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2015 in review: third quarter, July, August, September
The pernicious influence of Peter Singer and the "effective [sic] altruism" schtick (July) Rosenberg on intractable moral disagreement (plus discussion) (July) "Me" studies and philosophy's problems (July) Legal knowledge and good sense (August) (curiously, the person here criticized has never been heard from since!) "Bullying and harassment" at U of British Columbia (and not only…
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2015 year in review: second quarter, April, May, June
MA programs, with or without a thesis? (April) "fatuous sub-Marxist horseshit" (April) The rise of adjuncts a "toxic force" in higher education (April) The effect of social media use on job candidates (April) The surprising positives & negatives of becoming a professional philosopher (April) "Absolute Traffic" and other memorable abstracts (May) University of Colorado behaves disgracefully in…
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American plutocracy watch: tax code edition
And it made it to the front page of The New York Times no less!
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3 Quarks Daily “philosophy blogging” prizes…
…as chosen by John Collins (Columbia).
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2015 in review, first quarter: January, February, March
Top philosophy journals explained (January) University of Chicago statement on freedom of expression (January) Mitchell Aboulafia, caveat emptor (January) The Most Important Anglophone Philosophers, 1945-2000, poll results and discussion (January) Marquette's attack on lawful speech and academic freedom (February) Pedigree matters (February) Who is reading this blog? (And also.) (February) Editorial practices at Philosophy & Public Affairs (March) The first…
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On criticizing students: why is academic law so different than academic philosophy?
Last month's fake controversy du jour—complete with false accusations and selective presentation of evidence ("Lebron-gate" for short)–included an appearance of the weirdest trope to infect philosophy cyberspace over the last couple of years, a variation on "think of the children!" This is the idea that criticizing a graduate student (even if you didn't intend to, and even if…
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The sociology of cold fusion in physics
Philosopher Huw Price (Cambridge) comments.
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“Normativity for Naturalists,” redux
I've enjoyed a lot of correspondence about this paper over the last year; for those who are interested, it's now out in Philosophical Issues (the supplement to Nous) in a special issue on "Normativity" edited by Ram Neta. A lot of interesting-looking papers, though I think most of the other contributors are "true believers," as…
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Harvard medical school professor David Silbersweig makes the best case for studying philosophy
And it's got nothing to do with money, and everything to do with how to think. (My thanks to Prof. Silbersweig for calling this very nice piece to my attention.)
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Oxford’s Les Green on the Sheinman affair at Bar-Ilan
Here. (Prof. Green has comments open at his site, so I will not open them here.)
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Lisitsa plays Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody #2
I'm not sure this is my favorite recording, but it is undoubtedly the best video of the piece, which allows one to see the demandingness of performing this Rhapsody (Lisitsa, like Liszt, has very long hands).
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Postmodern Xmas
Once again.
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Bar-Ilan University continues its war on academic freedom, speech and the due process rights of faculty (UPDATED)
MOVING TO FRONT FROM YESTERDAY–UPDATED The victim is the legal philosopher Hanoch Sheinman, one of the leading scholars in the field of his generation, who is a member of the law faculty. The persecutors are the Dean of the Faculty of Law, Shahar Lifshitz, aided and abetted by the University Rector Miriam Faust. Readers may recall…
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A blast from the past for the holidays
Politically correct and non-legally binding holiday wishes.
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LA Review of Books on Frankfurt on inequality
Another useful and well-done review from the LARB, which, along with the Boston Review and the New Rambler, are my favorites these days.
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A rejection letter that is a real sign of the times
A reader on the job market sends along a portion of a rejection letter he got (from a top department), with the notable parts capitalized (by the reader): Thank you for applying for one of the tenure-stream positions that we advertised last fall. We regret that we will not be moving forward with your application…
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Wisconsin Tenure Watch
As Wisconsin goes, so goes the rest of the nation, which is why everyone in academia should be watching.
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Identity politics and “the perfection of capitalism”
More thoughts from Robert Paul Wolff.
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On being Noam Chomsky’s personal assistant
This is charming.
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Vassar’s Bryan Van Norden discusses Taoism…
…on Philosophy Talk with John Perry and Ken Taylor.
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More blues: originals and covers
Reader Frank Saunders kindly sent along a great set of links to blues "originals" and "covers" (prompted by this). I share a few here. Blind Joe Reynolds plays the "Outside Woman Blues": And so does Cream:
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Texas AG says universities *must* allow guns in dorms
Just awful. The AG's opinion is not binding, but it will give impetus to litigation by the gun nuts. (See the attempt of UT Austin to formulate concrete rules for complying with the law.)
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How the PGR helped one student decide a PhD in philosophy was not for him
A reader (who is "now in management consulting specializing in regulatory affairs…I get to read and interpret complex texts, talk about ethics with with my clients, and make decent money all at the same time") writes with "some thoughts on the PGR, grad school, and getting a job": I came to philosophy late in undergrad…
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My favorite on-line rendition of the “Ode to Joy”
10,000 people in the chorus! This makes life worth living.
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Robert Paul Wolff on the ideology of bourgeois academics like Jason Stanley, Audrey Yap, and other little Stanleys and Yaps
He doesn't mention anyone still alive by name (the essay is from the 1990s), but…. These reflections were prompted…by an incident in a seminar I was teaching on ideological critique. The participants were a group of extremely intelligent and widely read graduate students – all impeccably radical. Despite my heroic efforts to focus their attention…
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NEH Grants to Philosophers for 2015
MOVING TO FRONT FROM FRIDAY AFTERNOON (DEC. 18), JUST TO MAKE SURE IT DIDN'T GET MISSED IN THE MIDST OF THE BRUYAHAHA. Philosophers winning NEH support include: Hugh Benson (Oklahoma), Victor Caston (Michigan), Michael Cholbi (Cal State Polytechnic, Pomona), Samantha Matherne (UC Santa Cruz), Michael Rescorla (UC Santa Barbara), Kai Wehmeier (UC Irvine), and Joan…
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The growth of the humanities over the last half-century
Philosopher Timothy O'Connor (Indiana) calls my attention to this interesting essay. He writes: It provides helpful perspective on trends in student ‘majors’ in higher ed in the US, UK, and Australia from the 1950s forward. Its major theme is the relative stability of the percentage of university students studying the humanities — and so, with…
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Yet another reason Trump is going to lose Iowa (to Cruz is my prediction)
Here. Meawhile Cruz and Christie are both rising in the New Hampshire polls, though I still expect Trump will win New Hampshire, but that may be the last one.
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Thank goodness for Howlin’ Wolf
"Evil" And don't forget Cactus:
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JHP Book Prize for 2014 awarded to Frederick Beiser (Syracuse)
Debra Nails (Michigan State), Book Review editor of JHP, writes: This year's Journal of the History of Philosophy $5,000 prize for the best book in the history of philosophy published in 2014 goes to Frederick C. Beiser of Syracuse University, for his The Genesis of Neo-Kantianism 1796-1880 (Oxford University Press).
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The latest from David Wallace on the Bruya mess
Prof. Wallace has updated his critique here. Section 6, which was added in the second version of his critique, also raises, as Wallace notes, an "academic malpractice" issue. Wallace also offers a useful summary of his take on the issue in light of Bruya's purported response:
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Bruyahaha Update #2: guess what, Bruya tries to respond to David Wallace
The form of his purported reply to Wallace will be familiar to readers of his last attempt to defend himself. Wallace has already replied, in two parts, excerpted below: 1) It is deeply disturbing that Prof. Bruya doubles down on his relegation of his methodology to an appendix, and his appeal to a footnote as a…
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Demand the resignation of the Democratic National Committee Chair…
…who has been doing everything possible to make sure that no one challenges Hillary Clinton. For the first time in several decades we have a serious Presidential candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders, who challenges the neoliberal, Reaganesque status quo that has ruled through both the Clinton and Obama Administrations. By holding very few debates, and scheduling them…
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Brian Bruya fiasco (i.e., “Bruyahaha”) update #1
Philosopher David Wallace (Oxford) has officially joined the call for Metaphilosophy to retract Bruya's incompetent hatchet job on the PGR: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8561203/bruya%20letter%20to%20editor.docx. (Prof. Wallace correctly confines his attention to the methodological flaws, but, as I've noted before (see the addendum), the defamatory content will also require retraction and public apology.) Meanwhile, a young philosopher in Canada writes: Very…
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Department of sick humor: Stalin edition
This is making the rounds on Facebook. No comment.
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Living up to its reputation, alas, Oberlin students set a new standard…
…for unreasonable, unethical, and illegal demands, including summary firings of tenured faculty, promotion without review of other faculty, and (best of all) a salary for Black student leaders making these demands! (Link now fixed.)
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Jerry Dworkin breaks all records at the NY Times philosophy blog
His nicely done piece on lying the other day not only had 200,000 hits (that's a good two or three weeks for me!), but his clever poll had some 10,000 respondents, so many they had to shut it down! Once Peter Capatano–the Times editor that all the philosophers I know praise for his editorial help–turns…
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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…