Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog

Einstein read and was influenced by Hume

How about that?

(Thanks to Peter Kail for the pointer.)

UPDATE:  Matias Slavov, a visiting scholar in philosophy at UCLA, writes:

Thank you for providing the link to the Daily Telegraph, which features Hume’s impact on Einstein’s special relativity. As a regular reader of your blog, I got the news from you. But I wish to point out that the Telegraph article gives a fallacious picture of the Hume-Einstein connection. It is well-known and has been subject of scholarship for a long time. Victor F. Lenzen, for example, examined this relation already in his 1949 paper in the volume of Library of Living Philosophers that was dedicated to Einstein. More recently, John Stachel (2002) and John D. Norton (2010) have perused this relation: Stachel’s argument is that Einstein got a relationist ontology of space and time from Hume, whereas Norton argues that Einstein learned an empiricist theory of concepts which he then implemented in his argument for the relativity of simultaneity. When I (2016) wrote my article that essentially intertwines the relationist and empiricist arguments, I remember having difficulties of coming up with a novel interpretation because the Hume-Einstein connection had already been treated so many times.

The English translation of the correspondence with Schlick in which Einstein acknowledges his debt to Hume (and Mach) is printed on page 220 in (1998) The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, Volume 8: The Berlin Years: Correspondence, 1914-1918. Ed. Robert Schulmann et. al. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Who do you support for the Democratic nomination for President in 2020?

No doubt the pundits have been waiting to see what the blog readers here think, so get on it!  Rank your candidates from first to last (you can also choose "no opinion" for those you have no opinion about).  I'll post results in a couple of days. Have fun!

UPDATE:  Would the person repeatedly voting for Tulsi Gabbard as #1 and Michael Bloomberg as #2 please stop and get a life.

Another Templeton windfall: $1.3 million for philosophy of religion to Houston's Luis Oliveira

News release here.

(Thanks to David Phillips for the pointer.)

There is no sexual morality

Philosopher Alan Goldman (William & Mary) comments.

Rutgers makes bid for Michigan's Caston

MOVING TO FRONT FROM JANUARY 23--UPDATED    

Victor Caston (ancient philosophy, philosophy of mind), Professor of Philosophy at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, has a senior offer from the Department of Philosophy at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.   Students considering either place with an interest in ancient philosophy will want to keep an eye on what happens.

UPDATE:  Professor Caston has declined the Rutgers offer, and will remain at Michigan. 

Athens Review of Books, redux

Finally, an op-ed about the ARB case, which really deserves more media attention.

Enoch on Case on arguing from epistemic realism to moral realism

Nice discussion here.  Of course, I'm inclined to think these same considerations just confirm epistemic anti-realism (vide Chapter 4 here.)

Steven Salaita today

Longtime readers will recall Steven Salaita, illegally fired by the University of Illinois for his constitutionally protected speech, who got a cash settlement, but not his tenured faculty position.  Having been effecively blacklisted by the Zionist thought police from the academy, he trained for and is now driving a school bus.  He writes about his new life here.  It's long, but extremely interesting and at times poignant, especially his relationship with his father.

Blast from the past: Hume's personal ad

Back in 2003.

Great moments in public boogie-woogie piano playing

By chance, I discoverd this whole YouTube genre of boogie piano players who record themselves playing in public places,like train stations, airports, and shopping malls.  Here's a few.

Henri Herbert:

Terry Miles:

"Marx and Marxism" and relativism

A new essay, co-authored with an excellent PhD student here, Lawrence ("Dusty") Dallman (he is the lead author), which will eventually appear in The Routledge Handbook of Relativism, that the great Martin Kusch (Vienna) is putting together.

Twitter "believe it or not," part 1

Some guy with a PhD in comparative literature from Emory (seriously!)--who appears now to be a free-lance journalist--denounced me on Twitter as a "mediocre thinker."  The Twitterrabble loved it!  My self-esteem, alas, will never recover.

Concept inflation

Philosopher Spencer Case analyzes the phenomenon, focusing especially on "violence" and "gaslighting," but we could expand this to "harm, "silencing" and other concepts whose extension has been strangely expanded in recent years.  It's really an instance of what Charles Stevenson called "persuasive definition," except it is rarely persuasive, and mostly transparent hyperbole.

Warwick's Quassim Cassam interviewed...

...at 3AM.

Blast from the past: Nietzsche's personal ad

Here.

The "N word" and the use/mention distinction

Several readers have been writing me about the travesty at Augsburg College, and I will say more about it soon, but this piece by law professor Randall Kennedy (Harvard) makes some important points.

Roger Crisp (Oxford) makes the case for "open borders"...

...in The New Statesman.

The real diversity problem in Anglophone philosophy

It's usefully illustrated by the MIT Department, which helpfully lists the research areas of its faculty clearly.  Excluding emeriti, there are 14 tenure-stream faculty.  Here are the areas of philosophy as represented:

Metaphysics:   9

Epistemology:  5

Philosophical logic or logic:  5

Philosophy of language:  5

Philosophy of mind:  4

Ethics:   4

Philosophy of science:   2

Feminist philosophy/Philosophy of Race or Gender:  2

Philosophy of physics:  1

Philosophy of biology:  0

Ancient philosophy:  1

Medieval philosophy:  0

17th-century philosophy:  0

18th-century philosophy:  0

19th-century Continental philosophy:  0

20th-century Continental philosophy:  0

Non-Western philosophy:  0

So much for the idea that Anglophone departments are departments of "Western" philosophy:  MIT ignores several centuries worth of Western philosophy, and although MIT is a bit extreme, it is not atypical in its emphases.   Take the "top ten" programs in the 2017-18 PGR:   NYU, Rutgers, Princeton, Michigan, Pittsburgh, Yale, MIT, USC, Columbia, Harvard, Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCLA.   Rutgers, Michigan, MIT, USC, and UCLA have no specialists in either 19th- or 20th-century Continental philosophy:  none!   Princeton has one specialist in one major figure of 19th-century Continental philosophy, Pittsburgh has two (although their primary interests lie elsewhere), Yale has one, and Berkeley has one and has just hired another.   Only NYU, Columbia, Harvard, and Stanford have two or more faculty with research interests in 19th- and 20th-century Continental philosophy--although one of NYU's two senior faculty in these areas will be retiring soon.  The irony, of course, is that undergraduate demand for courses on figures like Marx, Nietzsche, and Foucault remains huge, and yet many of the leading PhD programs can't be bothered.  (ADDENDUM:  As some readers point out, both Yale and NYU are presently looking at junior Continental candidates; we'll see what happens.)

UC Irvine philosophers in the public schools too!

Story here.

(Thanks to Howard Gillman for calling this to my attention.)

Blast from the past: Kant's personal ad

Here.

Per student value of university and college endowments at end of 2018

CHE has compiled the state of university and college endowments at the end of 2018; here is the per student value of these endowments, which tells a different story than simply the "gross" numbers CHE lists.  The per student value is in parentheses after the school name.  One school that has been climbing the "ranks" here over the years has been Penn.  Note that neither Columbia's nor NYU substantial real estate holdings in New York City, which they rent out to faculty at reduced rates, figure in their endowment numbers.

1.  Princeton University ($3,133,000)

2.  Yale University ($2,384,000)

3.  Harvard University ($1,741,000)

4.  Stanford University ($1,612,000)

5.  Massachusetts Institute of Technology ($1,428,000)

6.  Pomona College ($1,362,000)

7.  Swarthmore College ($1,306,000)

7.  Williams College ($1,309,000)

9.  Amherst College ($1,285,000)

9.  California Institute of Technology ($1,287,000)

11.  Grinnell College ($1,163,000)

12.  Bowdoin College ($902,000)

13.  Rice University ($894,000)

14.  University of Notre Dame ($873,000)

15.  Dartmouth College ($857,000)

16.  Wellesley College ($851,000)

17.  Berea College ($739,000)

18.  Washington & Lee University ($708,000)

19.  Smith College ($646,000)

20.  University of Pennsylvania ($638,000)

21.  Claremont-McKenna College ($619,000)

22.  University of Richmond ($608,000)

23.  Duke University ($536,000)

24.  Northwestern University ($523,000)

24.  Hamilton College ($521,000)

26.  Brywn Mawr College ($505,000)

27.  Washington University, St. Louis ($501,000)

28.  Trinity University (San Antonio) ($496,000)

29.  University of Chicago ($482,000)

30.  Emory University ($478,000)

Bringing philosophy to the Philly public schools

Impressive work by Penn philosopher Karen Detlefsen.

Speaking of fascists in Hungary, there are now Neo-Nazis marching in Budapest

Are human beings so pitifully stupid and ignorant as to forget what Nazism did the last time?

Pro-Israel bi-partisan consensus quickly disciplines Minnesota legislator for pointing out the obvious...

...namely, that lobbyists and interest-group organizations, like AIPAC, aim to sway legislative votes.  And lobbyists use campaign donations to do that a lot of the time.  Why is any of this news?  Someone wrote a book about this, as I recall.  The fact that this representative could be so swiftly condemned by both parties and forced to do a mea culpa simply raises the question that book meant to answer.  For some more perspective, see here.

$1.2 million to Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia) for work on free will

Professor Vargas asked me to share this announcement, which I'm happy to do:

The John Templeton Foundation has awarded $1.2 million dollars to the Universidad de los Andes in Bogota, Colombia for a project on Free Will, Agency, and Responsibility that aims to cultivate work on these topics, especially in Latin America. This is the biggest award the John Templeton Foundation has made to a university in Latin America. The project will bring together senior scholars with graduate students and early career scholars from throughout the Americas looking to develop expertise on these topics. It will host a series of summer seminars and will appoint two 2-year postdoctoral research positions. 

Review of the postdoc applications will begin March 11, so interested parties should submit soon; mid-year seminar applications are due April 24.

The project is directed by Santiago Amaya (Universidad de los Andes) and Manuel Vargas (UC San Diego). 

More details can be found at: https://mindandaction.uniandes.edu.co/index.php/free-will-latam

 

Vanishing insects

At first, one might think, "Thank God," until one remembers the whole ecosystem depends on them.  Yikes!

Blast from the past: Indexicals, children, and Kant

Back in 2004.

Fascists in Hungary now set their sights on the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Matthew Kramer (Cambridge) kindly shared this message he received:

Dear Colleagues,

Please, spread the word.

The Hungarian government is, probably unlawfully and certainly arbitrarily, introducing a new system of research funding, which will seriously undermine the scientific autonomy of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the greatest research institution in Hungary with 5000 employees. Negotiations have proven to be useless as the government handles the issue with manipulation and division. We badly need the attention and solidarity of the international academic community.

A good summary in English is here:

https://sciencebusiness.net/news/government-continues-crackdown-academic-freedom-hungary

Further information on the site of the site of the employees' forum:

https://adf2019.wordpress.com/english/

Best regards,

Prof. Dr. András Jakab

Elected member of the governing body of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (választott közgyűlési tag); former Director (2012-2017) of the Institute for Legal Studies at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest

Professor of Austrian Constitutional and Administrative Law, University of Salzburg Honorary Fellow, Pázmány Péter Catholic University Budapest

In Memoriam: Vere Chappell (1930-2019)

MOVING TO FRONT FROM FEBRUARY 4--UPDATED

Emeritus at the University of Massachussetts, Amherst, Professor Chappell was probably best-known for his important work on Locke and other figures in early modern philosophy, although he also published on contemporary topics in philosophy of mind.  Chappell was one of a small number of then distinguished early-to-mid-career faculty who moved from other leading departments to form a major PhD program at U Mass/Amherst in the late 1960s and early 1970s (see the biography of Bruce Aune here for more details).  (Chappell came from the University of Chicago in 1970.)  There is a brief obituary here.  I will add links to other memorial notices as they appear.

(Thanks to Catherine McKeen for the pointer.)

UPDATE:  The U Mass memorial notice is here.

The increasingly strange Democratic field

On the one hand, we have candidates with actual, substantive positions that make clear they are not Republicans and not neoliberal Democrats--most clearly, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren--and then we have candidates who are selling their personality and life story and "feel good" blather, and not substantive agendas:  Senators Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Kristin Gillibrand, and now Amy Klubochar.  I sure hope the substance wins, and the personalities go back to their mirrors.

UPDATE:  This is apt, from political theorist Corey Robin (Brooklyn College).  (Thanks to Dean Rowan for the pointer.)

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Buffalo, "Freedom," 1973

Here's another, heavier number from the second album of the Australian hard blues rock band, Buffalo that we featured a few weeks ago:

 

"The why of reality": A four-year old asks a philosopher

A nicely done essay by philosopher Nathanael Stein (Florida State).

Reality, perception, language

Philosopher Andy Clark, linguist John McWhorter, and others discuss.

"Annals of the TERF wars"

A bit long, some of it is rather funny and does aptly capture both the vitriol and irrationality of some of the on-line exchanges.

(Thanks to Steven Hales for the pointer.)

"Twitter is public"

A philosopher in California sent me this funny essay by Hamilton Nolan from several years ago:

In light of certain arguments currently taking place on the internet, we would like to issue a gentle reminder of a fact: Twitter is public.

The things you write on Twitter are public. They are published on the world wide web. They can be read almost instantly by anyone with an internet connection on the planet Earth. This is not a bug in Twitter; it is a feature. Twitter is a thing that allows you to publish things, quickly, to the public.

Most things that you write on Twitter will be seen only by your followers. Most things that you write on Twitter will not be read by the public at large. But that is only because the public at large does not care about most things that you have to say. It is not because the public does not have "a right" to read your Twitter. Indeed, they do. They can do so simply by typing Twitter dot com slash [your name] into their web browser. There, they will find a complete list of everything that you have chosen to publish on Twitter, which is a public forum.

SUNY-Fredonia philosophy department off the chopping block, at least for now

Philosopher Steve Kershnar (SUNY-Fredonia) writes:

Dear Professor Leiter:

Yesterday, the president of SUNY-Fredonia (Virginia Horvath) announced that she is suspending PEPRE (Fredonia’s procedure that sets up the elimination of academic programs) and, thus, the decision on whether to eliminate the philosophy major has been put on hold.

I strongly suspect that your coverage of it and the letter from the SUNY-Chairs played a significant role in her decision. 

We are very grateful to your help.

Thank you,

Steve Kershnar, Chair

Athens Review of Books under threat from politically motivated legal action by fascist former minister Nikolaos Kotzias (UPDATED)

MOVING TO FRONT FROM JANUARY 31--LETTER UPDATED WITH NEW SIGNATORIES

Philosopher Alexander Nehamas (Princeton) wrote a useful account last year of what has transpired.  In the United States, this libel action by a public official would have been tossed immediately; but Greek law is at another extreme, and, together with corrupt courts, they have supported the fascist Kotzias's case.  (Even under Greek law, as best as I can understand it, Nehamas is right:  Kotzias was not accused of being a Nazi, although he's certainly a fascist!  Under official EU principles regarding freedom of expression, this guy should have no case.)

The ARB asked me to share this letter to the European Union--signed by myself and many academics internationally--about this attack on fundamental free expression rights the EU supposedly protects:   Download ARB letter current february 5

Folks at the ARB wrote to me:

Please note that the list of signatories is not complete and that we are still in the process of collecting signatures. The full list will be held and updated regularly on the website of the Athens Review (www.athensreviewofbooks.com). Whoever wants to add their signature they can email their name and affiliation to info@athensreviewofbooks.com until the end of February when the letter will be sent officially to Presidents Tusk and Juncker.

We lodged an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (which incidentally has on two prior occasions condemned Greece in similar cases involving violation of freedom of speech following appeals by its editor-in-chief). However the case will be heard in 2020 and so the journal will be shut down before the hearing and that is why we are trying to make our case known and bring it before the European parliament for discussion. 

The handling of our case has been sharply criticised by renowned professors and distinguished legal scholars. It is referenced in the Reporters without Borders’ 2017 annual report for Greece as well as in statements by the Association of European Journalists. In addition, four different MEPs from different political parties have submitted questions to the European Commission.

Freedom of the press and democracy in Greece are in jeopardy, in fact, Greece tops the list of European countries found guilty by the ECHR in cases concerning freedom of speech and violation of Article 10 of the Treaty of Rome. We ask that Greece finally respects the rule of law and EU Human Rights law. Our case shows is that the fight is never over and that for evil to triumph, all it takes is for good men to do nothing. This is not a struggle to merely defend ourselves; it is about defending principles and freedoms which we strongly believe are precious to all.

I have asked the ARB editors about whether they can set up a fund to which readers can contribute in support.  I will post more information about this as it becomes available.

Who would bike 1,000 miles in the Alaskan winter?

Philosopher Jose Bermudez, for charity.  Wow!

Algorithms, bias and justice

Nice essay at Slate by law and philosophy student Danny Li.

Cory Booker is not a progressive candidate either

What a disgrace.

Ancestry tests based on DNA

Identical twins submitted their DNA to several different companies, and got different results (although a fair amount of overlap).  Pretty weird!

"The Death of God and the Death of Morality"

The final manuscript version is here, for those who are interested.  It will appear in a special issue of The Monist later this year devoted to Nietzsche and being edited by Ken Gemes and Andrew Huddleston.

Senator Warren's proposed wealth tax

This is informative, from USC law professor Michael Simkovic.

Adolf Grünbaum memorial at Pitt, May 11, 2019

Details here.

Vienna's Elisa Freschi interviewed (about Indian philosophy)...

...at 3AM.

Blast from the past: on criticizing students, why is academic law so different than academic philosophy?

Back in 2015.

"Transphobia"

One of the tactics for shutting down rational discussion of the gender self-ID law in the U.K. is the accusation of "transphobia."   Because I've given attention to the important and substantive views of several feminist and gay philosophers writing about this issue--perhaps most prominently, Kathleen Stock (Sussex) (e.g, here and here), but also Leslie Green (Oxford)--I'm now being accused by the usual suspects of "transphobia."  (I suspect the additional reason for the smear is that I've also been vigorous in objecting to the harassment and defamation of Professor Stock, including by many philosophy faculty and students.) 

In any case, I thought it would help to collect examples of my horrifying "transphobia" such as here and here and here.

ADDENDUM:  This new piece in New York Magazine gives a sympathetic and clear account of some of the issues being debated about sex and "gender identity."  (It uses the term "TERF," but not dismissively or as an epithet.) 

U of Georgia investigating options for disciplining philosophy grad student for his clearly constitutionally protected speech

Same old, same old.   F.I.R.E. has more details and has intervened in defense of the student.

(The academic who called this to my attention last weekend--sorry for being slow, a hectic week as noted Monday--asked not to be named; it's worth quoting why: "I work at a religious school with no prospect of tenure, so if you do decide to comment on this, please do not mention the fact that I sent this along.")

New Books in January

Publishers and/or authors kindly sent me these new books this month:

Statistical Inference as Severe Testing:  How to Get Beyond the Statistics Wars by Deborah G. Mayo (Cambridge University Press, 2018).

How to be Human in the Digital Economy by Nicholas Agar (MIT Press, 2019).

The Sea:  A Philosophical Encounter by David Farrell Krell (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019).

Science and the Good:  The Tragic Quest for the Foundations of Morality by James Davison Hunter & Paul Nedelsky (Yale University Press, 2018).

Protecting extramural speech by faculty as a prophylactic rule for protecting core academic freedom

Interesting essay by politics and public law scholar Keith Whittingon (Princeton).