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Free philosophy audiobooks
Here (this links to Nietzsche books, but you can search any philosophical or other author you want).
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Most cited living philosophers of science (including physics and biology) with Google Scholar pages (CORRECTED–MOVING TO FRONT)
As before, some important living philosophers of science who would surely be on the list (like John Earman and Philip Kitcher) do not have Google Scholar pages. Only those with a clear majority of their citations to philosophy of science work are listed (this is an issue for some, like Sahotra Sarkar, most of whose…
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Most cited living philosophers with Google Scholar pages who work in decision, game and rational choice theory (and cognate areas like philosophy of probability)
As before, only philosophers with most of their citations to work in these areas are listed. Because the numbers drop off fairly quickly, I only list the “top ten.”
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Great moments in obscure “classic” rock albums: Budgie, “Bandolier,” 1975
This great Welsh hard rock trio never made it big in either the U.S. or Europe, but have long had a strong following among hard rock afficionados (helped no doubt by Metallica covering a couple of their songs, most famously “Breadfan“). Their best album, in my view, is 1975’s Bandolier (their fifth album), from the…
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Farewell Larry Summers…
…I, at least, will not miss him after his evisceration by the Harvard Crimson. Senator Warren, who was a law professor at Harvard before election to the Senate, got it exactly right: For decades, Larry Summers has demonstrated his attraction to serving the wealthy and well-connected, but his willingness to cozy up to a convicted sex offender…
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“Rawls the Redeemer”
Political philosopher Alexander Lefebvre discusses.
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Most cited living philosophers with Google Scholar pages working on free will & moral responsibility (CORRECTED)
Some philosophers who would have made the top ten in all likelihood do not have Google Scholar pages (e.g., Carl Ginet, Gary Watson, Susan Wolf). Once again, only those with a clear majority of their citations to work in this area are listed (Neil Levy [Macquarie] was a close case.) I list only the top…
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Richard Stillman on the problem of theoretical disagreements
This will only interest my legal philosophy readers, but I do want to commend to their attention this paper by Richard Stillman, who trained as a philosopher of language with Stephen Neale before coming to Chicago to study law (and jurisprudence). He has identified something important about at least one subset of theoretical disagreements in…
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Arbitrator orders terminated Portland State faculty reinstated
A major victory for the affected faculty there (earlier coverage): “the grievants are to be restored to the positions they held prior to layoff and made whole for any losses sustained.” As philosopher Angela Coventry at PSU wrote to me: This decision is important not just for our colleagues and our department but for other…
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Should international PhD students even consider U.S. Ph.D. programs at this point?
New international student enrollment at American universities fell 17% this fall, which is hardly surprising given what has been going on. But how should prospective international students think about the prospect of studying in the U.S. given that Trump is in power for at least three more years? International students ought to watch this video…
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An amusing takedown of the NY Times (related to Mamdani’s campaign in NYC)
Nicely written, and it made me laugh at various points. An excerpt: Like so many other bits of Times coverage, the whole of the piece is structured as an orchestrated encounter. Some people say this; however, others say this. It’s so offhand you can think you’re gazing through a pane of glass. Only when you stand a little…
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Texas A&M systematizes massive violation of core academic freedom rights of faculty
This new policy won’t affect faculty in the natural sciences and engineering, where A&M is strongest, but it will affect faculty across the humanities and social sciences, as well as law. What’s especially shocking here is that isn’t a once-off attack on academic freedom,this is creating a systematic policy whose purpose is to shamelessly infringe…
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Great moments in obscure “classic” rock ‘n’ roll albums: Humble Pie, “Rock On,” 1971
Steve Marriott, the dynamite vocalist and lead guitarist from The Small Faces teamed up with Peter Frampton in 1969 to form Humble Pie, a heavy blues rock band with a sound rather different than Marriott’s prior, psychedelic band. Although Humble Pie had its greatest success after 1971’s Rock On (and after Frampton left the band),…
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Coming next week in lists of “most cited” philosophers with Google Scholar page:
Philosophers working on free will & moral responsibility; and philosophers of science (including philosophers of biology and physics).
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Why I fear things will end badly for the United States
The short answer is this: for 45 years one of the two viable political parties in the U.S. has gotten crazier and crazier. That has led us to the craziest of them all, Donald Trump, a man with nothing but authoritarian instincts, who has also helped catapult openly fascistic and racist maniacs to the national…
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Blast from the past: What do we know about the effects of gender or other quotas on PhD entering classes?
Back in 2013, with reader discussion.
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The coming, and very consequential, change to Federal student loans for post-graduate study
We touched on this before, but CHE offers this update: According to the consensus definitions, approved Thursday after two rounds of negotiated rulemaking, a degree will be considered professional if the field requires skills beyond those needed to receive a bachelor’s degree. The distinction matters: Professional students will be able to take out $50,000 in…
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I’m at Columbia’s Law & Philosophy Workshop this week…
…so comment approval may be a bit slow (and posting will be a bit lighter for a couple of days). Thanks for your patience.
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Most cited living philosophers working in metaphysics & epistemology with Google Scholar pages (CORRECTED)
Once again, some philosophers like to make the list (like Peter van Inwagen and Crispin Wright) did not have Google Scholar pages, but most did. Some philosophers (like Stalnaker, Stanley, Boghossian, Devitt) do a lot of work in philosophy of language, but often in ways that bleeds over into metaphysics & epistemology, so I include…
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In Memoriam: Barry Allen (1957-2025)
Professor Allen, who was one of Richard Rorty’s best-known students, was Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy at McMaster University, where he spent most of his career. He wrote widely in epistemology, aesthetics, and on pragmatism. Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Allen or for those who wish to comment on the…
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There are many things to like about Singapore…
…but caning online “scammers” has to be way up there. (Singapore inherited caning as a punishment from the British, just for some context.)
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A framework for preserving authorship and trust in the AI era
Philosopher Eli Alshanetsky has been writing about “how we might verify human authorship and accountability in AI-mediated work without shifting the burden onto already overstretched faculty.” A short version of his ideas are available at The Conversation. A longer version is here. Professor Alshanetsky welcomes comments, and intends to reply here. Be sure to at…
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“From a Realist Point of View”: coming in March
That’s Thucydides on the cover! Readers will know some of the distinguished scholars kindly endorsing the book, but may not know the first two: Michel Troper is the preeminent French legal realist, who also introduced legal philosophy to French legal education in the 1970s (and was, I learned, a visiting professor here at Chicago a…
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“What are we living through?”
A philosopher asked me to open a discussion of this thoughtful piece by two law professors (David Pozen of Columbia and Jedediah Purdy of Duke), which Professor Pozen had kindly sent to me when it appeared. As I told him, I think their essay leaves out the most important fact, which is that Trump is…
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Most cited living philosophers of mind and cognitive science (with Google Scholar pages) [CORRECTED]
Many philosophers of mind and cognitive science work also in cognate areas (like epistemology and philosophy of language), so I have tried to identify only those whose citations are primarily to their work in mind/cog sci. Some prominent philosophers who might have made the list did not have Google Scholar pages (e.g., Michael Tye, William…
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Ebert from Stirling to Salzburg
Philip Ebert (epistemology, history of analytic philosophy), currently Professor of Philosophy at the University of Stirling, will take up the Professorship of Theoretical Philosophy at the University of Salzburg, effective February 1, 2026.
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Advertising update
Top spots are booked for December, but there is one available in each of January and February. There is at least one second spot open in the coming months, and I may also open third from the top spots given the inquiries I’ve ad. Same pricing structure as noted previously. Email me with questions and…
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Yesterday’s U.S. elections were good news for the Democrats
Democrats scored victories in California (with voter approval of redistricting to counter Trump’s efforts in Texas and elsewhere), New Jersey (a boring centrist beat a Trump acolyte), and Virginia (where another less boring centrist beat a somewhat nutty Trumpista for the governorship, but, more importantly, Democrats swept almost all the state races). In NYC, of…
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The recent Dutch elections
Amsterdam political philosopher Enzo Rossi and others comment.
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Edouard Machery on PhilosophyBites discusses convergence and divergence in intuitions…
…between philosophers and the “folk.”
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Menn from McGill to Toronto
Stephen Menn (ancient and medieval philosophy [including Islamic philosophy]), currently at McGill University, will take up a Chair in History of Philosophy at the University of Toronto, effective January 2026. (He will continue to be an Honorary Professor at the Humboldt University of Berlin, where he spends the summer term each year.) Professor Menn tells…
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Trump’s authority to issue random tariffs goes to the Supreme Court
Cornell law professor Michael Dorf reviews the issues.
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What is the University of Chicago’s “Committee on Social Thought”
There is obviously no scholarly discipline of “social thought,” which is why the earlier post (which linked to an article that lauded the Committee) prompted two different readers to email and ask: what is this entity? The Wikipedia entry is not bad about its origin. It offers undergraduate and PhD degrees. It has a lot…
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When Lenin died…
Philosopher Noel Carroll shared this funny joke: When Lenin died, as you’d expect, he went straight to Hell. Satan decided he would assign Lenin to a sort of diabolical monastery that he had set up for clergy of all ranks and genders who had been damned for their sins ranging from selling indulgences and fornication…
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Ways Trump could stay in office beyond 2028
Law professor Michael Dorf reviews the possibilities.
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Great moments in obscure “classic” rock ‘n’ roll albums: Spooky Tooth, “Spooky Two,” 1969
For the next couple of months, I will feature some great, but largely forgotten, rock albums from the “classic” era of rock ‘n’ roll (i.e., the era indebted to the American blues). First up is a British rock band, formed in 1967, with one American (Gary Wright, later of “Dream Weaver” fame in the 1970s),…
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Today in authoritarian America: Pentagon training National Guard to manage “civil unrest”
The “civil unrest” will, of course, be created by Trump and his fascist minions, no doubt to coincide with the 2026 elections.
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More on UT Austin
Following up on this, CHE has run an interview with the new Provost, who is conservative, but anti-Trump. I would say the interview is somewhat hopeful for UT Austin and its faculty, especially because the Provost indicates he has read and appreciated my former Texas colleague David Rabban’s authoritative treatment of academic freedom under the…
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“Businesses have a moral responsibility to stand up to autocracy”
So argues philosopher David Silver (UBC). My sense, alas, is that Marx and Milton Friedman were right: business under capitalism only recognizes “moral” responsibilities that are profitable. I would love to be wrong!
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Another piece on UChicago’s financial difficulties
This one, by two non-UChicago faculty, is more factually accurate than the Ando intervention, but it still makes a very serious mistake: the Board of Trustees (BOT) played no real role in the financial decisions that produced the current economic mess. They were decisions taken by the President, Robert Zimmer (approved by the BOT), an…
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News and views about philosophy, the academic profession, academic freedom, intellectual culture, and other topics. The world’s most popular philosophy blog, since 2003.
[…] more “dovish” opposition to “forever wars” from the unhinged monster child. He’s even prepared to put […]
Faith & Philosophy has such a policy as well, limiting submissions to two per calendar year. The rationale is the…
Philosophy of Science also has a policy like this.
I think that these restrictions on submissions, both those at Mind, Phil Review, etc. and those at Nous or PPR,…
A teacher and colleague I was grateful for, I will miss him. In this 2020 interview, he reflects on his…
As others have said, Phil. Review has the same policy. I think it’s a reasonable pragmatic solution to the problem…
It saddens my heart to hear of Dagfinn’s passing. I believe I was the last PhD student at Stanford to…