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Philosophy has big problems…
…but at least computers can't prove all the false philosophical views that are currently fashionable (e.g., moral realism, non-naturalism, armchair metaphysics etc.) are, in fact, false! But math may not be so lucky….
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Corgis are not great racing dogs
This could be a visual metaphor for so many things (a Trump press conference, Joe Biden answering a question, the Democratic primaries, Republicans asked about impeachment, etc.).
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Blast from the past: Wise words from Evgeny Morozov
Back in 2015. If only more would listen…
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: Trúbrot, “Going,” 1970
Psychedelic and progressive influences are apparent in the work of this Icelandic rock band that performed from the late 1960s into the 1970s; I thought this one of their better numbers:
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In Memoriam: Richard A. Watson (1931-2019)
A distinguished and influential historian of philosophy, especially early modern philosophy, he spent most of his academic career at Washington University, St. Louis. There is an obituary here.
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Tomorrow’s nuclear war
This is it. Fortunately, the President of the United States is a narcissistic imbecile not fit to mind somebody's children, so we're OK! UPDATE: For those who don't know, a nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan would have global consequences. (Thanks to Dr. Roger Albin for the pointer.)
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2019-20 Update to the Philosophical Gourmet Report’s 2017 rankings for U.S. Departments (UPDATED)
MOVING TO FRONT–PUBLISHED ORIGINALLY ON SEPTEMBER 16 This is a summary of changes at the tenured (or almost tenured) ranks at the top 50 PhD programs in the 2017 Philosophical Gourmet Report; more precisely, these are changes that were not reflected in the faculty lists evaluators saw for the 2017 PGR surveys (some moves that…
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The mafioso in the White House gets caught red-handed
This is classic Trump, always the gangster at heart. Since impeachment is now, at last, a certainty, let's hope George Conway's prediction is correct. In other happy news, it looks like Elizabeth Warren is emerging as the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination. I just hope that she has read or will read Achen & Bartels,…
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On citation practices in philosophy
Jason Brennan (Georgetown) comments sensibly. Good thing he's not a cynical guy, though! (See also.)
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Jury sides with student found guilty of sexual assault in Boston College proceeding
Colleges have not in genreal covered themselves in glory with their campus "courts," but this is certainly a dramatic rebuke of Boston College's proceedings.
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One philosopher among 2019 class of MacArthur Foundation Fellows
Elizabeth Anderson (Michigan) is the only philosopher out of 26 new Fellows who will receive over 600K for five years, no restrictions attached. MacArthur has awarded very few of these grants to philosophers over the years: Richard Rorty, Gregory Vlastos, Patricia Churchland, Nancy Cartwright, T.M. Scanlon all come to mind, but that's not many considering…
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The major affirmative action program at Harvard is for the children of alumni, donors, and faculty, plus athletes
(LINK ADDED–sorry about that!) 43% of (only) white students are at Harvard because of these affirmative action programs. I'm sure a significant number of non-white students benefit from these same preferences. What a joke the crown jewel of the "meritocracy" is! (Thanks to David Livingstone Smith on FB for the pointer.)
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Lawrence VanDyke, apologist for creatonism, has now been nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
Longtime readers will recall Lawrence VanDyke, who made for some amusing drama in the early days of the blog. But he's back and Senators need to ask some serious questions!
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Videos of the keynotes from the Bernard Williams conference at Lund this summer
The keynotes from the Lund conference organized by Paul Russell are now available here. Unfortunately, I missed Professor Heuer's talk (but look forward to watching it now), but I can highly recommend those by Miranda Fricker, Stephen Darwall, and Gideon Rosen.
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Rawlsian liberalism in context
An excerpt from Katrina Forrester's new book In the Shadow of Justice: Postwar Liberalism and the Remaking of Political Philosophy, which is already giving philosophers indigestion, as it should. As Forrester succinctly puts it on p. ix of her book: in the wake of Rawls, "liberal political philosophers pass ethical judgments on the world by…
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Memories of John Gardner
When it became clear that John's cancer had recurred and was terminal earlier this year, John's wife, Jenny, reached out to friends asking them to share with John our memories of him. Jenny, after seeking permission, has now made these available here. Those who knew John will appreciate them, and those who didn't, will get…
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What is Yale hiding in the “Napping while Black” scandal it created?
I think this lawyer's assessment is correct: "Yale is fighting a war of attrition, using [Sarah] Braasch’s financial hardship against her, delaying the disclosure as long as possible so that interest will wane…." In this case, they postponed a hearing on releasing police video of events on the night of the alleged incident but only…
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Richard Marshall interviews Ross Cameron (Virginia)…
…at 3:16 AM. Marshall is now asking subjects to answer questions along the lines of the PhilPapers Surveys. Professor Cameron is a hardcore ethical realist and (unsurprisingly) a non-naturalist, among other positions he affirms.
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Lawford-Smith on philosophers behaving badly, and what’s really driving the campaign against Gender Critical feminists
Philosopher Holly Lawford-Smith (Melbourne) makes a number of good points in this essay. I'll provide a few excerpts, but I encourage readers to look at the whole essay. Regarding the Dembroff/Kukla/Stryker tantrum about being featured on the same page with Stock, Lawford-Smith et al. at IAITV: In their statement, the three claimed to have been…
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More on the illegal firing of tenured faculty at St. Cloud State
MOVING TO THE FRONT FROM SEPTEMBER 20: UPDATED A good article in a local newspaper, giving the perspective of philosopher Michael Shaffer, one of those affected. If the union grievance process does not get the decision reversed, I'm optimistic he would prevail in a lawsuit. UPDATE: As philosopher Joel Pust (Delaware) points out to me,…
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: Fat, “Duck Sweat,” 1970
Another good number from this Massachussetts band that we first featured this summer:
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All fascists think alike: Hungary comes to America
Hungary shut down gender studies, now the federal government here would like to control the content of Middle East Studies. The good news is that the federal government has little direct control over higher education, which is either private or in the hands of the state; they targeted this particular program because of its dependence…
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Blast from the past: Linda Alcoff and the “Climate for Women” fraud
Still amazing after all these years.
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Cross-cultural normative philosophy…
…at the Pea Soup blog. It looks like it will be mostly about Chinese philosophy to start. As I've learned more about Chinese philosophy, I've been struck by how much of it makes the same kinds of mistakes as the mainstream of the Western tradition and has a tendency to be "ideological" in roughly the…
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Gill from Arizona to Edinburgh
Michael Gill (ethics, history of ethics), Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arizona, has accepted a senior offer from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, where he will start in the 2020-21 academic year.
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Walton’s theory of fiction as “make-believe”
Animated! This is pretty well done:
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St. Cloud State is moving forward with firing tenured faculty, including in philosophy
I've been assisting one faculty member in finding legal counsel, and may soon be raising funds to help with this tenured faculty member's legal remedies. (The faculty are unionized, and the union will be filing its own grievances regarding these terminations.) I'll post more when I can, probably later in the week. This is appalling…
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Robert Paul Wolff on Trump’s firing of John Bolton
This is funny: "Bolton is a genuinely dangerous man, and I am delighted to see him gone. His summary dismissal highlights the odd but welcome fact that Trump is a dove. A belligerent dove, a bullying dove, a bombastic dove, an ignorant dove, a feckless dictator-loving suck up of a dove, but a dove nonetheless.…
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Unintentional haikus of the philosophers
Eliran Haziza, a graduate student in philosophy at the University of Toronto, has written a program to strip occurrences of "unintentional haiku" from corpuses of text. When run on the philosophers of our time, the program locates various gems,which Mr. Haziza kindly gave permission to share: > Snow falls, and is white;> the falling is…
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America is crazy, Florida edition
Jesus Fucking Christ. Next up: arm the children.
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St. Cloud State University may fire some tenured faculty early next week
Appalling, and it looks to violate the university's own policies and procedures. (Earlier coverage.)
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Why does “evil” fascinate?
Literary critic Terry Eagleton, philosopher Susan Neiman, and others discuss.
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More on the free expression debate at Williams “Comfort” College
This account from the student newspaper last Spring is informative.
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More on the rise of the “comfort college”…
…from philosopher Steven Gerrard (Williams) (part one); an excerpt: Suppose I ask someone for the reason he or she believes something — anything. Without further context, the word “reason” is strictly ambiguous. Am I asking for the motive, the cause or the justification? If the question is “What is the reason a person believes in…
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News of world-shattering importance
Hyde Park, where the University of Chicago is located, now has a really good Italian restaurant–please go there! Nella Pizzeria is also excellent, but not as ambitious in its dishes. For the local bourgeoisie, these are very good developments.
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Best of the summer blog, 2019
For those returning to more regular blog reading, here are some highlights from the blog this summer: June What I actually think about trans gender issues "'Philosophical Discussion of Trans Identity: A Guide for the Perplexed'" Raymond Geuss wishes Habermas a "Happy 90th" Reflections on the Searle case from one of his victims July I've…
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.
Hear hear
I agree with all of this. The threat is really that stark. The only solution is indeed in-class essay exams,…
I’m not sure I’d yet go so far as to call LLMs an existential threat to universities. But I do…
My big problem with LLMs at the present time, apart from being potentially the epitome of Foucault’s panopticon & Big…
I’m also at a British university (in a law school) and my sentiments largely align with the author’s. I see…
If one is genuinely uninterested in engaging with non-human interlocutors, it is unclear why one continues to do so—especially while…
I’d like to pose a question. Let’s be pessimistic for the moment, and assume AI *does* destroy the university, at…