Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog

Cornell's Gail Fine interviewed...

...at 3AM.

Wrathall from UC Riverside to Oxford

Mark Wrathall, a leading Heidegger scholar at the University of California at Riverside, has accepted appointed as Professor of Philosophy and Tutorial Fellow at Corpus Christi College, Oxford University.  (He will technically be on leave from UCR next year.)

Bill Nye, "the science guy," now persuaded philosophy is not "self-indulgent crap"

Whew, I was worried about that.   Now we better hope he doesn't stumble on Simon Critchley or Carrie Jenkins, or this could be a short-lived conversion!

NY Times on the Kipnis book

This is a rather apt appraisal:

Kipnis has now written a book, “Unwanted Advances,” about feminism, relationship statecraft and the shadow world of Title IX investigations. It is invigorating and irritating, astute and facile, rigorous and flippant, fair-minded and score-settling, practical and hyperbolic, and maybe a dozen other neurotically contradictory things. Above all else, though, “Unwanted Advances” is necessary. Argue with the author, by all means. But few people have taken on the excesses of university culture with the brio that Kipnis has.

What is significant about the book for the academic community in philosophy is that--its occasional glibness and fascination with its own meta-narrative about alleged "sexual paranoia" on campus aside--it sets out in compelling detail two recent injustices against now-former members of the community of employed philosophers, David Barnett and Peter Ludlow.  It was always clear, at least to me, that Barnett had been wrongfully treated; the Ludlow case was less clear to me, at least until I read this book and had an opportunity to read the depositions in the lawsuit brought by the undergraduate. 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Mungo Jerry, "Baby Jump," 1971

Everyone knows the Brit Mungo "sideburns" Jerry for this number, but here's his other reasonably big hit so many years ago:

 

 

If Daleks invaded London

This is quite funny.

Trump may not have killed us all (yet), but...

...he may be about to precipitate horrific calamities on the Korean peninsula.   The only hope is that the North Korean leadership is more prudent than the American.

Another review of the Habermas biography...

...this one emphasizing his political engagement and lifelong commitment to democracy.

Ryanair tops United...

...they now charge a fee for being dragged involuntarily off the plane.

Blast from the past: "Styles of philosophy," courtesy of Michigan

Ten years ago.

400 "Philosophy Bites" podcasts organized thematically

This is useful.

Nick Zangwill (Hull) on formalism in aesthetics

Here.  Scroll down for the English version of the interview.

The legal action against United Airlines for mistreating its passenger begins

A demand to preserve relevant evidence is a first step.

Came from Hull to Lincoln

Daniel Came (Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, philosophy of religion), currently at the University of Hull, will become the founding member of a new department of philosophy at the University of Lincoln in the U.K.  In a time of cutbacks, it's nice to see a young university--and an ambitious one at that--making an investment in philosophy!

Minnesota's Tiberius on her survey of philosophers about "diversity" and other topics

Here.  (We noted and solicited participation to the survey awhile back.)  I haven't had time to digest the results, but comments are welcome from anyone who has.

Speaking of Trump, here's the good news:

(1) he's such a micromanager that he hasn't been able to appoint most of those needed to get the government to implement wicked stuff;

(2) his Mafia instincts have kicked in, and he's marginalizing the pathetic dope Steve Bannon in favor of family;

(3) he has not killed us all.  (No link necessary.)

I view #3 as a decisive point "in his favor," as it were.  (Admittedly, I have set the bar rather low.)   This is a person who could, in principle, kill us all, and within an hour.  He hasn't, despite all the evidence of his psychological problems.  But he is not a psychotic, he's, at best, in the grips of a personality disorder.  And central to his is "perception," how others perceive him.  Of course, if he killed us all, there would be no one to perceive him, but I don't think he's that keen on the "Oedipus solution," as it were (i.e., not being seen, or not seeing being seen, as it were).   He wants a world around to celebrate him.  That alone may save civilization.

Latest (hopeful) developments concerning the CEU in Budapest

Philosopher Katalin Balog (Rutgers) shares some recent news and links:

Apparently the government is backing down.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-hungary-soros-university-idUSKBN17E0QC

Some speculate that this only means they will now concentrate their energies on eliminating civil organizations which they hope will receive less attention but perhaps has more political significance as the last checks on  the government. This is speculation. But the CEU situation is definitely more hopeful today.

A bit later she shared this:

[A] lengthy but very informative blogpost about latest developments re: CEU. Some good developments from the American side, and bat-shit crazy responses (and ominous warnings) from the Fidesz government:

http://hungarianspectrum.org/2017/04/11/viktor-orbans-plans-foiled-the-u-s-government-wont-negotiate/

Comments are open for more information, links etc.

More on United's manhandling of a passenger

Dr. David Dao, the victim of the incident, has retained legal counsel (including a very well-known personal injury lawyer in Chicago specializing in aviation disasters).  There's an interesting argument by a law professor here about which rules in the "Contract of Carriage" actually govern the situation, given that Dr. Dao was already on board.  If a court endorses this interpretation, I'm sure all airlines will start revising their contracts.

UPDATE:  Jens Ohlin, a law professor at Cornell, also weighs in on United's apparent breach of contract with Dr. Dao.

In Memoriam: Joshua Parsons (1973-2017)

Professor Parsons taught for many years at Oxford University, leaving in fall 2016 to take up a senior policy position in government in his native New Zealand.  He was well-known for his work in metaphysics, philosophy of language, and philosophical logic.  You can learn more about his work here (and see also his charming grades of the world's flags!) I will add lnks to memorial notices when they appear.

(Thanks to Benj Hellie for the information.)

UPDATE:  Philosopher Charles Pigden (Otago) writes:  "Slight correction to your Josh post (for which many thanks). Josh had not been teaching at Oxford for ‘many’ years but only five (2011-2016) having spent the previous five years at Otago. If he had been at Oxford from 2006 to 2011 rather than Otago, I would be a lot less grief-stricken than sadly I actually am. On the other hand I would not have experienced the most valuable philosophical friendship of my life."

U of Wisconsin/Madison surveys "finds widespread bullying [sic]"

Contrary to IHE's report, there's nothing at all surprising about this so-called "finding," given the massive self-selection effect of who takes a survey that includes "bullying" as a topic, and given the massive inflation of the concept to the point that it means nothing.  As the first commenter at IHE amusingly puts it:   "Does 'hostile and intimidating behavior' include being told no or just being frowned at or simply being challenged by a colleague?"  I'm sure in the minds of many it does.

UPDATE:  Philosopher Mike Titelbaum (Wisconsin) writes:

Just read your blog post on the UW-Madison survey results and bullying.  Having taken that survey myself, I agree with many of the commentators on the IHE page that the notion of bullying in question was underspecified in the survey.  I honestly was not entirely clear what I was answering.  But I disagree with you that there was a "massive self-selection effect".  First, when the survey was sent out, it did not describe itself as including "bullying" as a topic.  One had to get well into the survey before that even came up.  Second, and more importantly, if the IHE is reporting correctly, then 35% of respondents reported bullying, and the survey had a 59% response rate from faculty.  So even if there was self-selection, over 20% of the total faculty reported bullying.  While self-selection may have inflated the result from somewhere over 20% to the reported value of 35%, 20% is still a significant number (to the extent that reporting "bullying" is significant in any way).

Given the cultural inflation of "bullying" noted by Professor Collins (in the link, above), I still think this tells us more about cultural training in sensitivity and willingness to take offense than about actual conduct in the real world.

Four philosophers elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences

They are:   Samuel Freeman (University of Pennsylvania), Alison Jaggar (University of Colorado, Boulder), Jonathan Lear (University of Chicago), and Charles Mills (City University of New York Graduate Center).  I'm pleased to note that Freeman and Lear wrote the volumes, respectively, on Rawls and Freud in my Routledge Philosophers series.

The committee responsible for new philosophy elections to the Academy this year consisted of Susan Wolf (as Chair), Elizabeth Anderson, Sally Haslanger, Philip Kitcher, Richard Kraut, and Helen Longino.  Any current member can nominate candidates for election, and candidates are voted on by all current members, but the committee for each section has considerable authority over the final choices (though there is some negotiation about how many new Fellows each section gets each year--philosophy usually gets four or five).

There is no bottom to dumb: Sean Spicer edition

He may not be the most ignorant person in America, but he's certainly providing the most visible evidence for winning that title.

Ayn Rand makes it to the Politics A-Levels in the UK

What an embarrassment!  But at least it's not on the philosophy exams.

(Thanks to John Rapko for the pointer.)

Job interviews, once again

This NYT piece is making the rounds; interviews for philosophy jobs are, usually (one hopes), more substantive.  We've discussed the issue here before.  Is there anything new to say?

Who should investigate sexual assaults on campus?

I was unaware of the failed Georgia legislation reported on by IHE, but I also think the article misframes the issue as being only about unfairness to the accused.  The procedural infirmities of university processes--including the absence of cross-examination and the absence of counsel or even an advocate for the complainant and respondent--create huge problems for complainants as well.  At this point, the one thing that is clear from the emerging pattern of litigation across the country about such investigation is that universities are ill-equipped to act as a shadow criminal justice system.

London's Barry Smith on overestimating consciousness (as Nietzsche would say)...

...at IAI.

The United Airlines flight fiasco

Facebook is awash with links about this; here's the NYT story.  There's really two instances of misconduct here.  The first is the responsibility of United Airlines:  they overbooked a flight, then wanted to force off the plane seated, ticketed passengers to make room for flight personnel who needed to pick up a connecting flight.  Whoever at United made this idiotic decision should be fired (their name will no doubt come out in the ensuing litigation--unless United settles very quickly, which they probably will).  The second is the responsibility of the police, who did what police often do when they don't get what they ask for:  they become violent.  The police were presumably told that this passenger had to deplane; they probably didn't even know why.  The lawsuit against the City of Chicago--which knows a lot about defending against such lawsuits--may shed some light on what transpired--though, again, the presence of a video of what happened means a quick settlement is also likely.

The doctor who was manhandled here was already on the phone with his lawyer when ousted.  I assume we will hear about the lawsuits within the next 48 to 72 hours.

What now for Central European University?

MOVING TO FRONT FROM APRIL 7--HUNGARIAN PRESIDENT HAS SIGNED THE LAW--SEE COMMENTS--MORE WELCOME

This is an open thread for links, information, commentary, perspective on what's next for CEU in light of the assault by the fascist government of Hungary.

Kipnis on the David Barnett case at Colorado

Although the main case study of Laura Kipnis's book is the Ludlow case, she also discusses another incident familiar to philosophy readers: the firing of philosophy professor David Barnett from his tenured position at the University of Colorado.  Here's an excerpt of Kipnis's account (169-172)

Barnett had a graduate student we'll call Ben.  Ben had been found guilty of "forcible nonconsensual sexual contact" stemming from a drunken, chaotic evening at an off-campus house involving several roommates and visitors...Ben himself had no memory the next day of the events; nor did the complainant, whom I'll call Ann.  At least that's what Ann said the next morning to the female friend who'd brought her to Ben's place.  Three months later, Ann miraculously recovered her memory and filed forcible sex charges against Ben.

Though they never actually had sex, somehow Ben and Ann were in a bedroom naked and yelling at one another when Ben's roommate, Cary, came in to see what was going on.  Among the other highlights of the evening were Ann, blind drunk, falling down the stairs; Ann being picked up in a car by her boyfriend; Ann returning to the house later that night and climbing into bed with various of Ben's roommates, whom she tried fondling and propositioning (Cary included), but none was interested...

The university's Office of Discrimination and Harassment [ODH] investigated, and found Ben guilty of the forcible contact charge, though they never interviewed him....Ben was shocked when he received the final report, since it either misrepresented or omitted the statements of the five witnesses they had interviewed.  Ben's association with the university was immediately severed...

His professor, David Barnett, tried to help Ben find a lawyer, but none would take the case on contingency, so any legal action would be expensive....[An] alternative was writing up an account of what had been omitted from the report and submitting an appeal directly to the university's president and chancellor...

A useful overview of below-the-radar wickedness by the Trump Administration

That includes making it easier for mentally ill people to buy guns and for oil companies to hide their bribes of foreign governments.

Speech on campus battles continue: Claremont-McKenna, Harvard

IHE carries both stories today: protesters at Claremont-McKenna prevent most of audience from attending talk by Black Lives Matter critic Heather MacDonald (from the libertarian Manhattan Institute), while Harvard students have formed a group whose sole purpose is to invite, it appears, "controversial" speakers.  That seems to me rather dubious, though their first two choices are reasonable ones, as opposed to idiotic ones (e.g., Milo what's-his-name).  Not everyone deserves to be invited to speak on a college campus, after all:  having some knowledge, having an articulate and evidence-based perspective on questions of scholarly interest ought to be required!

Another replication failure in psychology: "stereotype threat" does not appear to affect women's performance in math once one corrects for publication bias

Details here.  I call attention to these studies because some philosophy professors have peddled these psychological hypotheses rather uncritically, and in doing so, I suspect they have distracted attention away from the real obstacles that have faced women in academic philosophy:  overt sexism and sexual harassment.

Philosophical Gourmet, PGR, Boycott, Carrie Jenkins: What Really Happened in 2014

This will be of no interest to regular readers.  This just records in one place certain facts about events in 2014, that I've written about previously.

Helping grad students find work outside the academy

MOVING TO FRONT FROM APRIL 7--UPDATED

Here's what the University of Chicago is doing.

UPDATE:  A Chicago graduate writes:

I just saw your post about what UChicago is doing to help grad students find work outside the academy. I’m not really sure what this is worth, but, in my experience, this isn’t something that philosophy grad students, at least, should get too excited about. I went to a handful of these events during my last couple years in Chicago, and didn’t find them helpful in the least. One was a sort of Q&A with a UChicago science PhD (biology, maybe?) working as a consultant, and it was very much focused on the sciences. His attitude struck me as being basically like “I mean, if you’re in the humanities, you can apply, but we’re really looking for the skills people learn doing a PhD in the sciences.” (I did apply, and didn’t get an interview.) More humanities-oriented events turn up jobs in government and non-profits that look like great options for history (and art history) PhDs. But philosophy seems to be slipping through the cracks between the other humanities and the social and natural sciences. So I ended up feeling that UChicagoGrad doesn’t do any better for philosophy PhDs than the philosophy faculty do [in helping graduates find work outside the academy]––which is to say that there’s not much help to be found. And I can’t help but feel that the whole thing (and the whole alt-ac phenomenon in general) is just a way of excusing a failure to think seriously about the real significance of the current state of the academic job market. And, again, I did try to use the resources on offer. But it wasn’t really any more helpful than talking to a random non-academic at a party.

Alas.

Admitted PhD students who don't respond to departmental inquiries

A department Chair elsewhere writes:

Are you aware of any policy or practice regarding applicants who are holding an offer of admission and fellowship but who have not made contact with an institution for weeks, despite numerous emails, etc.? All we are asking for is an acknowledgement that our offer is still being considered and that they are still interested in it. Rudeness aside, isn't there some obligation on the applicant's part to respond to queries?

Have others had this problem?

I do not know if there are any rules governing situations like this promulgated by the APA or other bodies (please post links to any applicable rules in the comment section).  I would think one way for programs to avoid this kind of problem is, in the offer letter, to specify that the offer of admission is conditional on certain contacts/updates being acknowledged, or something like that.  And students really shouldn't behave the way this student is behaving:  other hopefuls may be waiting on your decision, after all!  Perhaps in this case there are extenuating circumstances, but if you really have no interest in an admission offer, turn it down!

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Jeff Beck Group, "Going Down," live on Beat Club, 1972

Between 1968's classic Truth album (with Rod Stewart and Ron Wood) and Beck's solo (and much more jazzy) smash Blow by Blow in 1975, Beck and the much reconfigured Jeff Beck Group (Stewart and Wood were long gone) did not enjoy as much success, but the wonderful German rock music show Beat Club captured this live version of their best number during the doldrum years (that's Max Middleton on the piano): 

 

 

What really happened in Syria?

Philosophy PhD student Philippe Lemoine comments on the evidence and the journalism.

UCSD's Saba Bazargan-Forward interviewed...

...at 3AM.

Three philosophers win Guggenheim Fellowships in 2017 competition

They are:   Cheryl Misak (Toronto), Margaret Morrison (Toronto), and Michael Strevens (NYU).

More on Kipnis's book and the Ludlow case

The Guardian gives a fair summary of the book's treatment of the allegations by a graduate student against Peter Ludlow at Northwestern.  (It is less good on the allegations of the undergraduate; the most serious of her allegations were thoroughly undermined during the depositions in connection with her lawsuit against Ludlow and the university--Kipnis's book gives a better account of this.)  An excerpt ("Hartley" is the pseudonym for the graduate student complainant):

[Hartley] and Ludlow had seemingly been in a relationship: a consensual relationship documented in dozens of fond texts and emails that Kipnis has seen. She was a 25-year-old graduate student, and he was not her supervisor. It wasn’t, moreover, until two years after this relationship ended that she rang her thesis adviser and told her that Ludlow had once had sex with her without her consent (it was this adviser who contacted the university’s Title IX officer).

Some useful perspective on the US attack on Syria...

...from The Moscow Times (which is an independent newspaper, often quite good).

"Why We Argue"

A new podcast, hosted by philosopher Bob Talisse (Vanderbilt), in connection with U Conn's project on humility and conviction.

More on Judge Gorsuch, plagiarism, and Oxford

Leslie Green, who holds one of the two statutory (i.e., university-wide) Chairs in Philosophy of Law at Oxford, has now expanded on his thoughts about the Gorsuch plagiarism case and the claims of John Finnis (who held a personal chair in legal philosophy, but is now emeritus).  (Earlier posts here and here.)

Disability Studies appears to be an advocacy field, not a scholarly one: the case of Anna Stubblefield

As we learned from the updates to the earlier posting, many disability advocates have been strong enablers of the facilitated communication sham and of Stubblefield herself.  And it's worse than that, as David Auerbach writes:

Despite saying they were reviewing the matter, Disability Studies Quarterly never added any sort of disclaimer to the article purportedly authored by DJ but written "through" Stubblefield via Facilitated Communication ( http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/1717/1765 )

(see here: http://retractionwatch.com/2015/11/03/journal-reviewing-papers-by-researcher-who-sexually-assaulted-co-author//)

DSQ is published by the Society for Disability Studies. SDS chair Brenda Brueggemann loudly supports Stubblefield and FC, accusing her opponents of "ignorance and hubris": http://lists.disstudies.org/pipermail/sds-discuss_lists.disstudies.org/2015-October/002504.html

DSQ have also not added any disclaimers to Stubblefield's own article in the same issue, "Sound and Fury: When Opposition to Facilitated Communication Functions as Hate Speech" (http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/1729/1777), in which Stubblefield defends many FC advocates whom she personally knew, including FC creator Rosemary Crossley (whose testimony in favor of DJ's competence was rejected by the trial judge) and longtime FC proponent Sandra McClennen (Stubblefield's mother)."

Sociologist and disability scholar Mark Sherry argued strongly against SDS's support of Stubblefield. He discusses the background and the conflicts of interest in his article: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09687599.2016.1218152

UPDATE:  Psychologist James Todd, whom we heard from previously regarding his role in the Stubblefield trial, writes with more interesting perspective:

You are right about “disabilities studies," at the least the kind we get from the Society for Disabilities Studies and its journal, Disabilities Studies Quarterly (DSQ).  

The SDS conferences and its journal contain some real scholarship. But it is so infused with advocacy, fabrication, and fantasy that the legitimate items are tainted by association.  DSQ also continues to accept FC as genuine communication without apparently even suggesting source validation. I suspect they know doing that would reveal the real source as the facilitator. That is, DSQ is a journal that publishes what any competent editor should assume are forgeries.  

A couple other issues.

Morality and Consequences

Philosopher David Owens (King's College, London) and others discuss.

Bannon losing influence to Trump's son-in-law

No surprise to anyone who recalls how mafiosi think.

Wayne State moves to fire five tenured faculty who have not published in the last five years

I know nothing about the details of this case, and it is possible that economic pressures are really driving this move.   But what the University President says here is correct as a matter of general principle (and consistent with what I've written about tenure previously):

Dr. Wilson believes his actions will, in fact, help stave off further attacks on tenure by politicians and others. "Because tenure is such an unusual thing, people who don’t understand it already have suspicions about it," he said. "Then when they see stories of blatant abuses, like what I’m talking about, it really puts the whole tenure system under further risk."

The Internet as "the factory of the mind"

Robert Paul Wolff reflects on blogging (and a bit on life).

Roush from King's College, London to UCLA

Sherrilyn Roush (philosophy of science, epistemology, philosophy of medicine, especially psychiatry), who currently holds the Peter Sowerby Chair in Philosophy and Medicine at King's College London, has accepted a senior offer from the UCLA Philosophy Department, where she will begin teaching January 2018.  That's a significant piece of information for prospective students interested in her areas considering either KCL or UCLA.  (Roush was previously professor of philosophy at Berkeley, before moving to KCL.)

(Thanks to Barbara Herman for the information.)

Advertising update

There's still one top spot in May and one in July left, and at least one second and third spot from May onwards.  All the top spots in June and August are taken.  (Recall that the summer rates are cut in half, since I will be blogging less.)