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Annals of tyrannical and malicious behavior by “officials”
Read this story. How long before immigration officials in other countries start reciprocating this abusive treatment to Americans abroad?
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Patriotism may be the last refuge of a scoundrel, as Dr. Johnson noted…
…but religion is surely in the top three, as this noxious blather by the disgraced Attorney General William Barr nicely illustrates: a mix of historical falsehoods, confusions about cause and effect, and right-wing talking points. (Thanks to Jerry Dworkin for the pointer.)
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Remembering a friend
Philosopher J.B. Manchak (UC Irvine) shared with me this moving memorial to his friend, Nate Westbrook, another philosopher, who took his own life last weekend. "The truth is terrible," as Nietzsche said.
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38 wonderful words in languages with no simple English equivalent
This fun list is making the rounds on social media, and includes the wonderful Danish word "Hygge." A number of years ago, I had the pleasure of giving a keynote at the annual meeting of the Danish Philosophical Association, and learned that a senior philosopher afterwards called me "hyggelig." As my host explained, this……
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Why did Trump win?
It wasn't racism or racial anxiety.
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Philosopher Jaime Edwards (St. Norbert) interviewed…
…at the APA Blog. From the interview: What excites you about philosophy? First, I think that philosophy provides the least dogmatic venue for seriously working through the most fundamental questions concerning human life. Of course, individual philosophers are often quite dogmatic, but there is a generally respected norm that even the most dogmatic philosopher owes…
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Philosophy as bourgeois etiquette manual
A good example. Seems perfectly sensible, as good etiquette advice should.
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: Freedom’s Children, “Sea-horse,” 1971
Here's the lead track from this South African band's third and final album (we featured them last year, with my favorite number from that album):
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The House should send its sergeant-at-arms to arrest Rudy Giuliani
Now this is some creative and constructive legal thinking!
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Blast from the past: “Contempt,” Trump and “Midwestern…moral instincts”
In praise of diversity!
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The U.S. Supreme Court case on protecting LGBT individuals from workplace discrimnation
This is a hopeful account of the recent oral arguments from a strong supporter of legal and constitutional protections for LGBT rights. I hope he's right! (Earlier coverage.)
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APA Blog gets a “new look” and a change in staff
Kudos to Skye Cleary (the EIC of the APA Blog) on the new look! And further congratulations for the apparent shake-up in the staffing for the APA Blog, most strikingly the disappearance of Nathan Oseroff, whose repeated abuse of his position at the APA Blog we noted previously. I was particularly struck by the new…
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The Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Although the field is far afield of my competence and understanding, I took vicarious pleasure in seeing John Goodenough recognized, since he was a legend during the years when I taught at UT Austin, and his work has literally affected everyone reading this! Unlike the Nobel prizes in peace and literature, or the fake Nobel…
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Significant change to PhD funding at the University of Chicago
IHE has the details. An excerpt: Whereas doctoral students are currently funded for up to six years, depending on their programs, the new framework promises all students in good academic standing who enrolled in summer 2016 or later full funding until they graduate, with no limits…. Chicago’s guaranteed annual stipend level as of now is…
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Yale Philosophy Department “climate” survey
The headline on the Yale Daily News article is more dramatic than the actual results. Most of the concerns seem to be hypothetical, rather than actual, based on the news account (e.g., students worried that the department would not take a sexual harassment complaint seriously, as opposed to the department actually having failed to do so). …
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Blast from the past: the Analytic/Continental distinction
I discussed it with Nigel Warburton back in 2011.
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In Memoriam: Myles Burnyeat (1939-2019) (UPDATED)
MOVING TO THE FRONT–ORIGINALLY POSTED SEPTEMBER 21, 2019 One of the most important scholars of ancient Greek philosophy of the past half-century, Professor Burnyeat spent most of his academic career at Oxford and Cambridge. I will add links to memorial notices as they appear. UPDATE: An evocative remembrance from philosopher Eric Schliesser (Amsterdam). ANOTHER: An…
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Yeats on Trump
This is funny.
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Conspiracy theories as propaganda
Philosopher Quassim Cassam (Warwick) comments.
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Still more lateral hires at Edinburgh
In addition to the two noted last week (and Gill noted last month), University of Edinburgh has also made the following additional lateral appointments: Damian Caluori (ancient philosophy) from Trinity University (San Antonio) (coming in at the rank of Senior Lecturer); Jonny Cottrell (Hume, Scottish Enlightenment) from Wayne State University (coming in at the rank…
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Neglected works of intellectual history…
…at the Journal of the History of Ideas blog with substantive explanations of the choices. Philosophers will find several of these of interest (one of the works is by a historian of philosophy).
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What is it like to be a cat (and a bat)?
Amusing review. (Thanks to Phil Gasper for the pointer.)
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In Memoriam: Ginger Baker (1939-2019)
For my rock 'n' roll fans, Baker, the drummer for Cream, and before that, the Graham Bond Organization, has died. He was a very good drummer and a complete maniac! That he lived so long is, like Keith Richards, a case of: how could he have survived his lifestyle? This documentary isn't bad, although a…
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: Fat Mattress, “Naturally,” 1970
Another fine tune from Noel Redding's short-lived band:
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Kriegel from Jean Nicod/Paris to Rice
Uriah Kriegel (philosophy of mind, metaphysics), previously at the Jean Nicod Institute in Paris (and before that a tenured Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arizona), has joined Rice University as Professor of Philosophy. Along with the appointment of Elizabeth Brake (ethics, applied ethics) from Arizona State University, this should put Rice squarely…
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Being a philosopher in Nigeria
A challenging set of circumstances.
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Carrie Jenkins (British Columbia) assures readers that people in and around her generation…
…are only "speciously characterized by their narcissism and political correctness." No further comment. ADDENDUM: For those newer to the clown show that is on-line academic philosophy, I want to affirm that, in fact, most millenials are not narcissists and politically correct. Carrie Jenkins, however, was perhaps not the best witness for that purpose…hence the humor.
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Mr. Conway for the prosecution: Mr. Trump is psychologically unfit for office
We all knew that, of course, but Mr. Conway here lays out the case methodically and powerfully. (As many readers will know, Mr. Conway was a litigation partner at New York City's most profitable law firm for many years.) MEANWHILE a less reputable lawyer. ANOTHER GOOD SIGN: FOX TV commentator says Trump's conduct is illegal…
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Two senior hires for Edinburgh: Cholbi from Cal Poly/Pomona, and Vallor from Santa Clara
Michael Cholbi (ethics, applied ethics), Professor of Philosophy at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, will become Professor of Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, effective Jaunary 2020. Shannon Vallor, currently Professor of Philosophy at Santa Clara University, will take up a new Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence at the Edinburgh Futures…
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Funding sought for a memorial prize in metaphysics…
…in honor of Justin Zylstra, who died tragically young.
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Federal trial judge sides with Harvard in admissions lawsuit about discrimination against Asian-Americans
IHE has an account of the decision; it will certainly be appealed and will land, eventually, before the U.S. Supreme Court which, I expect, will side with the plaintiffs and might even declare "diversity" rationales for admission decisions to be unconstitutional.
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Schoenfield from MIT back to UT Austin
Miriam Schoenfield (epistemology, metaethics), Associate Professor of Philosophy (with tenure) at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology, has accepted a tenured offer from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin, which was her initial tenure-track job out of graduate school. She will be starting back at UT Austin as an Associate Professor…
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The moral bankruptcy of techno-elites
This is certainly true, but what shows their moral and intellectual bankruptcy is the prattle that comes out of their mouths about just about everything. But in a capitalist society, having made money is invariably interpreted as having opinions that are worth hearing, although the opposite principle might be a sounder one.
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Abortion, miscarriage, and the Swedish artist Klint
Leave it to my colleague Agnes Callard to weave them all together!
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New Books in September
Authors and/or publishers sent me these new books this month: Our Great Purpose: Adam Smith on Living a Better Life by Ryan Patrick Hanley (Princeton University Press, 2019). In the Shadow of Justice: Postwar Liberalism and the Remaking of Political Philosophy by Katrina Forrester (Princeton University Press, 2019). Beyond Punishment: A Normative Account of the…
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Rosenberg on climate change and PPE
"The Stone" blog at the NYT is mostly a forum for contemporary philosophers to reveal how little they know about the world (and, sometimes, even about philosophy), but every now and then a good piece, with actual intellectual content, appears: I commend this one by Alex Rosenberg (Duke).
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Blast from the past: the Ludlow case and the Kipnis book
2 1/2 years ago, but worth remembering.
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.
I completely agree with both Professor Sagar’s diagnosis and treatment. Students who abuse LLMs in order to merely obtain grades…
In terms of pedagogy, I agree with Professor Sagar. In philosophy courses, at least, the exercise is the point; I…
The central claim is that LLMs (or AI more generally, I suppose) is an existential threat to universities. This gets…
I’m not at a university, so I don’t have a ton to contribute, but I want to subscribe to see…
My former colleagues at another university in Middle East have also been moved to online teaching indefinitely, with the students…
If much of the interest of high-quality papers lies between the lines—in the metaphorical fire that a paper lights in…
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