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Historian James Oakes on “diversity” in the academy and in history departments in particular
Another interesting bit of the interview noted the other day: Q. Can you address the role of identity politics on the campus? How is it to try to do so serious work under these conditions? A. Well, my sense is that among graduate students the identitarians stay away from me, and they badger the students…
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The latest attack on freedom of thought and expression in academic philosophy…
…this time involving one of the philosophy editors of OUP, Peter Ohlin–rather disappointing! UPDATE: I suppose one shouldn't be surprised that Carrie Jenkins and Kate Manne both think this is wonderful!
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Law & Philosophy Fellowship at University of Chicago for 2020-21
The ad is now up; I paste the description of the position below: The University of Chicago Law School seeks a Law and Philosophy Fellow, appointed with the rank of Lecturer, for the academic year 2020-21. This is a twelve-month appointment and is expected to begin July 1, 2020. A Ph.D. in philosophy by time…
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The author of the “1619 Project,” Nikole Hannah-Jones…
9/21 UPDATE: Apparently Richard Painter–whose own law school colleague had to call out his lies about me–is still linking to this post from two years ago. He knows I have a low opinion of journalists generally, and have excoriated many of them, not just Ms. Hannah-Jones: James Bennet, Thomas Friedman, Bret Stephens. He knows this,…
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Scholarship by classics professor with “incorrect” views is now as bad as sexual harassment according to students at UT Austin
I'm glad the university has rebuffed these benighted students, but it's no doubt a symptom of what's to come as the campaign against actual sexual harassment gets mixed up with the general New Infantilist hysteria about "harmful" ideas: A group of students at the University of Texas are calling for the firing of a classics…
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It appears this fellow doesn’t care for Boris Johnson
Very amusing and apt:
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: The Frost, “Little Susie Singer,” 1969
Michigan in the late 1960s was a fertile ground for rock music, producing, among others, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, the MC5, Grand Funk, Ted Nugent, Bob Seger, and, the least successful of them all (but arguably more talented than some of the others), The Frost, a band we've not featured since last year. Here's…
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Historian James Oakes (CUNY) interviewed about the NYT “1619 Project”
Another illuminating interview; an excerpt: Q. [A] point we made in our response to the 1619 Project, is that it dovetails also with the major political thrust of the Democratic Party, identity politics. And the claim that is made, and I think it’s almost become a commonplace, is that slavery is the uniquely American “original…
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Who knew Lutherans were into “identity politics”?
Rev. Bruce Foster, a retired minister and a longtime reader of the blog, writes: Your collection of responses to the 1619 nonsense at the Times is very useful. Of course if you weren’t an atheist but rather a member of a progressive Protestant church body all these arguments would be old hat to you. For…
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“Nietzsche, Trump, and Brexit”
You probably weren't expecting to find those three items together, but they are put there by my friend the philosopher Ken Gemes (Birkbeck/London) in this interesting talk. Note that the introduction is in German, but Gemes delivers the lecture in English. I think he gets one thing wrong about Nietzsche: the fundamental problem for human…
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Philosophy PhD applications spreadsheet
Several readers have sent along this useful spread sheet, produced by a user at the "Grad Cafe" discussion board.
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Rep. Devin Nunes, Trump hatchet man
This is a real billboard:
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The perfect holiday gift for your wife
This is hysterical (inspired by this nonsense).
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Schwenkler on Anscombe…
…at Commonweal.
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Historian Gordon Wood interviewed on the NYT “1619 Project”
Here. The New York Times owes the public an apology. An excerpt: Q. Let me begin by asking you your initial reaction to the 1619 Project. When did you learn about it? A. Well, I was surprised when I opened my Sunday New York Times in August and found the magazine containing the project. I…
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In Memoriam: Kenneth Taylor (1954-2019)
MOVING TO FRONT FROM YESTERDAY–UPDATED I'm very sorry to report that Professor Taylor, a longtime member of the Stanford faculty and an expert in philosophy of language and mind, has passed away unexpectedly. I will add links to memorial notices and more information as they become available. UPDATE: The Stanford memorial notice. And here is…
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More on the NYT fraudulent “1619 Project”: an interview with historian James McPherson
Also interesting; an excerpt: Q. Nikole Hannah-Jones, the lead writer and leader of the 1619 Project, includes a statement in her essay—and I would say that this is the thesis of the project—that “anti-black racism runs in the very DNA of this country.” A. Yes, I saw that too. It does not make very much…
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On Hume’s idea that where philosophy and argument end, psychology begins
An interview with philosophical novelist Rebecca Goldstein at IAITV.
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Blast from the past: The report on Ward Churchill’s “research misconduct”
Back in 2007. Along with the Salaita case, this ranks as one of the most outrageous attacks on academic freedom and tenure in the last twenty years.
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Twin Earth’s XYZ revealed!
Classical philosophy scholar Catherine Atherton (UCLA) writes: I must share with you a vital new discovery: Hilary Putnam was quite wrong about XYZ. Here are its real constituents (item no. 79): No wonder we have never seen anything of the inhabitants of Twin Earth—they must be incapable of walking most of the time, let alone…
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An interesting interview with Adolph Reed…
…at Current Affairs. As usual, his perspective is an important one.
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“The History of Philosophy Reveals that ‘Great’ Philosophy is Disguised Moral Advocacy: A Nietzschean Case Against the Socratic Canon in Philosophy”
This paper appeared last year in Marcel van Ackern (ed.), Proceedings of the British Academy 214: Philosophy and the Historical Perspective (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), pp. 185-199; the British Academy would not permit it to be posted until a year after publication, which time period has now elapsed. Here is the abstract: Instrumentalists think…
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Marshall Cohen (USC) on his Harvard classmate Stanley Cavell…
…at the LARB. He does a very good job capturing why so many philosophers (I among them) never warmed to Cavell. An excerpt: In 1980, [Cavell's book The Claim of Reason] was the subject of a symposium at the American Philosophical Society (at which I was present); the occasion proved a fiasco for Cavell. Barry Stroud,…
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The neoliberal turn in British higher education and the current staff strike
This is useful. The pattern described in Britain will be familiar to any observer of "public" education in the United States since the 1980s. The main difference is that a highly competitive "private" sphere of higher education has checked some of the worst excesses of bureaucratic meddling that weighs down on British academia. (Thanks to…
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Jimmy Hoffa, union man
This is a friendly and balanced look at Hoffa's achievements on behalf of truck drivers and other working people, prompted by the Scorcese film The Irishman (which isn't bad, but it's just standard Scorcese mafia fare and does no justice to Hoffa's actual work).
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Siena philosophy professor Emanuele Castrucci is a Nazi sympathizer
What an embarrassment. I am unsure of the legal status of pro-Nazi speech in Italy, although I would not be surprised if, as in many European countries, it is illegal. In any case, it appears that academic freedom in Italy does not protect extra-mural speech. There's more here (in Italian). UPDATE: Some of this maniac's…
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A critique from the actual left of the NYT “1619 Project”
Via Samuel Moyn, I discovered this powerful critique of the "1619 Project" series at The New York Times, ; from the introduction: “The 1619 Project,” published by the New York Times as a special 100-page edition of its Sunday magazine on August 19, presents and interprets American history entirely through the prism of race and…
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: Listening, “See You Again,” 1968
Boston-based psychedelic/hard rock band, this song comes from their one and only album:
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New Books in November
Authors and/or publishers sent me these new books this month: The World Philosophy Made: From Plato to the Digital Age by Scott Soames (Princeton University Press, 2019). The Ethics of Hooking Up: Casual Sex and Moral Philosophy on Campus by James Rocha (Routledge, 2020). Measuring Social Welfare: An Introduction by Matthew D. Adler (Oxford University…
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Blast from the past: Inflated letters of recommendation
Back in 2011, with many comments. Still a problem.
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Yli-Vakkuri from Tartu to Australian Catholic University (Melbourne)
Juhani Yli-Vakkuri (philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, metaphysics, epistemology), Professor of Philosophy of Language at the University of Tartu, has accepted a senior offer from the Dianoia Institute of Philosophy at Australian Catholic University (ACU), where he will start in January 2020.
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Philosopher Mark Johnston (Princeton) interviewed…
…at the Oxford Review of Books. It's quite entertaining! I had Johnson the Spring of my senior year in the first course he taught at Princeton, on "Personal Identity." He was very tolerant of my irresponsible behavior with respect to deadlines that semester!
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The Internet, defined
"Costless, rapid communication of lazy, angry thoughts," from philosopher Christopher Morris (Maryland). It could hardly be more apt!
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“WKRP in Cincinnati” Thanksgiving Turkey Drop
This may be the best moment in 1970s sitcom TV, apt for the occasion of American Thanksgiving (you have to get to the end for the full joke):
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Mathematician Abigail Thompson now being pilloried for opposing mandatory “diversity statements” in the UC system
Philosophers cheer up: academic mathematics is apparently also full of self-righteous tin-pot dictator wannabes just like philosophy! Professor Thompson, whose opposition to mandatory "diversity statements" we noted last week, is now the target of a petition, which inspired this commentary from a mathematician who asked not to be named: As usual, there is a claim…
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On the Hindu fascists in India
A bracing essay by Arundhati Roy.
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Where untenured tenure-track faculty at the U.S. “top 20” programs got their PhDs, 2019-20
MOVING TO FRONT FROM NOVEMBER 22–UPDATED As prior studies have confirmed, PGR rank is a rather good predictor of professional outcomes, even though that's not what the PGR suveys measure. (Of course, NYU and Rutgers placement, below, would have been wholly predictable from PGR rankings of faculty quality in years past!) I look…
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News and views about philosophy, the academic profession, academic freedom, intellectual culture, and other topics. The world’s most popular philosophy blog, since 2003.
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…