Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Poobah, "Mr. Destroyer," 1972

ORIGINALLY POSTED DECEMBER 15, 2018

Youngstown, Ohio hard rock/heavy metal outfit (think Black Sabbath) led by guitarist Jim Gustafson.  They had a big Ohio following, but thanks to bad luck and lack of smart management, never made it nationally or internationally.   Hard to understand why this song, from their debut album, isn't a standard of "classic rock" radio, for example:

 

Simon Blackburn on the biography of Parfit

A more appreciative review of the biography than Mulhall's, and more philosophically substantial as well, including some sharp and what seem to me correct criticisms of Parfit's views.

What is it like to be a philosopher? Eric Winsberg edition

Here.

97 years ago today Sholem Schwarzbard assassinated a Ukrainian nationalist and butcher of Jews

He was later acquitted by a French court.  A different world, still a stunning story.  (A longer, scholarly treatment here.)

The war on tenure (and abortion) comes to North Carolina

Philosopher David Austin (North Carolina State University) writes:

North Carolina House bill HB715 would eliminate tenure for all future UNC system faculty hires, replacing it with 1-4 year contracts.

The joint effect of the restrictions on abortion (SB20, effective July 1) and elimination of tenure would be enormous damage to NC's economy. Most women will not want to attend post-secondary education in states that restrict access to abortion. Most female faculty and those whose partners are women, as well as those who have female children, will want to avoid states that restrict access to abortion. Many businesses will leave or avoid such states. (If travel to another state or country to get an abortion can be criminalized by a woman's state of residence, business offers to cover any travel expenses won't help.) Some supporting detail is in the attached:   Download NCRestrictsAbortionTenure

I've seen little or no discussion in the media of the inevitable joint effects of limiting or eliminating tenure plus restricting access to abortion; maybe I missed it. I've looked for and not found comments by any economists of education. Perhaps they believe that it would be wasted effort because Republican legislators care only about their own re-elections and those who voted for them are ignorant or indifferent even if not favorably disposed towards the restrictions and the elimination.

Stephen Mulhall did not like Derek Parfit's way of doing philosophy...

...so, unsurprisingly, he did not much like a biography of Parfit.  There were a couple of apt criticisms of the philosophy and the philosopher.  For example:

[A]lthough Parfit’s favoured method for pursuing and refining ethical thinking presents itself as open to all whatever their ethical stance, it actually incorporates a subtle but pervasive bias against approaches to ethics that don’t focus exclusively or primarily on the outcomes of individual actions.

And also:

You don’t have to be Nietzsche to see in Parfit’s adult life a particularly stark version of an ascetic ideal that has its historical roots in the religious framework his family inhabited, but which has mutated into a variety of avowedly secular cultural forms, in science, art and philosophy. These ideals attribute a transcendent value to truth and truthfulness, and so to forms of human life that seek it, no matter what costs they impose. To the martyred Galileo and the abused avant-gardiste, we can now add the moral philosopher who cloisters himself within a cloistered institution whose founding purpose was to pray for the faithful departed. All these exemplary figures exhibit a sadomasochistic structure of self-denial, in which most of what makes life worth living is sacrificed to one’s intellectual calling. 

UPDATE:  Dr. Roger Albin writes:

Thanks for linking to Mulhall’s interesting review of the Parfit bio.  Having read Reasons & Persons, I agree with several of his criticisms.  His comment about Parfit’s personality and adult life, however, particularly the “…sadomasochistic structure of self-denial, in which most of what makes life worth living is sacrificed to one’s intellectual calling” remark may be misleading.  At an earlier point in the review, he notes that Parfit’s biographer suggested that Parfit might have had an autism spectrum disorder (though disorder is something of a misnomer).  Based on what I’ve read about Parfit, I’d say this is more than plausible.  But if that is the case, then spending his life in the cloistered environment of All Souls College, and Parfit’s apparently obsessive conduct, would not be “sadomasochistic denial.”  Many of the ordinary demands, pleasures, and uncertainties of conventional life may well have been distressing for Parfit.  His life would be uncomfortably demanding for the great majority of us, but it may well have been the most comfortable for him. 

A celebration of the life and work of Maria Rosa Antognazza on June 14...

...at King's College, London.  (The earlier memorial announcement.)

Poitier meets Plato

MOVING TO FRONT FROM MAY 22--SEE UPDATE

From his 1964 album:

(Thanks to Rob Tempio for the pointer.)

UPDATE:  There is a digital version of the full album here.   (Thanks to Neil Jahren for the pointer.)

 

Lateral moves/retirements (etc.) since the 2021 Philosophical Gourmet Report: 2023 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 last PGR (some moves that took place after the last PGR were reflected in the faculty list, because the editors knew of them).  I will start a new list for each academic year, so that the list does not get unwieldy.  (The 2022 list is here, with a couple of late additions in bold.)  Unless otherwise noted, the appointment (or retirement) takes effect in 2023.  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.

*Richard J. Arneson (political philosophy) is retiring from the University of California, San Diego at the end of the 2022-23 academic year.

*William Bechtel (philosophy of cognitive science and neuroscience) is retiring from the University of California, San Diego at the end of the 2022-23 academic year.

*Juliana Bidadanure (political philosophy) from Stanford University to New York University.

*Martha Bolton (early modern philosophy) will retire from Rutgers University, New Brunswick in July 2023.

*Robert Bolton (ancient philosophy) will retire from Rutgers University, New Brunswick in July 2023.

*Pascal Brixel (social & political philosophy, ethics, Marx & Marxism) from Clemson University to Northwestern University (untenured lateral).

*Brookes Brown (social & political philosophy) from Clemson University to the University of Toronto (untenured lateral).

*Justin Bruner (social & political philosophy, PPE) from University of Arizona (Political Economy & Moral Sciences) to the University at Buffalo, State University of New York.

*Lu Chen (philosophy of mathematics & physics, metaphysics, philosophical logic) from Koç University (Turkey) to the University of Southern California (effective January 2024) (untenured lateral).

*Patrick Connolly (early modern philosophy and science) from Lehigh University (untenured) and University of Wisconsin, Madison (visiting) to Johns Hopkins University (effective January 2023).

*Ann Cudd (feminist philosophy, social & political philosophy) from University of Pittsburgh (where she is Provost) to Portland State University (to become President).

*Stewart Duncan (early modern philosophy) from the University of Florida, Gainesville to the University at Buffalo, State University of New York.

*William Edmundson (political, legal, & moral philosophy) retired from Georgia State University in December 2022.

*David Enoch (moral, political & legal philosophy) from Hebrew University, Jerusalem to Oxford University.

*Rachel Fraser (philosophy of language, epistemology, feminist philosophy) from Oxford University to the Dianoia Institute, Australian Catholic University.

*Stacie Friend (aesthetics, philosophy of language & mind) from Birkbeck College, University of London to the University of Edinburgh.

*Michael Garnett (social & political philosophy, ethics, philosophy of action) from Birkbeck College, University of London to King's College, London.

*Ken Gemes (philosophy of science, Nietzsche, Freud) will retire from Birkbeck College, University of London in July 2023.

*Robert Gooding-Williams (social-political philosophy, philosophy of race, 19th- and 20th-century Continental philosophy) from Columbia University to Yale University (effective July 2024).

*Charles L. Griswold (18th-century philosophy, ethics, political philosophy, ancient philosophy) is retiring from Boston University at the end of the 2022-23 academic year.

*Paul Guyer (Kant, aesthetics) is on phased retirement at Brown University (he will retire fully no later than the end of June 2025, and perhaps sooner).

*Thimo Heisenberg (19th-century German philosophy, social & political philosophy) from Bryn Mawr College to Rice University (untenured lateral).

*Robert Howell (philosophy of mind, metaphysics) from Southern Methodist University to Rice University.

*Thomas Hurka (ethics), who has been on phased retirement at the University of Toronto, is retiring at the end of the 2022-23 academic year. (This information was included in the 2021 PGR surveys, so should, in principle, have been taken into account by evaluators.)

*Susan James (early modern philosophy, feminist philosophy) will retire from Birkbeck College, University of London in July 2023.

*Hrishikesh Joshi (moral & political philospohy, metaethics, PPE) from Bowling Green State University to the University of Arizona (untenured lateral).

*Hannah Kim (aesthetics, metaphysics, Asian philosophy, existentialism) from Macalaster College to the University of Arizona (untenured lateral).

*Claire Kirwin (ethics, metaethics, aesthetics, Nietzsche) from Clemson University to Northwestern University (untenured lateral).

*Katharina Kraus (Kant, philosophy of mind and psychology) from the University of Notre Dame to Johns Hopkins University (effective January 2023).

*Michael Kremer (history of analytic philosophy, logic) will retire from the University of Chicago at the end of the 2022-23 academic year.

*N.G. Laskowski (ethics, metaethics, social philosophy) from California State University, Long Beach to the University of Maryland, College Park (untenured lateral).

*Harvey Lederman (logic, epistemology, philosophy of language, Chinese philosophy) from Princeton University to the University of Texas, Austin (effective January 2023).

Wash U/St. Louis professor being recruited for UT Austin's new "free enterprise" think tank...

...turns down offer because of the attack on tenure.  Will the awful Texas Lt. Governor, who championed the think tank and the attack on tenure, pick up this market signal?

(Thanks to Humphreys McGee for the pointer.)

St. Norbert College philosophy professor strikes it rich...

...on the game show Jeopardy!  A quarter million dollars!

(Thanks to Phil Gasper for the pointer.)

The Republican war on K-12 education: South Carolina edition

Here, with interesting history of race relations in South Carolina, and an appropriate skewering of Viktor DeSantis's slimy and stupid hitman Christopher Rufo.

(Thanks to Jason Stanley for the pointer.)

Year-long initiative on free speech and academic freedom at UC Irvine

Announcement here.  UC Irvine Chancellor Howard Gillman has written widely on these issues.  University of Chicago recently created a new "Forum" on these topics, to be led by my law colleague Tom Ginsburg.  He has already been running a series of talks on these issues (I gave one on "The Law and Philosophy of Academic Freedom").  Hopefully we will see more such initiatives proliferating, including in states facing threats from Republican Governors and legislatures.

Texas tenure battle continues

We'll find out by Friday whether Texas will destroy its public research universities or not.  The bill that passed the Texas Senate will eliminate tenure for all new hires; the bill that passed the Texas House preserves tenure, but permits termination for some non-traditional reasons that are ripe for abuse, such as “conduct involving moral turpitude” or “unprofessional conduct that adversely affects the institution.”  The latter is especially egregious.  Some schools do have "moral turpitude" clauses, but defined in terms of criminal conviction for a felony.   The final bill will be worked out in a somewhat opaque "negotiation" process that I never understood even when I lived in Texas.  If the House version prevails, it will not be an immediate disaster, although if the vague clauses are weaponized by some schools, it will become a disaster.  If the Senate version prevails, the major research centers in the public university system (e.g., UT Austin, UT Southwestern in Dallas, Texas A&M) will be decimated over the next ten years.

Silicon Valley, Elon Musk, and the popularity of eugenics

Interesting and creepy.  To be clear, I'm not wholly opposed to eugenics:  people like Elon Musk should not be allowed to reproduce.

(Thanks to Phil Gasper for the pointer.)

Blast from the past: Best Anglophone political philosophers since 1945

Back in 2016.

Would you choose to live forever?

Philosopher John Martin Fischer discusses the topic for a popular audience.

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: The Third Power, "Gettin' Together," 1970

Another number from this Michigan band's only album, this is the lead track:

 

In Memoriam: William J. Talbott (1949-2023)

Professor Talbott was a longtime faculty member at the University of Washington, Seattle, where he was emeritus.   His initial work was in epistemology, but he then wrote influentially in moral, political, and legal philosophy.   I met him many years ago; he was a first-rate intellect.  I will add links to memorial notices as they appear.  Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Talbott, or those who want to comment on the significance of his work.

(Thanks to Matt Lister and Colin Marshall for information.)

UPDATE:  Professor Talbott's year of birth was 1949 (not 1950 as I originally had it); my thanks to his UW colleague Professor Jamie Mayerfield (in Political Science) for the correction.

UC Santa Cruz being sued over its unlawful "diversity" statement requirement for job applicants

A news release here, and the complaint is here.   The plaintiff claims that the state is imposing unconstitutional conditions on job applicants in violation of their First Amendment rights, as well as engaging in unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination (I have emphasized the latter).

One philosopher elected to American Philosophical Society

He is philosopher of science and biology John Dupre at the University of Exeter.

APA announces prizes....

...including the Dewey Lectures, the Gittler Prize, and others.

Humanities (including philosophy) at risk of being totally gutted at the University of Brighton in the UK

The proposed cuts are draconian!  At the prior link, there is also a link to an open letter that readers can sign in support of their Brighton colleagues.

(Thanks to Pascal Brixel for the pointer.)

Students in the UK are still trying to deplatform philosopher Kathleen Stock

MOVING TO FRONT FROM YESTERDAY--UPDATED

It's apparently not enough to have run her out of her job, some of them still can't abide her being invited to speak.  The latest incident was at Oxford.  Philosopher Jeff McMahan (Oxford) kindly shared the very good letter he and other Oxford academics (including many philosophers [e.g., Timothy Williamson, Joel Hamkins, John Tasioulas, etc.]) sent to The Telegraph.  An excerpt (I added bolding to the crucial point):

Professor Stock believes that biological sex in humans is real and socially salient, a view which until recently would have been so commonplace as to hardly merit asserting. Whether or not one agrees with Professor Stock’s views, there is no plausible and attractive ideal of academic freedom, or of free speech more generally, which would condemn their expression as outside the bounds of permissible discourse. Unfortunately, the position of her opponents seems to be that Professor Stock’s views are so illicit that they cannot be safely discussed in front of an audience of consenting and intelligent adults at the main debating society at the University of Oxford. If this were the case, it is doubtful that they could be safely expressed anywhere – a result that, as her opponents are no doubt satisfied to find, would amount to their effective prohibition.

Anyone who disagrees with the bolded bit is really not fit for university life.

UPDATE:  The Oxford Student Union has sent out a message to its members denying that severing its financial relationship with the Oxford Union was related to the invitation to Professor Stock:

Hello Students,

We refer to the recent commentary in the national media regarding the decision of Oxford SU, the student union of the University of Oxford, to suspend its commercial and financial relationship with the Oxford Union, the private members’ club and debating society.

The press coverage erroneously conflates the recent motion passed by the Student Council of Oxford SU in relation to the Oxford Union with the Oxford Union’s decision to invite Dr Kathleen Stock as a speaker. The motion was unrelated to Dr Stock’s intended talk. It did not mention Dr Stock or any other speaker at the Oxford Union, instead citing long-standing concerns relating to alleged bullying, sexual harassment, discrimination and data privacy breaches which affect students. The motion was democratically passed at a meeting of students, following a debate which also did not mention Dr Stock.

It is deeply unfortunate that the media has chosen to imply a connection between the Student Council’s vote and Dr Stock’s talk.  Oxford SU is a charity which exists to promote the interests and welfare of students and to provide social, cultural, and recreational activities and forums for discussions and debate. We are committed to freedom of expression and freedom of speech, and will defend the right of people to have controversial and unpopular ideas debated as an integral part of university life and the student experience.

Draft Minutes from Student Council

 

Blast from the past: Mark Taylor (Columbia Religion Dept.) is an ignorant menace

Back in 2010.

There should be severe liability for creating "counterfeit people" using AI

Philosopher Daniel Dennett in The Atlantic:

Today, for the first time in history, thanks to artificial intelligence, it is possible for anybody to make counterfeit people who can pass for real in many of the new digital environments we have created. These counterfeit people are the most dangerous artifacts in human history, capable of destroying not just economies but human freedom itself. Before it’s too late (it may well be too late already) we must outlaw both the creation of counterfeit people and the “passing along” of counterfeit people. The penalties for either offense should be extremely severe, given that civilization itself is at risk.

Ruse on Setiya on Kitcher (with Leiter's commentary)

Philosopher Kieran Setiya wrote a fairly critical review of Philip Kitcher's recent book, What's the Use of Philosophy.  A few excerpts:

What Kitcher finds in philosophy today is arid technicality, produced for an audience of insiders. He complains about the fetish for clarity and the needless use of formalism; he objects to a methodology that splices intuitions about fanciful cases with assertions of a priori knowledge (‘sprinkling fairy dust’); he accuses philosophers of not knowing enough about the sciences that pertain to their work and of failing to question whether their projects are worthwhile. What he wants is a philosophy of use to scientists, or which can be applied to social problems. He also wants new synthetic visions, ways of seeing the world that bring together different disciplines with an eye to human flourishing.

Scientists are useful people, but there is more to philosophy than being useful to science or solving "social problems," although I do think philosophy could do a lot more of the former, and has done almost none of the latter.   Genuine philosophers are legislators of value, as one 19th-century German observed (Kant and Hegel were not genuine philosophers on this view, merely "philosophical laborers" who "pressed into formulas" existing values:  see Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, section 211).  Perhaps that latter conception of philosophy falls under Kitcher's idea of producing "ways of seeing the world...with an eye to human flourishing."  Setiya continues:

Kitcher pleads for a ‘reconstruction in philosophy.' 

Blast from the past: the Dover decision on "Intelligent Design" (and the unfortunate intervention by Professor Alschuler)

Back in 2005.

Viktor DeSantis's war on higher education in Florida: the latest

He has now signed legislation that, among other things,

restricts certain topics from being taught in general education courses, the lower-level classes that all students must take for their degrees. It also expands the hiring and firing powers of university boards and presidents, limits protections for tenured faculty members and prohibits spending related to diversity, equity and inclusion programs beyond what is required by accreditors.

Regarding the restricted topics, the measure borrows language from last year’s Individual Freedom Act, also known as the Stop Woke Act. It targets “theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political and economic inequities.” While those ideas will be kept out of general education courses on Florida campuses, they could be allowed in higher-level or elective courses, subject to review by the Board of Governors for universities or the State Board of Education for colleges.

I expect SB 266 to be struck down as unconstitutional by the courts.  The only action he's taken that is not unconstitutional, and actually protects constitutional rights, is eliminating the use of "diversity statements" in employment.  Of course, as his other actions make clear, his motivation for doing so has nothing to do with a commitment to constitutional rights or academic freedom.  It's just an accidental by-product of his illiberal agenda.

Git and Pandoc for managing your academic work

Philosopher Richard Yetter Chappell walks you through it!

On the legal import, going forward, of Trump's liability for defaming E. Jean Carroll

Law professor Tobias Wolff (son of philosopher Robert Paul Wolff) explains it clearly here.

Peter Singer is drowning in a pond...

...so it's time for a utilitarian calculation!

(Thanks to Phil Gasper for the pointer.)

Spinoza's anti-humanism

Philosopher Yitzhak Melamed, a leading Spinoza scholar, comments.

Trans men among the Marsh Arabs

An interesting story, courtesy of philosopher Galen Strawson.  As Professor Stawson notes, a far more civilized attitude than one finds in most "red" states in America these days.

More on American gun barbarism

According to this study,

The likelihood of knowing a gun violence victim within any given personal network over a lifetime is 99.85% (99.8% to 99.9%). The likelihood among non-Hispanic white, black, Hispanic and other race Americans were 97.1%, 99.9%, 99.5% and 88.9% respectively.

Email me if you've seen a similar study done for civilized countries with normal gun laws.

Great moments in (extremely) obscure rock 'n' roll: Head Over Heels, "In My Woman," 1971

Another fun find from reader Dave Wasser is this Michigan hard rock trio; this comes from their only album:

 

In Memoriam: Thomas M. Robinson (1936-2023)

Professor Robinson, a longtime member of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Toronto, where he was emeritus, was well-known for his work in ancient philosophy, perhaps most especially his Plato's Psychology (1970).  The Toronto memorial notice is here.  Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Robinson or for those who wish to comment on the significance of his work.

(Thanks to Professor George Boys-Stones for the pointer.)

Richard Marshall interviews Peter van Inwagen...

...at 3:16 AM.

In Memoriam: Ian Hacking (1936-2023)

MOVING TO THE FRONT FROM YESTERDAY--SOME NICE REMEMBRANCES, MORE WELCOME

Professor Hacking, who was emeritus at Toronto where he taught for more than two decades after stints at Stanford and Cambridge, was one of the most creative and influential thinkers in the history and philosophy of the sciences, broadly construed, over the last fifty years.  The Toronto memorial notice is here.  Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Hacking, or for those who wish to comment on the significance of his work.

"Mass shooting tracker"

Here's a good resource for tracking how barbaric the United States is thanks to the gun craziness.  A "mass shooting" is any outburst of gun violence in which four or more people are shot.  The U.S. has nearly two mass shootings every day; in 2023 already, 376 people have been killed and more than 900 wounded.  That was obviously the intention of the "Framers" of the U.S. Constitution.  As a good originalist, however, I do believe everyone is entitled to own a single shot musket.

Blast from the past: "Ignorance of philosophy, identity politics, and the cosmopolitan ideal"

Back in 2014.

Talk of eliminating or eviscerating tenure in Texas is already causing problems

From CHE:

“People turn down jobs for lots of reasons, but from what these candidates told me, the uncertainty around tenure was a big factor in our failure to hire this year,” said Daniel Brinks, chair of the government department at the University of Texas at Austin. 

Brinks said he’d made job offers to six candidates for two faculty openings this year, and all six declined. Another professor in the department informed Brinks last week that he’d be leaving.

In Memoriam: Albert Borgmann (1937-2023)

A longtime member of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Montana, Professor Borgmann established the field of philosophy of technology in the Anglophone world.  There is an obituary here.  Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Borgmann, or who wish to comment on the signficance of his work.

(Thanks to Armond Duwell for the information.)

America is not a civilized country

The latest easily preventable gun massacre should confirm that, at least for sapient beings.  The odds, currently, of being massacred by random maniacs in America is relatively low:  1 in 16,0000.   Of course, in civilized countries, the odds are more like 1 in a million.  As we learn from decision theorists (they do serve a purpose, right?), we should consider both the risk of a bad event and how bad the event is.   In the latest easily preventable gun massacre in Texas, a 6-year old boy lost both his parents and his 3-year-old brother.  Maybe I'm weird, but that seems to me catastrophically bad.  Another set of parents lost both their daughters, who were 11 and 8.   Again, that seems to me catastrophically, life-wreckingly bad, but maybe I'm not good at decision theory.

In normal, civilized countries, when grotesque events like this occur, the government changes the law.  That's what happened in Australia, which shows that these incidents can easily be prevented.  In America, these incidents are not easily preventable because the country is not civilized:  many of its elected leaders are barbarians.  It is not complicated.

I do fear this country is sick beyond repair.  I would be glad to be wrong.

UPDATE:   Reader Jonathan Turner reminds me of these routines about America's gun craziness by Australian comedian Jim Jefferies:  here and here.

ANOTHER:  look at the lifetime odds for gun deaths in the U.S.!

Blast from the past: Beiser on Hegel

Back in 2012.  The full interview is still available here.

Timothy Williamson talks about the "philosophy of philosophy"...

...at Parker's Pensees.

(Thanks to Aaron Preston for the pointer.)

What if the American Academy of Arts & Sciences returns to honoring faculty *exclusively* for scholarly achievement...

...rather than membership in professional networks (e.g., "Christian philosophers," "decision theorists," "Kant scholars," "friends of Sally"), or demographic diversity.   Over the years, I have been pretty good at identifying those who should be elected on the merits.  For example, on my 2010 list of "sins of omission," most have since been elected, although I'm still astonished that Larry Laudan, one of the major figures in philosophy of science in the last fifty years, did not; and there is still time to make up for some of the other omissions.  (Larry, I suspect, did not kiss up to the right people, but he was a far more important figure in the history of philosophy of science than at least a half-dozen folks who were elected over the last quarter-century.)

New bill making its way through Texas legislature would preserve "tenure in name only"...

...or a kind of pseudo-tenure, as Keith Whittington explains:

Section 3(c) defines the property interest in tenure as a single year salary. This is designed to allow university to fire tenured faculty without good cause so long as it pays out a single year salary. A mockery of meaningful tenure...

And then we have terms of good-cause dismissal of tenured faculty. Section 3(c-1)(2)(A)(iv) allows for moral turpitude. Would like to know how common this is in tenure policies. I suspect not very. Seems ripe for abuse in context of faculty position....

And then part (v) allowing termination for violating university policies. Could easily facilitate death penalty for misdemeanors, and leaves open possibility of university adopting lots of highly dubious policies — such as bans on teaching divisive concepts....

And then part (vi) allowing termination for “unprofessional conduct.” Much more sweeping than how university policies are generally written. I would not like to arm an unfriendly administrator with such an I’ll-defined power.

 

Masks actually work for reasons we have long understood

This essay makes an important point:

For masks, are randomized trials an appropriate way of evaluating a basic engineered safety system in the first place? We don’t rely on such trials for seat belts, bike helmets or life jackets, and the oft-cited randomized trial of parachutes is an old running joke. Why is that so hilarious? What do the engineers know that doctors don’t?

 

In many scientific disciplines randomized trial methods are fundamentally inappropriate—akin to using a scalpel to mow a lawn. If something can be directly measured or accurately and precisely modeled, there is no need for complex, inefficient trials that put participants at risk. Engineering, perhaps the most “real-world” of disciplines, doesn’t conduct randomized trials. Its necessary knowledge is well-understood. Everything from highways to ventilation systems—everything that moves us, cleans our air and our water, and puts satellites into orbit—succeeds without needing them. This includes many medical devices. When failures like a plane crash or catastrophic bridge collapse do occur, they are recognized and systematically analyzed to ensure they don’t happen again. The contrast with the lack of attention paid to public health failures in this pandemic is stark.

 

Ernest Lepore (Rutgers) talks about philosophy of language, slurs and other topics...

...at Robinson's Podcast.