosophy of religion), Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, has accepted a senior offer from Princeton University, where she will be Professor of Philosophy starting this fall.
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“Epistemological Letters” recovered
This will be of interest to historians and philosophers of science.
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“How Maths Changed Philosophy”
A podcast with Silvia Jonas (Munich).
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When a bidding war for moral purity turns into a proxy war for power
"The Purity Spiral," which we've seen plenty of in philosophy cyberspace, with an occasional intrusion into the real world; an excerpt: A purity spiral occurs when a community becomes fixated on implementing a single value that has no upper limit, and no single agreed interpretation. The result is a moral feeding frenzy. But while a…
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Linguist/philosopher McCready raising funds to sue Japanese government for recognition of same-sex marriage
MOVING TO FRONT FROM YESTERDAY–UPDATED (READERS SHOULD CONSIDER SUPPORTING THIS JUST CAUSE) Elin McCready, a linguist and philosopher at Gakuin University in Tokyo, is also a trans woman, still married to her wife of twenty years. We noted Professor McCready's case briefly before, but now she and her wife are raising funds in order to…
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Call for papers for the 5th annual meeting of the International Society for Nietzsche Studies
MOVING TO FRONT FROM NOVEMBER 21, 2019: PAPERS ARE DUE BY THE END OF THE MONTH This will take place in Oxford on June 30 and July 1, 2020; the CFP is here. Those who have participated in ISNS in the past have often remarked that these are the highest quality discussions of Nietzsche they…
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: The Fire, “Father’s Name is Dad,” 1968
Another forgotten British psychedelic band (some of whose members later migrated to The Strawbs), this was their most successful release (at least in the UK):
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New Books in January
Authors and/or publishers kindly sent me these new books this month: Interpreting Bergson: Critical Essays edited by Alexander Lefebvre & Nils F. Schott (Cambridge University Press, 2020). An Ethical Guidebook to the Zombie Apocalypse: How to Keep Your Brain without Losing Your Heart by Bryan Hall (Bloomsbury Academic, 2020). Free Will, Responsibility, and Crime: An…
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Historian Victoria Bynum (Texas State U) responds to editor of AHR
Her response, to the AHR editor's sneering, is very strong; an excerpt: Despite your disclaimer that “in principle” being white should not “invalidate” the views of 1619 critics, in fact the skin color of historians critical of the 1619 Project has been scorned (and far worse) over and over again in the Twitterverse—by historians as…
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Bird from KCL to Cambridge
Alexander Bird (philosophy of science and medicine, metaphysics & epistemology), currently at King's College London, will succeed Huw Price (philosophy of science, physics, and language) as the Bertrand Russell Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge University, effective October. Price will continue on a half-time basis at Cambridge as Director of Research at the Leverhulme Centre for…
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Saul Kripke discusses Wittgenstein…
…at IAITV.
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How often does the NYT run articles highlighting ads attacking particular candidates….
…other than Trump, of course. Not that often, but the prudent wing of the ruling class no doubt deems this newsworthy. Can Sanders beat Trump? Who knows? Could Trump get the Republican nomination in 2016? Who knew? Could Trump be elected President? Who knew? But the ruling class knows what it can't abide and their…
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Brazilian Taliban
The fascist Bolsonaro picks a creationist to lead the government's higher education agency.
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Wilfrid Sellars, a personal recollection…
…from his second wife, who survived him (she is now deceased). It recounts how they met, some aspects of his career, and his death due to alcoholism. It also includes some of her slightly odd metaphysical reflections, those can be passed over (she was no naturalist, Sellarsian or otherwise).
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Were you rejected in one of the University of California job searches utilizing the unlawful “diversity statements”? (UPDATED)
MOVING TO FRONT FROM JANUARY 23–UPDATED Pro bono legal representation may be available–read on. As we've noted on several occasions, schools in the UC System have begun requiring applicants for faculty positions to submit a diversity statement. In most searches, these statements have been evaluated holistically as part of an overall application. However, several UC…
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“In the shadow of Auschwitz”
Philosopher Jason Stanley comments.
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Conscientious objection to providing medical services?
Philosopher Jerry Dworkin discusses.
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Philosopher Amia Srinivasan (Oxford) profiled…
…in the Financial Times.
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Historian specializing in white supremacy responds to critiques of the NYT 1619 Project
Alex Lichtenstein (Indiana), the current editor of the American Historical Review, has penned a response, of sorts, to the various critiques of the 1619 Project. Professor Lichtenstein's "work centers on the intersection of labor history and the struggle for racial justice in societies shaped by white supremacy," which may explain his embarrassing sneering throughout at…
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.
For what it’s worth, I agree. I have, with some trepidation, given it a bunch of my papers and asked…
Looking at some of the AI-amplified cranks on philpeople, it is hard to agree with the assessment of this article.…
Perhaps a useful distinction here is between replacing philosophers and changing the conditions under which philosophical work gets done. LLMs…
Conditional on the hypothesis that journal editors sometimes desk reject high-quality papers written and commended by world experts on a…
Some users seem to have conflicting impressions about the (absolute level of) abilities of current iterations of the LLMs. But…
One thing I appreciate about Greco’s piece is the very helpful distinction between instrumental and intrinsic value, which he lays…
I respond to this report here https://jasonstanleyantifascist.substack.com/p/on-the-philosophical-muddle-that