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Trump praises North Korean dictator for executing his political opponents
Indeed he did. (Thanks to Thom Brooks for the pointer.)
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UCSD’s third summer program for female undergraduates thinking about graduate study in philosophy…
…is now accepting applications.
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Boyle from Harvard to Chicago
Matthew Boyle, a philosopher of mind at Harvard with substantial interests as well in Kant and German Idealism, has accepted a senior offer from the Department of Philosophy here at Chicago; this should push Chicago squarely back into the U.S. overall top 20.
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Interview with a toddler
This is making the rounds on Facebook, and is extremely funny:
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Philosophers on refugees, religious offense, and free speech…
…all at the January/February 2016 issue of The Critique.
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An udpate from the American political circus
It is no laughing matter for the United States, and especially for the rest of the world, that one of the two viable political parties, the Republicans, do not have a single plausible candidate who isn't a threat to civilization. But do not worry! I stand by my earlier prediction that Ted Cruz will win…
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Most important epistemologists since 1945?
Inspired by this comment (#9) about the earlier poll about moral & political philosophers, here's one about epistemologists (broadly construed to include decision theorists/formal epistemologists) whose main work was done since 1945. I've lowered the age for living epistemologists to include those 50 or older who might rank in the top 20. I hope there…
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Advertising update
All the top spots are booked through April (so the next top spot openings are in May). There is one third from the top spot still available in February, and at least one second and one third spot open in the months thereafter.
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The return of Freud, cont.: cognitive-behavioral therapy does not do as well as psychoanalysis for severely depressed patients
There's some interesting material in this piece from The Guardian, though it quotes too many Freud-hating charlatans, and says too little about the other empirical literature in support of many distinctively Freudian hypotheses. But its main focus is on the findings about serious depression in a study by the NHS in Britain.
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President Obama takes on the gun craziness in America
I'm glad he's making it an issue this year, and I hope everyone will follow this recommendation in particular: I will not campaign for, vote for or support any candidate, even in my own party, who does not support common-sense gun reform. And if the 90 percent of Americans who do support common-sense gun reforms…
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Florida Atlantic University fires tenured communications professor who believes the mass murder of schoolchildren at Sandy Hook was a hoax and who harassed the parents
Here is a fairly good overview of what transpired. FAU's stated rationale for termination–failure to file reports about his "outside activites"–seems feeble and implausible. What they should have argued is that, given his academic specialty, his conspiracy-mongering suggests professional incompetence–it would be as if a biology professor taught creationism instead of evolution by natural selection, or…
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Against philanthropy (and “effective [sic] altruism”), once again
This time in The Guardian. Here's a simpler proposal: the fortunes of Zuckerberg, the Koch Brothers, Gates, Buffett, Soros et al. should be confiscated (well, only 98% of their fortunes, let them enjoy a bit) and used to meet human needs. This will spare us the dance of the philanthropists as they entertain each other.
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When “overwhelming evidence” (or unanimity) is “too good to be true”
Interesting write-up on the phenomenon. (Thanks to Andrew Stephenson for the pointer.)
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Did the Department of Education “interpret” Title IX or issue new regulations without going through the notice-and-comment procedure?
I am not an administrative law expert, but it looks like it was the latter, and that is the view of at least two Senators. This will force an important clarification of what's going on.
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Wheaton College in Illinois is a disgrace
How is it possible to get an education in an environment like this?
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Most important Anglophone moral & political philosophers since 1945, poll #2
MOVING TO FRONT FROM YESTERDAY–IF YOU'RE A STUDENT OR TEACHER OF MORAL & POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY, PLEASE VOTE! This includes roughly the top 40 from the first poll (which got about 380 votes), plus not quite 20 additions, who should have been included the first time around. Only philosophers who did their most important work in the…
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Further evidence that certifiable right-wing crazy Ted Cruz will be the Republican nominee
He's now slightly ahead of Trump among California Republican voters. I expect he will win Iowa and South Carolina, two of the first three primaries, and that will give him the momentum needed. As with Trump, Cruz is a gift to the Democrats.
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Where do you go for a PhD with a focus on the post-Kantian Continental traditions in philosophy in the U.S.?
MOVING TO FRONT FROM DEC. 29–SLIGHTLY REVISED The 2014 PGR gives some answers, but here's my own (looking towards fall 2016), with some explanations. First assumption: you need a serious education in philosophy, not just the post-Kantian Continental traditions, to do good work on the latter. Second assumption: what counts is not the "body count"…
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“The Epistemology of the Large Hadron Collider”
Prof. Dennis Lehmkuhl (Cal Tech) writes: The German Research Foundation DFG will fund a new Research Unit whose aim it is to investigate the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN from an integrated philosophical, historical and sociological perspective, in close collaboration with theoretical and experimental particle physicists. The overall funding volume will be 2.5 million…
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U of Colorado settles lawsuit brought by philosopher Dan Kaufman… (MOVING TO FRONT FROM YESTERDAY–UPDATED)
…paying $25,000 towards his legal fees, after Kaufman's federal causes of action, but not his state law causes of action, were dismissed. UPDATE: Prof. Kaufman writes: In case anyone is interested: I will continue to be a tenured member of the philosophy department at CU.
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Robert Holub’s book on Nietzsche and anti-semitism
MOVING TO FRONT FROM DEC. 21, FOR THOSE WHO MAY HAVE MISSED IT DURING THE HOLIDAY PERIOD I review it at the New Rambler. The book gets some remarkable endorsements on the dustjacket from historians, though historians, I fear, who didn't know much about Nietzsche and didn't read the book too carefully.
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Allen Wood’s advice to job seekers
Here. I want to say that I agree with everything Wood says: his advice seems to me sound and realistic. All job seekers should read this. (You may infer from what Prof. Wood says why he would have been involved in the PGR for so many years as both Advisory Board member and evaluator.) ADDENDUM:…
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Pseudo-science of economics watch: citation edition
You would think inability to predict, even qualitatively, massive economic events would give them pause, but no…. (Thanks to Joseph Henderson for the pointer.)
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APA blog has arrived
The inaugural post is here. Given that it is the blog of a (still largely dysfunctional and highly politicized) organization, the APA, there will be some pressure towards blandness I expect, but time will tell. It certainly makes sense for the APA to enter this form of social media, so kudos to Amy Ferrer, the…
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Help enact sensible gun regulations in America
Please consider donating to this organization, the first one to finally put the National Rifle Association barbarians on the defensive.
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Most important Anglophone moral & political philosophers since 1945?
Inspired by this poll last year, several readers asked for one specifically about moral and political philosophers, so here it is. I included any moral and political philosopher whose major work was done post-1945, and I included any influential living moral and political philosophers who are at least 60 years old. No doubt there were…
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Humanities job markets are generally weak…
…while there's lots of hiring in the pseudo-scientific field of economics according to IHE.
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Steele from LSE to ANU
Katie Steele (environmental philosophy, philosophy of probability, rational & social choice theory), Associate Professor of Philosophy at the London School of Economics, has accepted appointment as Associate Professor in the Philosophy Program at the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University, where she will start later this year.
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Schwitzgebel takes an “empirical” look at how prominently women’s work is discussed in leading philosophy journals…
…though if you scroll to the comments, "Neil" raises some legitimate questions about exactly how to interpret the findings.
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America is doomed, part 782: Oregon edition
Armed ignorant yahoos, who have no idea what the content of the Constitution is, seize a federal building to protest fantasy oppression. I just hope this kind of delusional and pointless lawlessness does not spread.
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Johansen from Oxford to Oslo
Thomas Johansen, Professor of Ancient Philosophy at Oxford University, has accepted a senior offer at the University of Oslo, where he will start April 1, 2016. With Terence Irwin running up against mandatory retirement shortly, and with Christopher Shields leaving for Notre Dame, and Jessica Moss for NYU, both in the last couple of years,…
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I look “a bit” like a Koala and Brit Brogaard looks like Kant…
…according to the most unusual Metablog of all. Amusing if a bit hard to make sense of!
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A PhD in philosophy from Cambridge doesn’t prevent you from being an appalling racist creep
That's Oliver Letwin, now a member of the Cameron administration in Britain, whose charming advice to Thatcher 30 years ago following urban riots has just come to light. (Thanks to Michael Pereira for the pointer.)
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Psychology catching up with Freud (or, more aptly Nietzsche)
Good to see psychology going "back to the future" as it were: [C]onsciousness is no more than a passive machine running one simple algorithm — to serve up what’s already been decided, and take credit for the decision. Rather than a sage conductor, it’s just a tiny part of what happens in the brain that…
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The “sudden but well-deserved fall of Rahm Emanuel”
It's certainly hard to disagree with this. Starting with his attempt to destroy the public school system and screw the teachers, he's been in freefall, though the coverup of police killing(s?) is what will probably finish him.
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Happy New Year to all readers!
My 2016 workshop/conference schedule will take me, as of now, to the APA in Washington, DC, Berkeley, Rome, Catanzaro, Willamette (Salem, Oregon), Bonn, Vienna, York U/Toronto, and Belgrade. I hope to have the opportunity to visit with many of you in person in 2016. Thanks, as always, for reading.
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New Books in December
Publishers and/or authors kindly sent me these new books this month: Moby-Dick as Philosophy: Plato-Melville-Nietzsche by Mark Anderson (S.Ph. Press, 2015). The Lily of the Field and The Bird of the Air by Soren Kierkegaard, trans. & introduced by Bruce Kirmmse (Princeton University Press, 2016). The Risk of a Lifetime: How, When and Why Procreation…
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2015: Philosophers who passed away
The passing of the following philosophers was noted on the blog this year: Aldo Antonelli, John Arras, Robert L. Arrington, Claudia Card, Leigh S. Cauman, Keith Donnellan, Richard Flathman, John Forrester, Roger Gibson, Jaakko Hintikka, Georg Kreisel, Michael L. Martin, Peter Menzies, William L. Rowe, Irving Singer, Alan Wertheimer. You can see last year's list here. ADDENDUM: …
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2015 in review, fourth quarter: October, November, December
University structure and success and failure in philosophy (Guest Blogger Christopher Pynes) (October) Changing hierarchies in American philosophy (October) Academic privilege, access and diversity in philosophy (Guest Blogger Christopher Pynes) (October) Philosophy's Third Rail (Guest Blogger Darlene Deas) (October) Doing Empirical Philosophy (Guest Blogger Edouard Machery) (October) "Posturing, preening, wankers" debuts (October) Greer, Green, and…
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.
Nietzsche’s Ecce homo, Notebooks and Letters: 1888-1889. Translation by Daniel Fidel Ferrer. ©2023 Daniel Fidel Ferrer. All rights reserved. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs…
I only just learned of Barry’s passing, and I’m enormously saddened at the news. I wrote my PhD on his…
I am reading 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗴𝗵𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 with mixed feelings. It is, in various ways, moderate and careful, and it certainly…
I respond to this report here https://jasonstanleyantifascist.substack.com/p/on-the-philosophical-muddle-that
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.…
Free Robot Labour: Marx, Automation, and the Future of AI by Jamie Terence Kelly https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-032-26782-5 Palgrave Macmillan, 2026 Permanently Open…