Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog

A celebration of the philosophical art work of Helen De Cruz

MOVING TO FRONT FROM JUNE 17--UPDATED

A week from today, on Zoom, organized by philosopher Georgi Gardiner.  Tragically, Professor De Cruz is now in hospice care with a terminal illness.

UPDATE:  Professor Gardiner reports at the link, above, that Professor De Cruz died yesterday.  Next week's Zoom event will thus serve as a memorial conference.  Philosopher Eric Steinhart kindly shard this obituary for Professor De Cruz (below the fold)

Grzankowski from Birkbeck to KCL

Alex Grzankowski, Reader in Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London has accepted appointment as Senior Lecturer in Mind and Metaphysics at King's College, London, effective September 1. 

ADDENDUM:  Dr. Grzankowski writes:

It is old news that the state of higher education and its funding in the UK is extremely strained. Universities that do not have bottomless international fee payers to draw on are in a very vulnerable position. Birkbeck philosophy had 13 staff members before a difficult reduction and so presently has 4 full-time faculty members, one person at .2, and one person at .7 (due to secondment). The contraction was devastating, and I think most people agree, a real loss to a longstanding leading department. That said, I’m pleased to say that the Humanities do not seem be target or under existential threat at Birkbeck. When Hallvard Lillehammer recently left, Birkbeck replaced with a permanent lecturer (Jules Salomone-Sehr). Likewise, the strong direction of travel is that Sophia Connell and I will be replaced with permanent lecturers. Unlike some other UK programs, Birkbeck looks to have an interest in retaining philosophy, even if in a contracted form.

 

Another sordid tale of harassment of a visitor at the border for their lawful political speech

This guy was trying to visit the U.S. from Australia.  Australia, not Afghanistan or some other officially disfavored country.  He had engaged in lawful political speech in the psat, so was detained and then deported.  What a disgrace.

Some gallows humor from an Israeli academic friend

He writes:   "A few hours ago a missile that was headed to Ben-Gurion University hit a hospital instead, and there is a lot of damage there. Many missiles are targeted at universities. (The joke among Israeli academics is that the Iranians understand the importance of higher education much better than the Israeli government does)." 

Does your university/college have a faculty hiring freeze?

I have been posting periodically about the Trump war on higher education, which has led to a number of faculty hiring freezes that I have heard about:  the University of California system, Northwestern, for example.  Please post here about hiring freeze announcements at your higher education institution (you can post anonymously, but include a valid university email address, which will not appear--if you can link to a source, even better).

A measured and systematic critique of the AAUP's Committee A on academic freedom...

...by law professor and academic freedom expert Matthew Finkin.  Among other things, Professor Finkin documents how shoddy the work of Committee A is, in addition to its betrayal of core academic freedom principles.  These days, FIRE and the Academic Freedom Alliance are leading the way in defending core academic freedom values.

A mysterious surge in visits last week from Vietnam

It lasts several days, and involved thousands of unique visits, some of whom visited multiple pages of the blog.  I am guessing the blog must have been linked from some popular website or discussion board in Vietnam.  Can any readers from Vietnam shed light on this?  Thanks.

A new philosophy journal? "Germ"

Philosopher Bryan Frances writes:

Here’s an idea for a new philosophy journal, called “Germ”. All it publishes are the germs of ideas. No development, no stage-setting, no detailed arguments, no treatment or even mention of the relevant literature, and so on. Max word length would be something like 500. When submitting to the journal, the author has the option of including a 1000-word semi-development of the idea, just so the referees can see what the alleged benefits of the idea might be. That bit would NOT be published.

Think of how many articles could be published this way. Usually, articles are around 6000-8000 words; but that’s equivalent to 12-16 Germ articles. And think of how easy and fun it would be to read them: takes just a couple minutes each. If a reader thought the idea was super promising, they could write the author for further discussion, brainstorming, collaboration, or whatever. Finally, it might be easier to referee the papers, since there's not much to assess. It's not like the referee has to engage a complicated argument or view.

I know that lots of us have the experience of reading an article and thinking "That's a cool idea, although I think I might develop or assess it differently". I'm often convinced that an author has a cool idea even though I'm not convinced by the particular arguments or views that it generates. Perhaps Germ articles would promote more creativity, since readers are left to their own devices when developing the idea.

The journal Analysis publishes short pieces, but it wants detailed argumentation and rigor. Well, screw that (joke).

Is this the germ of a decent idea for a journal?

Great moments in rock 'n' roll memorials: Sly Stone and Brian Wilson edition

Two major figures of 1960s and 1970s rock music, Sly Stone ("Sly & the Family Stone") and Brian Wilson (primary songwriter and arranger for "The Beach Boys") both died this week.  I confess to not having been a big Beach Boys fan, but they undoubtedly had some splendid songs.  I was more partial to Sly & the Family Stone, especiall the albums from 1968 and 1969.  A few clips follow, but feel free to add links to your own favorites by either in the comments.

Here's the 1968 official music video of what is probably Sly & the Family Stone's best-known song, "Everyday People":

More signs of the times: Northwestern announces hiring freeze, other cuts

Northwestern University has announced a faculty and staff hiring freeze, as well as (so far unspecified) cuts to employee tuition benefits and healthcare.  (The latter is a bit shocking, frankly.)   Northwestern is on the "hit list" for the fake anti-semitism campaign of the Trumpistas, and has already lost nearly $800 million in federal monies.

Connell from Birkbeck to Notre Dame

Sophia Connell (ancient philosophy, history of analytic philosophy), Reader in Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London, has accepted a tenured appointment as Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, effective January 1, 2026.

Quantum mechanics, realism, and idealism

This essay in Nature by philosopher Alyssa Ney is quite informative and lucid (especially for those, like me, with a limited understanding of the physics), but you will have to register (for free) to read the whole thing.

We are heading into an even more dangerous moment under the tyrant Trump

Protests against ICE, against the persecution of immigrants, and against the military invasion of Los Angeles are spreading--including to Chicago--and this is likely to increase exponentially with each Trump provocation.  Trump would love nothing better than to send the national guard and military into Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, etc.  That will, of course, put many more citizens at risk, since the military and national guard are not trained in policing or crowd management.  Anyone who voted for this malevolent buffoon should be ashamed.  If his imbecile Secretary of Health & Human Services doesn't kill us all, Trump's reckless use of military forces will ultimately result in deaths.

UPDATE:  Governor Newsom's speech is right on the mark:

 

RFK Jr's plan to kill us all: vaccine approval edition

The dangerous imbecile strikes again:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. health secretary, on Monday fired all 17 members of the advisory committee on immunization to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, saying that the move would restore the public’s trust in vaccines....

The C.D.C.’s vaccine advisers wield enormous influence. They carefully review data on vaccines, debate the evidence and vote on who should get the shots and when. Insurance companies and government programs like Medicaid are required to cover the vaccines recommended by the panel....

This is the latest in a series of moves that Mr. Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic, has made to dismantle decades of policy standards for immunizations. An advisory panel more closely aligned with Mr. Kennedy’s views has the potential to significantly alter — or even drop — the recommendations for immunizations to Americans, including childhood vaccinations.

The decision directly contradicts a promise Mr. Kennedy made to Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, during his confirmation hearings, when he said he would not alter the panel, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices....

Public health experts reacted strongly to Mr. Kennedy’s announcement, calling it an extreme and reckless decision.

“I don’t think there’s any way to put this, other than saying that this is an unmitigated public health disaster,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary, chair of the infectious disease committee for the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The lunatics are running the asylum, and putting all normal people at danger.  Senator Cassidy is a disgrace for enabling this fiasco.

On the shameless lies undergirding the military invasion of Los Angeles

This is right:

Administration officials like Stephen Miller are pushing the idea that Los Angeles is “occupied territory,” as evidenced by the foreign flags some protesters are carrying. Americans who still have hope for democracy should be saying, as loudly and as often as they can, that this is an insultingly stupid lie to justify a dictatorial power grab. 

A serious, rather than rhetorical, Trump-Hitler comparison...

...from law professor Matthew Finkin, who examines the legal mechanisms by which the Nazis consolidated power, with comparisons to Trump (as well as noting some importance differences).  Before Orban, there was Hitler, and it's worth paying attention to some of the unnerving parallels.

One "difference" is that Hitler openly ridiculed Western democracies and liberal values; Trump, by contrast, simply never talks about or expresses any commitment to democracy or liberal values (apart from occasional meaningless uses of the word "freedom").

Lateral moves/retirements since the 2024 Philosophical Gourmet Report: 2024-25 edition

In addition to the separate posts announcing (generally tenured) faculty moves, I will keep a running list of all lateral moves (and retirements and deaths) not reflected in the faculty lists for the 2024 PGR (some moves that took place after the 2024 PGR were reflected in the faculty list, because the editors knew of them--the ones listed here were not reflected in the faculty lists evaluators saw).  I will start a new list for each academic year, so that the list does not get unwieldy.    I will move this to the front periodically, putting recent additions in bold.  Untenured lateral moves will be noted as such, otherwise the move is with tenure.  A lateral move is one from one tenure-stream position to another either into or out of a program offering the PhD or terminal MA.  In addition I will list retirements and also deaths of non-emeritus faculty.  Please e-mail me with additions or corrections.

Santiago Amaya (moral psychology, philosophy of action) from the University of Los Andes (Colombia) to Rice University.

Kristin Andrews (philosophy of mind & cognitive science [esp. 'animal minds']) from York University, Toronto to the City University of New York Graduate Center.

Jc Beall (philosophical logic; philosophy of logic, mathematics & language; metaphysics) had to rescind (for personal reasons) acceptance of an offer from the National University of Singapore, so remains at the University of Notre Dame.

Elizabeth Brake (ethics, applied ethics, political philosophy, feminist philosophy) from Rice University to the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Sophia Connell (ancient philosophy, history of analytic philosophy) from Birkbeck College, University of London to the University of Notre Dame.

Sophia Dandelet (ethics, epistemology) from Cambridge University to the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Jeremy Fantl (epistemology) from the University of Calgary to Ohio State University.

Stephen Finlay (metaethics), formerly at the Australian Catholic University to the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Michael Friedman (Kant, philosophy of science, 20th-century philosophy) took emeritus status at Stanford University in 2024 (and died in 2025).

Sebastian Gardner (Kant, 19th-century German philosophy) retired from University College London in Januray 2025.

John Heil (metaphysics, philosophy of mind) will retire from teaching at Washington University, St. Louis and Durham University at the end of the 2024-25 academic year.

Grace Helton (cognitive science, epistemology, moral psychology) from Princeton University (untenured) to the University of Rochester (tenured).

Karolina Hübner (early modern philosophy, Jewish philosophy, history of metaphysics, philosophical theology) from Cornell University to the University of California, Los Angeles.

Jessica Keiser (philosophy of language, social & political philosophy) from the University of Leeds to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Marc Lange (philosophy of science & physics) from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill to Rutgers University, New Brunswick.

Harvey Lederman (logic, philosophy of language, epistemology, Chinese philosophy) from the University of Texas, Austin to New York University (effective 2026-27).

Barry Loewer (philosophy of language & mind, philosophy of physics) will retire from Rutgers University, New Brunswick at the end of the 2024-25 academic year (but will continue to do a graduate seminar for a few years).

The shift away from humanities towards STEM in graduate education at UChicago

This data, compiled by the UChicago AAUP chapter, is pretty alarming.  The last President was a mathematician (Bob Zimmer, whose gross mismanagement of the finances has left the university in a vulnerable position); the current one a chemist.  Is that part of the explanation for this shift?  I'm not sure.

American NeoNazis ramping up activities and training...

...for the obvious reasons.

Signs of the times: Johns Hopkins announces staff hiring freeze, pay freeze

Hopkins runs huge medical and life sciences research programs, heavily dependent on federal monies, so this is not surprising.  The University of Chicago (which gets much less NIH money) has not announced a hiring freeze, but has announced a freeze on salaries, the second time in five years.  Thanks Bob Zimmer (the President who ruined the university's finances)!

UPDATE:  Steve Gross shared the message from the Johns Hopkins leadership, which described some of the effects the Trump war on universities is having:

As many of you know first-hand, we continue to experience a steady stream of research grant terminations, suspensions, and delays. We shared in March the loss of more than $800 million at Hopkins from USAID grant terminations. Since January, we also have had 90 grants terminated by other agencies, resulting in the loss of more than $50 million in federal research funding, with more terminations arriving nearly every week. 

Moreover, we are seeing a marked decline in the pipeline of new federal research awards at Hopkins, down by nearly two-thirds since January, compared to the same period last year, despite continued high scores and an increase in submissions by our researchers. We fear that this downward trend may be laying the groundwork for deep cuts to the extramural research programs at the NIH, NSF, DOD and DOE—further fraying the extraordinary and longstanding research partnership between universities and the federal government and significantly curtailing Hopkins' capacity to undertake our core academic and research mission and to sustain the people who allow us to realize it. 

The salary freeze applies only to those earning more than $80,000, and the leadership indicates that they will reevaluate the financial situation come January 2026.  

Berkeley's lawsuit against the Trumpistas for unlawful termination of grants

Here.  It's a good survey of the multiple ways in which almost everything Trump is doing to the NSF, NIH, NEH etc. is blatantly illegal.

(Thanks to Dean Rowan for the pointer.)

Many Trump efforts to make America unlivable are "beneath the radar" as it were

Case in point, via political scientist Adam Bonica:

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) recently unveiled a "Merit Hiring Plan" that, despite its name, signals a profound departure from a cornerstone of American democracy: the non-partisan, merit-based civil service. Under this plan, every federal job applicant from GS-5 positions upward must now write essays explaining how they would "advance the President's Executive Orders and policy priorities." Political appointees must approve every hire through "executive interviews" that assess "commitment to American ideals."

The hiring reforms aim to complete the systematic takeover of the federal government as outlined in Project 2025 taken directly from the Authoritarian playbook. First came mass firings disguised as efficiency reforms. Then the gutting of oversight agencies. Next, the weakening of enforcement through executive orders. Now, the final step: replacing career professionals with political loyalists through ideological screening. A merit-based civil service that took generations to build is being dismantled via memo.

This pattern is grimly familiar from democratic backsliding worldwide. Hungary and Turkey purged the bureaucracy of the insufficiently loyal. Poland replaced career prosecutors with political allies. In each case, the rhetoric—efficiency, reform, national values—matches what we see in OPM's memo. In each case, the result was identical: competent professionals replaced by incompetent loyalists, leading to corruption, dysfunction, and democratic decay.

To grasp what we stand to lose, we must recall the "spoils system" that merit-based civil service replaced. For America's first century, federal jobs were political prizes. Each presidential election could trigger a wholesale replacement of government workers. Competence was secondary to loyalty.

You can read the rest of Professor Bonica's piece to see what happened in the past (e.g., no mail service!).

Trump Education Department now trying to get Columbia University's accreditation revoked

One good thing about this preposterous move is it should convince every other university in the country that there is no point to trying to appease the Trumpistas, which Columbia did with its initial capitulation.  This got Columbia exactly nothing.  Every school take note.  Columbia should have gone to court back in March.  Now they will have no choice but to do so.  (The immediate impact of losing accreditation is thta students cannot access federal loans for their education.  The private loan market would probably pick up much of that slack, but on less favorable terms for the students.  In any case, the idea that Columbia University does not meet accreditation standards is beyond absurd.  But when you're dealing with extortionists, "absurdity" is no obstacle.)

UPDATE:  CHE suggests that the real purpose here is not to remove Columbia's accreditation, but to lay the groundwork for attacking the accreditor, when it doesn't do anything about the administration's complaints.

Here's what ICE operations look like "on the ground"

Rather creepy!

Speaking of Marx, here's a video of a "book talk" event at UChicago's Stone Center on Inequality...

...hosted by Professor Steven Durlauf (an economist in the Harris School of Public Policy here), with remarks by myself and Jaime Edwards, and commentary by Professor Durlauf and Professor Geoffrey Wodtke (UChicago Sociology).  It was a lot of fun and quite interesting (although I think Professor Wodtke was mistaken about the need for the labor theory of value to explain why classes have conflicts in material interests).

Lederman from Texas to NYU

Harvey Lederman (logic, epistemology, philosophy of language, Chinese philosophy), Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin, has accepted a senior offer from the Department of Philosophy at New York University, where he will start in 2026-27.  That's a big catch for NYU, and a big loss for Texas (which will very likely drop out of the top ten in the U.S., but will, I expect, remain in the top 15).

Edwards & Leiter's "Marx" volume now a "bestseller"...

...at least by academic standards; Routledge tells me the book has sold 1500 copies in just eight months! Thank you readers!

A message to international students and faculty

Philosopher Gregory Fried kindly gave permission to share this very apt message about the lastest Trump stupidity that he sent to students and colleagues; I endorse its sentiments fully!

Dear Students, Colleagues, Friends, 

I am writing to students and colleagues I have taught or worked with this year, plus students at Boston College I believe to be foreign nationals, as well as friends and colleagues elsewhere who may understand the urgency of the moment, to express my personal horror, disgust, and shame as an American educator that the present administration is now singling out for harassment and potential denial of visas to students and educators at American colleges and universities who are not US citizens. 

I want those of you who are foreign nationals to know that I sympathize deeply with the uncertainty, worry, and even fear that some of you may now be facing. As the child of two parents who began their lives as non-US citizens, and one chased out of his birthland by Nazis, who both came to America as a beacon of freedom, refuge, opportunity, and learning, I want you to know that it matters greatly to me that that light is being dimmed, or maybe even turned off -- but also that it is worth fighting to keep it on. 

I will probably have left many out of this email inadvertently who should hear it, even if it is just words; I hope they will gather the spirit of this note from others who share its purpose. 

For those of you who are US citizens, I would encourage you to show personal support to those who may now be suffering from fears about their education, careers, and even safety here in America. Remember that it is often in the little things of everyday life that we can make a difference. Now is not a time to be silent. Do not obey in advance. 

With best wishes,

Greg Fried

RFK Jr's plan to kill us all: bird flu edition

Unbelievable:

The Trump administration has delivered its latest blow to vaccines, canceling a nearly $600-million contract to the drugmaker Moderna that was intended to develop a shot for humans against bird flu.

The decision also forfeited the U.S. government’s right to purchase doses ahead of a pandemic, and canceled an agreement set up by the Biden administration in January to prepare the nation for a potential bird flu pandemic. The Moderna contract built on a previous government investment of $175 million last year.

Hopefully a coalition of civilized countries will invest in this pretty basic preparedness measure.

Great moments in obscure blues that Led Zeppelin "borrowed": Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy, "When the Levee Breaks," 1929

While poets, according to Harold Bloom, suffered from the anxiety attending the influence of earlier poets, Led Zeppelin suffered nothing similar, borrowing rather freely (and sometimes without attribution) from the American blues canon.   The originals are often forgotten.  Here's one, with the Zeppelin version below the fold:

Apt remarks by economist Glenn Loury on the universities and their critics (like the imbecile Christopher Rufo)

Here:

[T]hese universities, and Harvard is at the pinnacle of an exquisite system of intellectual production, are places of real mastery. That’s true in the sciences, the social sciences, and in the humanities. The people who get tenure at these institutions are custodians of the legacy of intellectual reflection and the production of ideas that goes back centuries. They are responsible for curating, transmitting, and augmenting our understanding of the problems of existence. They deal with questions of the origins of the universe, the origins of the species, with what is beautiful, and what is true. So with great respect, somebody sitting at a think tank who’s on a crusade of political criticism can’t be allowed to substitute for the collective judgment of these communities of reflection and refinement.

Harvard strips tenure from and fires embattled HBS psychologist Francesca Gino

Here.  At one time, she was one of the five highest paid faculty at Harvard, earning one million dollars a year (business school professors are very good at ratcheting their salaries up!).  I suppose so much money, which no doubt resulted from outside offers, could create a bad motive for producing striking experimental results no matter the evidence.   (Regarding her earlier defamation claim, which was dismissed, see this.)

Memorial events for Larry Sklar at the University of Michigan

Philosopher Laura Ruetsche writes:

Next week we're having a few events in Larry Sklar's memory. One is a celebration of life held in Ann Arbor, June 5, with an option for zoom participation.  Another is a June 6 workshop featuring talks by Larry'sstudents. All interested parties are welcome to attend either!

Republican budget bill would eliminate Pell grant eligibility for about 20% of students who currently get them

Not surprising that the Republicans are doing this (they're having a lot of trouble being the "working class party," aren't they?), but in addition to creating financial distress for students it will prove another budgetary problem for many universities.

Can there be a "theory of everything"?

Philosopher Stephan Hartmann comments. 

On leaving America

The NYT put together a video about three Yale professors--two historians and philosopher Jason Stanley--who are leaving Trump's America to go to the University of Toronto.  I had repeatedly urged Jason to take the Toronto job, because of the direction this country is going, and because he himself had elicited abuse from Trump's "communications" hatchet man Steve Cheung, a rather bad sign).  Towards the end of the video, Professor Stanley makes a particularly striking remark:  "You know you're living in a fascist society when you're constantly going over in your head the reasons why you're safe."  As he concludes, we want to live in a society where we all know we're safe!  IIn the U.S., we do not.

The latest lawlessness by the Trumpistas against Harvard

The Department of Homeland Security informed Harvard that it can no longer enroll international students, and Harvard has sued for this brazen First Amendment violation and will seek, and get, a temporary restraining order against the government.

What is extraordinary and frightening about the behavior of the miscreants in Washington DC is that they do things for which there is no legal basis, and for which they know there is no legal basis.  It is what Trump has always done throughout his career:  he pushes the limits, to see what the consequences might be.  He did this with his extortion of prominent law firms, many of whom caved, but those that didn't have already secured temporary and permanent injunctions from the courts (and apparently the Trumpistas haven't bothered to appeal the injunctions, which is very telling).

Columbia University, now notoriously, capitulated.  Since Harvard is the first to refuse the extortion, the Trumpistas are now testing all their weapons, no matter how illegal, against Harvard.  My hope is that Harvard's resistance will be duplicated by other schools, and that at some point the Trumpistas will give up, and just go back to changing federal funding formulas legally.

UPDATE:  Although Harvard only filed suit this morning, a federal judge has already enjoined DHS from blocking international student enrollment at Harvard.  That's telling about how beyond the pale this is.

ANOTHER:  A philosopher elsewhere writes:

The Trump regime know that they can drive away foreign students even if their power-grabs are slapped down within 24 hours.  The point is to create uncertainty, and make it less attractive to enroll.

You don't need to put actual poison in the soup in order to scare customers away from the restaurant; all you need to do is convince enough people that there is some chance that the soup is poisoned.  They will eat elsewhere. 

Accordingly, Harvard — and other US universities — are going to see their foreign enrollment crash, and with it a lot of their cash revenues. If Trump really cared about the foreign trade imbalance, he would be doing anything to help one of America's most successful domestic industries that brings millions of customers to our shore, bring billions in tuition payments. But they are willing to destroy a successful US export in order to destroy independent thought. 

The regime henchmen really are revolutionaries of a ruthlessness that our feeble leftists can only dream of. The thought police of the left come wagging fingers; the thought police of the right come swinging truncheons.  Let's hope we survive this.

In Memoriam: Alasdair MacIntyre (1929-2025)

Professor MacIntyre, who was emeritus at the University of Notre Dame, wrote widely and influentialy in ethics and the history of ethics over his long career, which also included tenured teaching posts at Boston University, Duke University, Vanderbilt University, and Brandeis University, among other schools.  There is a remembrance here and a link to an account of his own intellectual development here.  Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor MacIntyre or for those who would like to comment on the significance of his work.

(Thanks to Rick Garnett for the pointer to the first link.)

UPDATE:  Professor MacIntyre came in 9th in this poll of readers about the most important moral philosophers since WWII; I would guess outside academic philosophy, Professor MacIntyre would have come in first.

My summer blogging quasi-hiatus has already begun...

...as readers may have inferred.   There will continue to be posts, but not as frequently as in prior months.  With lots of grading on the immediate horizon for me, I will also be even less responsive to email than before, but I still welcome suggestions, and will try to respond, if not right away.