Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog

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

Here.

More reflections on whether transgender women are women

A number of readers wrote in with more links, prompted by the thoughtful essays by philosopher Kathleen Stock (Sussex).   Journalism professor and feminist theorist Robert Jensen (UT Austin) shared this recent essay; an excerpt:

In left/liberal circles, especially on college campuses, “trans*” increasingly is where the action is for those concerned with social justice. It offers — for everyone, whether transgender-identified or not — the appearance of serious intellectual work and progressive politics. Endorsing the transgender project is a way to signal one is on the cutting edge, and work like Halberstam’s is embraced in these circles, where support for the transgender movement is required to be truly intersectional.

My challenge to those whose goal is liberation is simple: How does this help us understand the real world we are trying to change? How does it help us understand patriarchy, the system of institutionalized male dominance out of which so much injustice emerges?

And philosopher Dan Kaufman (Missouri State) sends along this piece; an excerpt below the fold:

Israel blocks Columbia Law School professor from entering the country and deports her

Once again, Israel is its own worst enemy.

Why aren't more philosophers discussing the philosophical issues raised by the claim of transgender women to be women?

Philosopher Kathleen Stock (Sussex) discusses the issues in a measured and informative way here and here.  Those who recall the reaction to an earlier philosophical discussion of Germaine Greer's views can surmise why so many avoid the topic.  But philosophers shouldn't, for reasons Professor Stock addresses.

An excerpt from Professor Stock's second essay below the fold:

Banning all technology (laptops, phones etc.) in the classroom

This economics professor claims that it improved student performance.  I'm curious to hear from instructors in philosophy and other fields what their experiences have been on this front.

Bill Maher on Trump the mobster

Picking up on one of our favorite themes (though apparently Maher didn't realize the truth until Trump became President):

Thanks to Brian Boyle for the pointer.)

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: The Frost, "Sweet Lady Love," 1969

Following up on last week's discovery of The Frost, this great tune appeared originally as the b-side of a single, before inclusion on the band's second album in 1970 (whose title song is surely their most famous number):

 

Bern's Pierfrancesco Basile interviewed...

....at 3AM.   He discusses English psychologist and philosopher James Ward!  From Professor Basile's interview:

I like forgotten figures in the history of philosophy, they are like smaller, tortuous roads, sometimes leading nowhere, sometimes leading to bizarre, undreamed of places… James Ward is one such figure, both personally and philosophically intriguing. He grew up in a very poor family, went through a religious crisis, studied in Germany, and eventually became a professor in Cambridge. He was also a teacher to Russell and Moore, and Russell always writes of him with great respect and affection. Ward lived at a time when Idealism was the dominant philosophy in Britain. With some simplification, it seems correct to say that the first British idealists looked to Hegel (as well as to other monist metaphysicians like Spinoza and Lotze) as their main source of inspiration. Ward, who disliked Hegelian monism as much as materialism, turned to Leibniz. His metaphysics, which he expounded in a book titled The Realm of Ends, or Pluralism and Theism, is a form of pluralistic metaphysical idealism (or spiritualism), according to which the basic constituents of the world are experiential substances....

[H]e did not slavishly follow Leibniz, but tried to adjust the theory of monads to his own needs. His monads differ from Leibniz’s in that they have windows, that is to say, they are capable of direct causal interaction. We do not live in the best of all possible worlds, but there has been progress in the course of evolution. How is this to be explained? There must be a God working within history, Ward insinuates, leading the monads towards an ideal end, but leaving them free to do their own choices and mistakes. There is a fascinating parallel between this metaphysics and Ward’s own development. Born in a very humble family, he became one of the most respected philosophers of his time (he held the prestigious Gifford Lectures twice). In a way, his life illustrates the basic metaphysical principle that slumbering monads may achieve the highest levels of rationality in the course of time.

The nominee to head the CIA tackles the Trolley Problem

Oh boy.

(Thanks to David Zimmerman for the pointer.)

Steps at a university in Lebanon

Steps at the University of Balamand in Lebanon (courtesy of Ruchira Paul):

Filmmaker Errol Morris really doesn't think much of Kuhn!

At the Boston Review, along with conversations about Kuhn between Morris and Hilary Putnam and Noam Chomsky.  Thoughts from readers?

(Some of our earlier coverage of Mr. Morris's work related to philosophy.)

Another Catholic school looking at draconian faculty cuts

St. Catherine's University in St. Paul.

(Thanks to Geoffrey Gorham for the pointer.)

Support "What is it like to be a philosopher?"

Clifford Sosis invests considerable time and even money in running the site to which we've often linked; if you're one of the thousands of readers, please considering contributing to support the operation and reward Cliff for his efforts.  He'll soon be offering official supporters early access to interviews.

Tulane's Michael Madary interviewed...

...at 3AM.

Anderson from Memphis to Syracuse

Luvell Anderson (philosophy of race, philosophy of language, aesthetics), currently Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Memphis, will join the Department of Philosophy at Syracuse University, effective this fall.

(Thanks to Adam Patterson for the pointer.)

Blast from the past: What is an 'area of competence'?

Back in 2007.  Opening comments here, in case readers think anything has changed in the interim.

What's going on at Catholic University in Washington, DC?

MOVING TO FRONT FROM MAY 4--MORE COMMENTS WELCOME

They're slashing the full-time faculty by 9%, including some "involuntary" terminations.  I've heard that Philosophy is likely to fare rather well during this transition, but I don't know details.  More information welcome in the comments.

UPDATE:  CHE has more:

A faculty committee at Catholic University of America this week resisted a controversial cost-cutting proposal that would eliminate 35 full-time professors, including those with tenure.

The report of an ad hoc committee, published late Wednesday night, is a forceful rebuke of key components of a long-simmering layoff plan that has sown division at the university, which is based in Washington, D.C., and was founded by American Roman Catholic bishops.

In its report, which was provided to The Chronicle by a professor, the committee questions whether the university has the authority to lay off tenured faculty members without either cause, a declaration of financial exigency, or the elimination of programs....

Professors at Catholic University, most of whom declined to be identified for fear of retaliation, describe the academic-renewal proposal as a particularly cold instrument that disguises a calculated layoff plan with a lot of high-minded talk about raising the university’s national profile. The provost has pushed back against that sentiment, characterizing the proposal’s critics as a vocal minority.

A key component of the plan mandates higher teaching loads for professors who work exclusively with undergraduates, freeing up those in doctoral and professional programs to teach less. If that comes to pass, consultants told the university, Catholic would have “surplus faculty” in some areas who could be laid off without reducing course offerings or cutting programs.

It's my understanding that this new caste system would benefit the School of Philosophy at Catholic U, which apparently has very close ties to the Catholic Church as well.

New Templeton grant of nearly $1.4 million for philosophy of cosmology...

...to be directed by philosophers of physics Christopher Smeenk (Western Ontario) and James Weatherall (UC Irvine).

The latest questionable ranking scheme targetting prospective college students: "College Factual"

With a name like that, it should hardly be surprising that it is thin on facts, like their philosophy rankings, according to which Boston College is #1.  But part of the scheme is then trying to get schools to promote the fake recognition (I assume somewhere along the line a fee kicks in), as in this e-mail sent to a philosophy professor at UNC-Chapel Hill:

I wanted to follow up with you to make sure you saw my previous email about the high rankings UNC Chapel Hill has achieved in Philosophy.

I’m Bill Phelan, CEO & Co-Founder of College Factual. We’ve created a press release detailing your ranking news, which you can read here: https://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/university-of-north-carolina-at-chapel-hill/news/top-college-2018-top-ranked-philosophy/

This article was created to highlight the unique strengths of your institution. You should feel free to pass the information around to people inside and outside your organization. You can even add a unique quote to the article by clicking the link within the press release that says, Learn how to contribute to this article.

Want to download a badge to go with the ranking? You can do that here: http://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/university-of-north-carolina-at-chapel-hill/rankings/badges/admin/ Sincerely,

Bill Phelan Co-Founder & CEO, College Factual m: +1-518-369-4902 e: w.p.phelan@collegefactual.com | w: http://www.collegefactual.com bh_bill.phelan cf_bill_phelan Find your best-fit college and major today!

Alas, Mr. Phelan is apparently too ignorant to realize that ranking Chapel Hill the second-best philosophy program in North Carolina and the 34th-best in the country (on a list with Boston College at #1) is an insult, not a badge of honor.  In any case, caveat emptor about this nonsencial ranking attempting to capitalize on those in search of real guidance.

Yesterday was Marx's 200th birthday...

...and my brief comment on twitter brought some cave dwellers on twitter out of the woodwork to prove the point of my remark!

Calabar's Ada Agada interviewed...

...at 3AM.

Blast from the past: the APA's irresponsible 'statement' on 'bullying and harassment'

Back in 2016.  The statement's only impact has been to confirm the APA's dismal reputation.

Theunissen from Johns Hopkins to Pittsburgh

Nandi Theunissen (ethics, metaethics), Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University, has accepted a tenured offer as Associate Professor of Philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh.

NYU's Hartry Field interviewed...

...at 3AM.   An excerpt:

The role of deductive logic in rationality is often exaggerated.  The notion of rationality isn’t very precise (and indeed doesn’t have fixed descriptive content: ‘rational’ is an approval-term), but logic is one of only many factors.  For instance there could probably be a perfectly logical advocate of the claim that the moon landing was a hoax, but few would regard such a person rational.  It’s frequently noted that when one becomes aware that certain of one’s beliefs are logically inconsistent, the most rational response is often to keep the inconsistency, because one is not sure how best to eliminate it.  The ability to manage known inconsistencies and other tensions in one’s beliefs is one of the many important factors in rationality that stress on “being logical” obscures.

Blast from the past: the favorite slogan of the vindictive and intolerant (at least in academic philosophy)

Back in 2014.

Books owned and read by John Stuart Mill with his original marginal notes...

...are now available on-line.  This is quite neat; I wish someone would do it for Nietzsche!

O'Neill moving from Politics to Philosophy at York

The political philosopher Martin O'Neill will be moving from the Politics Department at the University of York to the Department of Philosophy at the same university, effective this fall.

2018 Lebowitz Prize for outstanding philosophical achievement...

...goes to Kit Fine (NYU) and Stephen Yablo (MIT).

Robert Rubin: Philosophy prepared me for a career in finance and government...

...in which I enriched myself and then, through government policy, other members of my class, while laying the seeds for the 2008 economic collapse, which destroyed the lives of tens of millions of people, at least.  (Actually he neglected to mention this other stuff.  But clear proof that philosophy matters!)  

(Thanks to the many readers who sent this along.)

UPDATE:  Several readers have sent along this link to a column by economist Dean Baker on Mr. Rubin's "career":

First, Robert Rubin was a main architect of the high dollar policy that led to the explosion of the trade deficit in the last decade. This led to the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs and decimating communities across the Midwest. Second, Rubin was a major advocate of financial deregulation during his years in the Clinton administration. Finally, Rubin was a direct beneficiary of deregulation, since he left the administration to take a top job at Citigroup. He made over $100 million in this position before he resigned in the financial crisis when bad loans had essentially put Citigroup into bankruptcy. (It was saved by government bailouts.)

Meadows from Queensland to UC Irvine

Toby Meadows (mathematical logic, philosophy of mathematics), currently Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Queensland, has accepted a position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science at the University of California, Irvine.

Nadler on Spinoza at the TLS Online

Part of their Footnotes to Plato series.

A nice write-up about experimental philosophy...

...over at Aeon.

An interview in 'Il Manifesto' about identity politics, Trump, Marx and more

Just in time for May Day, Il Manifesto, Italy's leading communist newspaper (though it is not affiliated with the communist party), published an interview with me conducted by the Marxist economist Roberto Veneziani (Queen Mary University of London) about issues related to identity politics, Marxism, and the American political scene.   I am grateful to Professor Veneziani for the opportunity and for raising these issues.  The Italian version:  Download Il-manifesto-del-28-aprile-2018 Leiter.  And the English version:  Download Brian Leiter - interview il manifesto - questions (an * marks those questions and answers that did not make it into the Italian edition).

Past agreements between George Mason U and Charles Koch Foundation gave the Foundation a role in faculty appointments

Pretty disgraceful, though the Koch Foundation claims it no longer tries to do that.   Any such interference violates core academic freedom values, which includes the right of the university to decide on faculty appointments based on discipline-specific standards, not the preferences of external donors.   I doubt the Koch Foundation gift to the law school at George Mason involved any such provisions, since the law school at George Mason is so far to the libertarian fringe that most of my libertarian colleagues would be on the left end of their faculty!

New York City, 1911: a film

This is fun.