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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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2019 in review, 1st quarter: January, February, March
January John Finnis and Hastings Rashdall Is the tide finally turning on the New Infantilists and "thought police" in academic philosophy? Philosopher Alex Byrne (MIT) on the idea of "gender identity" Wittgenstein's letter of recommendation for "Mrs. Geach" (i.e, Anscombe) The American Academy of each other's friends in the Arts & Sciences February Per student…
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: U.F.O., “Prince Kajuku,” 1971
Early U.F.O. once again, still with guitarist Mick Bolton, from their second "space rock" album:
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In Memoriam: Stephen Barker (1927-2019)
MOVING TO FRONT FROM DECEMBER 18–UPDATED A longtime member of the Johns Hopkins Department (where he was emeritus), Professor Barker was noted for his work in philosophy of science, philosophy of mathematics, and logic. I will add links to memorial notices as they appear. UPDATE: The Johns Hopkins memorial notice. (Thanks to Steven Gross for…
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Mathematician Abigail Thompson (UC Davis) on the “diversity” loyalty oaths
Here. I'm optimistic there will be a legal challenge to these diversity statements as unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination, the precise grounds on which the original loyalty oaths from the 1950s were finally struck down: the state can not demand allegiance to a sectarian political creed as a condition of employment. UPDATE: The journal where Professor Thompson's…
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More than five million voters supported Obama in 2012 and Trump in 2016
Who are they? Not racists, obviously (hint: racists don't vote for Black people for President). Heavily union members, who felt economically vulnerable, and were less supportive of affirmative action than those who voted Democratic in both 2012 and 2016, but more supportive of it than those who voted Republican in both those elections. (Thanks to…
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The gloves come off in India…
…as Modi's fascists show what they're really about.
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Wisconsin Repugs trying to purge eligible voters…
…since that's how Repugs win.
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A new philosophy job market wiki
A reader on the job market called it to my attention and suggested I share it. Wikis are only as good as their contributors, and bear in mind that not everything is necessarily accurate, but hopefully if enough folks participate it will provide some useful information.
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Soames and Trump
Several readers have written to me about the interview with philosopher Scott Soames (USC) posted last week. It's quite an enjoyable and interesting interview, as Professor Soames speaks plainly and candidly about so many events in his life, both intellectual and personal. But that is not what seems to have most caught the attention of…
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“The unity of the ruling class”…
…analyzed in Teen Vogue!
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The ruling class in America is getting a bit nervous…
…so they take to the op-ed page of the official organ of the prudent wing of their class.
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What is a “predatory” journal?
The journal Nature weighs in, which hopefully will help. (Thanks to Dean Rowan for the pointer.)
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Trump’s impeachable crimes in the Ukraine affair
A useful catalogue from a lawyer who worked closely with Robert Mueller during the investigation of the alleged Russia ties. This is not a close case, and the only partisan hackery is on the pro-Trump side.
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Support the “Lincoln Project”
This is an effort by some hardcore Republicans and conservatives–people with actual principles, not the fascists posing as Republicans in Congress and on Fox–to hold accountable Trump's enablers in Congress and to defeat Trump's re-election. They explain the project here. I've donated and I hope you will too.
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Richard Marshall interview Thomas Pink (KCL)…
…at 3:16 AM. I'm more inclined to something like the Hobbesian view than the Pinkian view, but this interview is fascinating.
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Today in Trump wickedness
Making it more difficult to maintain Social Security disability benefits.
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An historian eviscerates Pinker’s “Enlightenment” propaganda
This is amusing, and apt.
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American Philosophical Association announces lots of “Prizes”
The full list is here. ADDENDUM: Among the better-known prizes: Barwise Prize in Philosophy & Computing (Margaret Boden [Sussex]); Book Prize (formerly Matchette Prize for book by younger philosopher) (Kate Manne [Cornell]; runner-up: Sarah Moss [Michigan]); Gittler Award in Philosophy of Social Sciences (Robert Sugden [East Anglia]); Kavka/Irvine Political Philosophy Prize (Massimo Renzo [King's College,…
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New open-access journal: SYMPHILOSOPHIE: International Journal of Philosophical Romanticism
This new journal is a welcome addition to the open-access environment, covering a remarkably fruitful period in the history of modern philosophy that is largely ignored in Anglophone departments. The editors write: The journal SYMPHILOSOPHIE is completely open access, and publishes new research articles, books reviews and translations in the area of the philosophy of…
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Blast from the past: Nick Cohen and the Iraq War
Back in 2004. Anytime I see anyone refer to this vacuous hack as a "man of the left," I am reminded of this.
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Identity politics and power
This essay is plainly on to something; an excerpt: What if the people who speak in the language of identity politics were to recognize that their framework was the culturally dominant one? The one that helped you get into an elite college or win a coveted internship? If you spoke that language, you were working…
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: Frijid Pink, “Drivin Blues,” 1970
Another late 60s Michigan band, the psychedelic/blues rock Frijid Pink had one national hit with their cover of "House of the Rising Sun," but this was an earlier single the same year:
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Vigilante justice comes to NYU…
…as a reader points out to me. Professor Ronell was at least found to have violated sexual harassment rules on her campus, unlike Professor Hubbard, but her case was adjudicated and she was sanctioned. Unless universities respond quickly and harshly to these student mobs (in this case, a small one), this is going to spread…
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Blast from the past: when Nathan Oseroff was abusing his position at the APA Blog
There were several incidents, but this one was one of the weirdest. (I wouldn't bother revisiting this except people keep pointing out to me that Mr. Oseroff continues to lie on social media about what he actually did. It defeats the point of his apology for his misconduct for him to now lie about what…
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What is it like to be a philosopher? Scott Soames edition
Here, courtesy of Clifford Sosis as always.
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JHP Book Prize for 2019
Professor Jean-Luc Solère (Boston College), the book review editor of Journal of the History of Philosophy, writes: The recipient of the 2019 Journal of the History of Philosophy Book Prize for the best book in the history of philosophy published in 2018 is: Richard Arthur (Professor Emeritus, McMaster University), for his Monads, Composition, and Force: Ariadnean…
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Condolences to the United Kingdom
Rather bitter election results, which will no doubt produce lots of mostly baseless attributions of blame. My British friends should read Achen and Bartels' book Democracy for Realists, written before Trump, but they got him and his effect on Republicans exactly right, but their evidence is not limited to the United States. Many group identities…
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In Memoriam: Jaegwon Kim (1934-2019)
MOVING TO FRONT FROM NOVEMBER 30: UPDATED One of the most influential contributors to metaphysics and the philosophy of mind of the last half-century, Professor Kim taught from 1963-1967 and then from 1987 onwards at Brown University (where he was emeritus), but also spent some two decades at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with…
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Petition in support of faculty and librarians whose positions are threatened at St. Cloud State University
Following up on earlier coverage, there is now this petition, which I urge readers to sign. (Thanks to Tina Gross for the pointer.)
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A friendlier take on the “1619 Project”
A relatively brief (15 minutes) interview with historian Eric Foner (Columbia). It doesn't really engage any of the doubts raised by the other historians we have noted over the last week, but it captures pretty well my own initially favorable reaction to the series until I began reading the preceding interviews. (Thanks to Barbara Herman…
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Is immortality worse than death?
Philosopher Adrian Moore (Oxford) comments.
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Today in Trump’s fascist initiatives
An effort to sanction and suppress criticism of Israel. What else is new in America?
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Biologist Jerry Coyne on Chanda Prescod-Weinstein’s paper on “white empiricism”
Professor Coyne is very patient in going through this stuff. (We encountered Professor Prescod-Weinstein once before. You can read her demand for honoraria here.) An excerpt from near the end of Coyne's piece: I am growing weary, for I have dissected papers like this before—papers on white glaciology, the racism of Pilates, lattes, and pumpkins,…
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More evidence for the relativity of moral judgments, this time in the form of cross-cultural responses to variations on the Trolley Problem
Of course, moral realists will have their usual question-begging accounts that explain away these divergent responses, but putting the parochialism of Anglophone moral philosophers to one side, here are the results: The researchers found that countries’ preferences differ widely, but they also correlate highly with culture and economics. For example, participants from collectivist cultures like…
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Deranged UT Austin students now harassing classics professor at his home
They're proud of it! This faculty member's "crime" is his scholarship. The students should be prosecuted under any applicable criminal statutes, and Professor Hubbard, the victim of this abuse, should bring a civil action against the students (including for defamation: calling someone a "pedophile" when they are not is per se defamatory, meaning he won't…
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“Feminism for the 1%”
This is a smart essay.
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