Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog

New Books in April

Authors and/or publishers kindly sent me these new books in April:

Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels:  How Human Values Evolve by Ian Morris (Princeton University Press, 2015) (with replies from Richard Seaford, Jonathan Spence, Christine Korsgaard, Margaret Atwood).

Plotinus:  Ennead IV.3-4.29:  Problems Concern the Soul translated, introduced and with commentary by John M. Dillon & H.J. Blumenthal (Parmenides Publishing, 2015).

Pagans and Philosophers:  The Problem of Paganism from Augustine to Leibniz by John Marenbon (Princeton University Press, 2015).

The Enlightenment:  History of an Idea by Vincenzo Ferrone (Princeton University Press, 2015) [original in Italian, 2010]

Rawls's Political Liberalism edited by Thom Brooks and Martha C. Nussbaum (Columbia University Press, 2015).

Nietzsche versus Paul by Abed Azzam (Columbia University Press, 2015).

Human Nature & Jewish Thought:  Judaism's Case for Why Persons Matter by Alan L. Mittleman (Princeton University Press, 2015).

Freedom and the Self:  Essays on the Philosophy of David Foster Wallace edited by Steven M. Cahn and Maureen Eckert (Columbia University Press, 2015).

Sanders for President

It's now official.  Hopefully this will lead to more national news coverage of his views and his criticisms of the status quo represented by the Clintons and the Republicans.

UPDATE:  Disqualified for integrity!  (Thanks to Jerry Dworkin for the pointer.)

U of Miami President Shalala says University now "safer" with McGinn having resigned

Here.

Bad behavior by the Cornell admin and police...

...basically intimidating student activists.  I hope journalists at IHE, CHE and elsewhere will shine a further light on this misconduct, which reflects very poorly on Cornell.

(Thanks to Daniel Young for the pointer.) 

Fortune's "Best" and "Worst" Graduate Degrees in terms of earnings, satisfaction, and stress...

...over at the law blog.  (The PhD in Philosophy makes no appearance on either list.)

An interesting (and concrete) solution to a gendered pay gap...

...at McMaster University in Canada.

The "Charlie Hebdo" massacre, PEN, and the "moral" judgment of some writers

I think Salman Rushdie (quoted at the end) gets this right.

Conferences should have a registration fee rate for non-tenure-track faculty, rather than just "faculty" and "students"

This seems rather sensible.

(Thanks to Amy B. for the pointer.)

 

The latest NY Times piece on the job market for lawyers

I imagine many students thinking about law school saw it; you might want to also take a look at this commentary by law professor Michael Simkovic at my law blog.

Janiak & Mercer on forgotten early modern female philosophers...

...in The Washington Post of all places!  It's quite a nice overview, and especially remarkable that it appeared in a mainstream outlet.  (They do suggest, less plausibly, that the neglect of some of the early modern figures they mention has something to do with the underrepresentation of women in academic philosophy.)  Herewith a question for other scholars and students of the history of philosophy:  what do we know about why these figures were neglected?  In every period I know something about there were figures of enormous importance in their day who are now largely unknown (e.g., Ludwig Buchner's Kraft und Stoff, a polemic and brief on behalf of materialism, was the best-selling book in Europe in the 19th-century after the Bible, though is almost wholly unknown today--Beiser devotes a chapter to Buchner and the materialist controversy in a recent book, the first extended treatment I had ever seen in English).  Sometimes the explanation is changing philosophical fashions, something the explanation is that the work really wasn't very good (that's Buchner, in my view), and sometimes other kinds of bias and prejudice.

A new, detailed article on the McGinn case at Miami

Here, which complements the point made the other day.

AAUP reaches expected conclusions on Salaita case and U of Illinois...

...now faces censure.  (Philosopher Kirk Sanders is quoted in the IHE article towards the end; kudos to him for his forthright remarks.)

The scientific consensus among gun researchers

Usefully described here.

European Society for Analytic Philosophy...

...has a new website and is newly active as well.

(Thanks to Catarina Dutilh Novaes, who is also a member of the Steering Committee, for the pointer.)

Brian Leiter watch

Graphic designer!

Maudlin contra Hawking on Why Physics Needs Philosophy

Some nice examples.  Since so many physicists are clearly tone-deaf philosophically, I wonder whether how many will be persuaded?

(Thanks to Michael Swanson for the pointer.)

Regarding "open threads"

As last week's comment threads showed, the best and most interesting discussions took place not on the "open thread" but on those with particular, focused topics.  So going forward, that's probably what I'll do, though I'll try to do a couple each week, time (for moderating) permitting.  I may, of course, do some future threads on some of the topics that tend to produce the more heated responses (e.g., gender and hiring), but I do fear the open threads tended to become obsessively focused on that to the exclusion of other more important topics.

25 "must read" books in philosophy before starting graduate school?

A student writes:

I will be starting my MA (terminal) programme in Philosophy in the Fall of this year, in Europe. I don't have a background in the subject and want to spend the few months before the session begins, in reading several works in the subject.

Could you please give (or ask on your blog or, perhaps, direct me to any pre-existing link) a list of "25 (or so) Must Read Books before starting Graduate School in Philosophy"?

Since I am only beginning to explore the various fields of the subject, I don't want to limit myself to any particular areas of interest.

This is a tough one, since many important books in philosophy are surely not profitably read on one's own; and what will count as "must read" will not be indifferent as between "fields of the subject."  Even allowing for that, what would readers recommend?  It might be particularly useful to say something about whether or not the book (or article) can be approached by someone without a background in philosophy.

What distinguishes your state (in America)?

I've no idea whether any of this is true, but it's still rather amusing.

The libertarians at "Reason" seem to have been sold a bill of goods...

...since Colin McGinn really isn't the poster boy for ideological conformity and restrictions on free speech run amok in the academy (Steven Salaita would be a better bet!).  Consider from CHE:

[The student's] long-term boyfriend, Benjamin Yelle—a fifth-year graduate student in the department—described some of the correspondence [from McGinn], including several passages that he said were sexually explicit. Mr. Yelle, along with two professors with whom the student has worked, described one message in which they said Mr. McGinn wrote that he had been thinking about the student while masturbating.

Or again from CHE:

Mr. McGinn once wrote to the student that they should "have sex three times in my office over the summer when no one else is around," Mr. Yelle says. He also says the professor once suggested that the student should wear shorts more often because he thought her legs were attractive.

Mr. McGinn says he never suggested to the student that they should have sex. He also says he merely told the student that her legs were "muscular." He is unwilling, however, to share the e-mails he sent to the student.

 And, again, from CHE on the student's complaint against the University of Miami with the EEOC:

"Professor McGinn harassed, stalked, and preyed upon" the student, the summary of the complaint says. The professor touched her hands and feet, told her "you are mine," and proposed they have sex, the document says. The student, it continues, felt "hounded, suffocated, and trapped by his constant barrage of communications and need."

Officials at Miami ignored the student’s complaints and charged Mr. McGinn with violating its relationship policy as a way to get him out the door fast and to avoid further fallout, the summary of the complaint says. In that way, it says, officials "hijacked" the grievance process "to save UM a public scandal, rather than provide a fair accounting of Professor McGinn’s misconduct."

And some more here regarding Prof. McGinn's propensity to attack and defame anyone who doesn't adopt his version of events in its entirety.  (Addendum to the last lilnk:  I'm no longer confident there aren't First Amendment issues with the way some schools are interpreting "retaliation" under Title IX.)

Western Ontario's Stathis Psillos interviewed...

...at 3AM.

The 80 people whose wealth equals that of half of humanity

I'm shocked there are no law professors on this list.  If only the cut off had been 5 billion...

John Searle on the radio...

...talking about perception, Descrates, Kant and other topics.

(Thanks to Aaron Thomas for the pointer.)

Publishing as an MA student applying to PhD programs

An MA student writes:

Two questions (one general, one specific) regarding publishing at the terminal-Masters graduate level.

(1) Is it possible and encouraged to publish as a terminal-Masters graduate student?

(2) If one's first journal publication is in their secondary area of interest (e.g., say one publishes in ethics or aesthetics while their primary AOI is in philosophy of chemistry) would this in any way complicate their chances at admission into a PhD program whose strengths were in one's primary AOI?

My own views are:  (1) there is no need to publish as an MA student, and it is probably not wise to invest energy in that as opposed to learning as much philosophy as possible and polishing written work to use in graduate applications; (2) I don't think it matters at all.  If one publishes a good piece of philosophy (and that's an important *if*), it will count in your favor regardless of your interests.  Thoughts from others?

Blast from the past: Paul Campos's problem with the First Amendment

Here.

Norbert Hornstein did not like Vyvyan Evans' book... (MOVING TO FRONT FROM APRIL 17--UPDATED)

...and he's also mystified why a serious journal is devoting an issue to it.  If other parts of philosophy had as clear Wissenschaftlich standards as philosophy of language/linguistics does, there' be more protests of this kind.

(Thanks to Peter Ludlow for the pointer.)

UPDATE:  I've heard from one well-known philosopher and one well-known psychologist telling me that things are not quite as simple as they appear.  The psychologist, for example, wrote:

Re the Hornstein post, you're way overestimating the degree of agreement among linguists (I don't know about philosophy of language) re standards of evidence, argumentation, what counts as progress, which issues have been resolved or are open, etc.  

The book in question addresses many issues that remain contentious in modern linguistics.  The author apparently takes positions that Hornstein deeply opposes.  I have not read the book and do not know if the arguments are any good, but the questions are valid ones, and matters of ongoing debate.  The journal in question is at least as credible as the others he mentions, and less parochial, so airing the disagreements is a reasonable thing to do--assuming the book is not poorly done, not merely at variance with NH's personal views.  The Language editorial board includes many outstanding scholars—including ones who compare favorably to Hornstein I would say.  It is not heavily weighted to the traditional MIT/generative grammar side of the field, however. But the current MIT department doesn’t seem to be either!

Norbert is a keeper of the Chomskyan faith.  That approach and set of beliefs has faded in prominence and acceptance, mainly because it got overtaken by progress achieved by other approaches.   The fate of Chomsky's proposals about language (structure, origins, acquisition, brain bases) will be a great case study in the history of ideas.  Pinker's popularizations bought the approach some extra time, but most of the important claims turn out to have been wrong (e.g., that language is an "instinct," that there is a "language organ", that language is unrelated to other types of cognition, or to other forms of communication, etc.).  

It's been amazing to watch how the events have played out over the past 40 years, since I got into it. 

You can now expect to receive responses to the effect that these comments are as worthless as that book.  The line between intensive intellectual debate and trolling is a thin one.

Yet another egregious attempt to attack tenure at a state university... (UPDATED)

...this time in the form of pending legislation in Iowa that provides that,

(1)....If a professor fails to attain a minimum threshold of performance based on the student evaluations used to assess the professor’s teaching effectiveness, in accordance with the criteria and rating system adopted by the board, the institution shall terminate the professor’s employment regardless of tenure status or contract. (2) The names of the five professors who rank lowest on their institution’s evaluation for the semester, but who scored above the minimum threshold of performance, shall be published on the institution’s internet site and the student body shall be offered an opportunity to vote on the question of whether any of the five professors will be retained as employees of the institution. The employment of the professor receiving the fewest votes approving retention shall be terminated by the institution regardless of tenure status or contract.

The first provision is bad enough--a legislatively authorized breach of contract and due process--but the second is just vicious and insane. 

(Thanks to Chris Surprenant for the pointer.)

UPDATE:  Reader Prabhu Venkataraman calls to my attention that this nasty piece of legislation has been killed in committee.

The surprising positives/negatives of becoming a professional philosopher?

MOVING TO FRONT (originally posted April 21)--MANY INTERESTING COMMENTS, MORE WELCOME

This question, from the open thread, deserves separate notice and discussion:

Could we start a discussion on what philosophers have found to be the most surprising positives and surprising negatives of becoming a professional philosopher (or PhD grad)? It may help me, and perhaps others, with my decision to apply to PhD programs or not. If there is a similar thread with many comments, a link would suffice. (I'm aware of the poor job market, so hopefully there are other comments.)

Lots of interesting reviews at The New Rambler Review...

...which arose in the wake of the collapse of the book review section of The New Republic.

Louisiana State University preparing to declare a state of "financial exigency"...

...due to impending cuts.  Doing so will enable LSU to, among other things, close entire programs and fire tenured faculty, consistent with AAUP rules.  Pretty grim.  No word yet on programs at risk.

(Thanks to Michael Swanson for the pointer.)

2015 Lebowitz Prize from APA & Phi Betta Kappa awarded to...

...Alvin Goldman (Rutgers) and Jennifer Lackey (Northwestern).  The prize and past winners are described here.

UPDATE:  PBK has issued an official announcement.

Ludlow's defamation claim against news outlets loses on appeal

I was just sent a copy of the appellate court's opinion, concerning this case, and it turns out the earlier news article misdescribed the trial court's decision rather badly, making it sound as though the judge thought the article admitted of an "innocent construction" because the "sting" of allegedly groping someone was the same as the "sting" of being accused of rape.  That was a terrible argument, which suggested bias on the part of the judge against the plaintiff.  But based on the appellate court's decision, that wasn't the "innocent construction" argument at all:  rather, the articles admitted of an innocent construction because they did not name Ludlow (or the student for that matter), and so could not constitute defamation per se.   That is a very different, and actually more plausible, argument, at least given American libel law which, as we have noted before, is more friendly to defamers than libel law in any other democracy.

UPDATE:  Weinberg has uploaded a copy of the opinion here.

The annual "the rich get richer" in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences...

...though as with recent years, there is more diversity in institutions whose faculty were recognized.  Here they are by total faculty elected this year (those with an unusually large number relative to recent years are marked with an *; those with an unusually low number are marked with an #)

Harvard University (10)

Stanford University (10)

Massachussetts Institute of Technology (8)

New York University (7)

Yale University (7)

University of California, Berkeley (6)

Columbia University (5)

University of Chicago (5)

*Emory University (4)

University of California, Los Angeles (4)

California Institute of Technology (3)

Cornell University (3)

*Indiana University, Bloomington (3) 

#Princeton University (3)

University of California, San Francisco (3)

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (3)

*University of Texas, Austin (3)

Brown University (2)

Duke University (2)

#Northwestern University (2)

*Florida State University (2)

*Ohio State University (2)

University of California, Davis (2)

University of California, San Diego (2)

*University of Maryland, College Park (2)

#University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2)

#University of Pennsylvania (2)

University of Washington, Seattle (2)

The following schools all had one faculty member each elected this year:  University of Arizona; Texas A&M University; Johns Hopkins University; University of Minnesota; Rice University; Pennsylvania State University; Georgetown University; George Washington University; University of Oregon; #University of Wisconsin, Madison; Washington University, St. Louis; Arizona State University; University of Hawaii; Michigan State University; Boston University; University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; University of California, Santa Barbara; University of Virignia; University of California, Irvine; Rutgers University, New Brunswick; University of California, Santa Cruz. 

Election to the Academy is a curious process; I'll write a bit more about it in a subsequent post that will explain why the rich get richer, and why sometimes the elections sometimes seem to be governed by the principle "friends of friends."

Eight philosophers elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences

They are:  Marilyn McCord Adams (currently affiliated with Rutgers, emerita at North Carolina and UCLA), David Albert (Columbia), Sally Haslanger (MIT), John MacFarlane (Berkeley), Tim Maudlin (NYU), Hans Kamp (Stuttgart & Texas), and Johann van Benthem (Amsterdam & Stanford).  In addition, Patricia Smith Churchland (UC San Diego) was elected in the Neurosciences section.

(Past posts on the AAAS here [and follow the links].)

Even "The Daily Mail" notices the harm of the Internet...

...that is, the "Pornography SuperHighway."

More on the fake "activism" of Twitter mobs...

...at the Boston Review.  This is obviously related to the juvenile SJW phenomenon.  A propos social media and job candidates, hiring departments probably would do well to be alert for offenders on this score.  It would be a catastrophe were this nonsense to migrate from cyberspace into the profession.

Another unfortunate sign of the times: U of Alaska-Fairbanks to close its philosophy program

Story here.

(Thanks to Fritz Allhoff for the pointer.)

Advertising update

The top spots in May are taken, but there is still one 2nd and one 3rd from the top available.  The top spots in June are also taken, and some top and 2nd spots are taken later in the summer.  Recall that summer rates are discounted more than usual, as I won't be blogging quite as regularly:  $300 for top spots, $250 for 2nd spots, $200 for 3rd spots.  (I would expect summer traffic in the  5-6K visits/day range, compared to 10K visits/range now).

I should also mention that some September and October spots have also been taken (top and 2nd from top), but there is still at least one top spot available each fall month, as well as lower spots

Speaking of the moral standing of non-human animals...

...two chimps may get legal standing in New York.  Two points to note:  (1) the "Supreme Court" in New York is the trial court, not the highest court of the state; (2) the judge's order is not a finding that the chimps are persons, legally or otherwise, but only that the University must justify holding them.  It is possible that after hearing the university's arguments, the judge will rule that the chimps must be released, but that's still a way off.  (Judge Jaffe has only been on the bench since 2010, but beyond that I know nothing about this judge.)

More on the 'trust' and 'replication' crises in psychology

Here.

If all the world's ice melts...

...Chicago still won't be ocean-front property, but...

I've joined Aeon Ideas...

...here, and have a couple of viewpoints up.  A number of other philosophers also participate, including Richard Chappell, Charlie Kurth, and Nigel Warburton, among others I've noticed so far.

Blast from the past: Rebecca Schuman, hack journalist of the decade?

Quite possibly.

The "rot" in social psychology

An interesting reflection on recent troubles in the field.  Is this fair?

Anticipating cuts at UW Madison...

...if Governor Walker really cuts $300 million.

The effect of social media use on job candidates

So our earlier poll got over 500 responses, and overall, I would say the news is not good for job seekers on social media, such as blogs, twitter, Instagram etc:

Faculty involved in hiring: has the social media presence (blogs, twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc.) of a job candidate affected that candidates prospects at your institution?
Yes, usually in a negative way.    14%72 Yes, usually in a positive way.    4%21 Yes, sometimes positive, sometimes negative    17%91 Rarely, but usually in a negative way.    16%83 Rarely, but usually in a positive way.    6%32 No, never in my experience.    44%234

More than half the respondents--56%, or about 300--report that the social media presence of job candidates has affected their job prospects.  And more than half of those reported the effect was usually negative, with another third saying "sometimes positive, sometimes negative."

On the positive side, a bit more than half reported that social media use either had no impact or a positive one.

It might be interesting if faculty who responded to the poll could say a bit about the kinds of things they have seen on social media that have helped and/or hurt candidates.

Philosophy from 7 pm to 7 am in New York...

...this Friday.  An eclectic group of participants, some very good.

(Thanks to Chris Morris for the pointer.)

ADDENDUM RE:  THE "ECLECTIC" BIT:  Did you know that "Philosophy begins with the suicide of Socrates"?  I

Open thread on issues in the profession for the week of April 20, 2015

Unless there's more interest, this may be the last one of these.  I will continue to open comments on selected other threads, of course.

"A Challenge to Gun Rights"

Jeff McMahan (Oxford) calls my attention to his latest post at the Practical Ethics blog.  Alas, the bulk of the comments following the post are disgracefully idiotic; hopefully, they will be removed, and an adult discussion might ensue.

The Metaethics Workshop, formerly in Madison, is moving to Chapel Hill...

....along with Russ Shafer-Landau.  I usually don't do conference announcements, but given that many people asked regarding the faculty move announcement, I am making an exception.