Issues in the profession
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A new Diamond Open Access Journal: Philosophical Logic
Wes Holliday, Thomas Icard, and Francesca Poggiolesi asked me to share the following announcement, which I am happy to do: All Editors-in-Chief and Associate Editors of the Journal of Philosophical Logic, currently published by Springer Nature, have informed Springer Nature of their resignation. Some of the editors will continue working for Springer Nature for a…
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Australian Catholic University is hiring–is it worth considering?
A young philosopher sent along this ad, writing, ” They’ve posted several jobs, but why should any candidate be rushing to apply? I wondered if you’d heard any scuttlebutt.” I have no special information, but I can report that the same vice-chancellor who destroyed the Dianoia Institute is still running the university. So caveat emptor! Comments…
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Portland State University has yet to comply with binding arbitration decision requiring reinstatement of improperly terminated faculty (UPDATED)
This is remarkable. (Earlier coverage.) PSU’s President is feminist philosopher Ann Cudd. UPDATE: President Cudd also sanctioned a faculty member for their lawful political speech. The President’s background in feminist philosophy has not appeared to enhance her professional judgment.
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Sexual harassment at Oxford (a continuing saga, alas) (UPDATED)
Hard-hitting article, which mentions one philosopher, John Tasioulas, who recently stepped down from the “Ethics in AI” project at Oxford to return to his native Australia. (When I ran into an Oxford person recently, she said they were instructed by lawyers “not to talk about” Tasioulas’s departure.) UPDATE: Professor Tasioulas denies the allegations, and says…
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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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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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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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Hiring departments: make your application process Interfolio friendly!
Some jobs still require individual submission of letters of recommendation, sometimes accompanied by absurd check-lists (the candidate is in “the top 1%” of…whatever). No doubt these are requirements imposed by university bureaucrats. Departments: tell your bureaucrats that this imposes a huge cost on faculty, and probably results in some letters never being submitted at all!
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Journals that publish symposia on recent books?
A philosopher elsewhere writes: “I’m trying to put…comments [received on the philosopher’s recent book] together in the form of a book symposium, which would also include my replies. After learning that PPR no longer publishes book symposia — I’m not sure why — it occurred to me that it might be useful to list journals…
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Amusing annals of philosophy blogs
The philosophy blogosphere, perhaps like the profession itself (and certainly like cyberspace), has divided into camps. This blog, as longtime readers know, is not friendly to the “wokerati,” but the “safe space” blog (whose provocations I mostly ignore) tried to run a thread on the death of John Searle. Predictably, given its audience, it devolved…
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On being the victim of a stalker, and then being defamed for the stalker’s crime
In 2016, I was the victim of a stalker who tried to frame me for a crime; I sought help from the police and spent time and money on lawyers and forensic investigators trying to identify the perpetrator, without success. Anyone paying attention at the time realized that I was also a victim, but, unfortunately,…
All about class.