Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog

Philosophy's aspiring "tin-pot dictators"

Philosopher Daniel Kaufman (Missouri State) comments on their latest shenanigans.

Avital Ronell is back teaching at NYU...

...but is facing calls from students and some faculty that she be fired.  I see no reason for that, based on what we know at this point.  She was investigated, found guilty of certain offenses, and lost a year's salary and faces other administrative supervision now that she is back.  Those are significant punishments, not to mention that she has to defend against a civil lawsuit.

"Napping while Black" at Yale--what really happened?

This thorough account puts last year's incident in a different light, and while hardly uncritical of the philosophy graduate student involved, also makes clear she was badly treated by the media, both actual and social. It's particularly notable that Yale, upon investigation, did not find that there had been any racial harassment.

Ms. Braasch, the student at the center of the controversy, is seeking funding for legal redress; certainly some of the media accounts were defamatory or portrayed her in a "false light."  The statute of limitations may run soon on some of these damaging accounts, so I hope she is able to secure legal counsel.

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Warpig, "Rock Star," 1970

Canadian hard rock band of the early 1970s, that enjoyed some local success in Ontario, but not really elsewhere.  This is from their one and only album (with echoes of Deep Purple):

UPDATE:  As reader David Frydrych points out, the "echo" may be going the other way!

Survey of philosophy job seekers

Philosopher Charles Lassiter (Gonzaga) asked me to share this with readers (there are more details about the survey at the linked site):

If you are planning to apply for academic jobs this year, we hope you'll consider participating in our study "The Philosophy Job Market: Applicant Profiles and CV Review." Our aim in this first phase is to get a picture of job market applicants: what journals are they publishing in (if at all)? for how many classes are they the instructor of record (if at all)? There has been, as far as we know, no systematic attempt to collect information about people going into the job market. In the second phase of this study, we will the collected information to randomly generate CVs and investigate the behavior of potential search committee members in reviewing them.

In consultation with the Gonzaga University IRB, it was determined that IRB approval was not needed for this phase project. IRB approval will be obtained for the second phase. Nonetheless, all responses will be kept private and information secured on the hard drives of the investigators. Results will be made available at leiterreports.typepad.com, dailynous.com, philosopherscocoon.typepad.com, and philarchive.org

The survey should take about 10 minutes to complete. Participants will be entered into a drawing for two $25 Amazon gift cards. If you are willing to participate, you can find the survey here. Please email Charles Lassiter at lassiter@gonzaga.edu if you have any questions.

The link (in case it shouldn't carry over with a simple copy and paste job) is: https://gonzaga.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_b8dXHKBn1pRWR3n

The funniest Brexit melodrama tweet...

...from philosopher Mary Leng (York), a propos this: 

Bro Jo says “no, no” in low blow to BoJo.

Philosopher Sophie Allen (Keele) replies to a Twitter critic

This makes for a delightful read, and not only because Dr. Allen is so much more dialectically acute than her sanctimonious critic (who appears to be Prof. Kay Kirkpatrick, a mathematics professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign).

Blast from the past: a classic metablog moment

It seems so long ago now.

Correlation, causation, and the "dumbness" of data

Illuminating review essay of Judea Pearl's new book by philosopher Tim Maudlin (NYU), which includes this amusingly apt observation:

The physicist Richard Feynman is widely reported as saying “Philosophy of science is about as useful to scientists as ornithology is to birds.” It always surprises me that no one points out that ornithology would indeed be a great use to birds—if they could ask the ornithologists for advice, and if they could understand it.

Physics, Physicalism, and What There Is

A discussion with Nancy Cartwright (Durham/UC San Diego), John Dupre (Exeter) and physicist Subir Sarkar (Oxford).

The NYT 1619 Project and the true story of America

Robert Paul Wolff comments.

Reaction formation watch: conversion therapy edition

Founder of a major program aimed at "converting" gay people to being "straight" has now come out as gay.   Another notch in Dr. Freud's belt.

San Francisco Board declares National Rifle Association a "domestic terrorist organization"

Good for them, although it's fair to say they are more an aider and abettor of domestic terrorism than a terrorist organization proper--but it's the thought that counts!

Quantum physics and "common sense"

Interesting popular essay by philosopher Tim Maudlin (NYU).

How Thatcher's model of universities as "businesses" and students as "customers" destroyed British universities

A damning, and no doubt accurate, assessment; an excerpt:

Over the past 30 years, successive governments, from Thatcher to Blair, to Cameron and May, have imposed a set of perverse incentives on universities. Their effect has been to degrade and devalue the quality of British degrees. Academic standards have collapsed. In many institutions, it is the students who now educate the universities, in what grades they will tolerate and how much work they are willing to do. “We have got to protect ourselves from complaints,” says Natalie Fenton, professor of media and communications at Goldsmiths, University of London. “It’s an endless process of dealing with students who haven’t been able to buy the grade they wanted"....

The proportion of students getting “good honours” – a First or 2:1 – has leapt from 47 to 79 per cent: at 13 universities, more than 90 per cent of students were given at least a 2:1 last year. And Oxbridge is leading the charge: 96 to 99 per cent of its English, history and languages students get “good honours”...

For Thatcher..., universities were run as archaically as the public utilities. The academy needed to be governed by the market and measured by its metrics. “Before Thatcher, universities were… run for the benefit of staff with government money,” said Terence Kealey, a professor of biochemistry and former adviser to Thatcher, upon news of her death in 2013. “She was determined to introduce a much higher level of accountability for public funding and greater accountability for students as customers,” he recalled.

"Could philosophy save Ireland?"

I didn't now Ireland needed saving but teaching philosophy in the schools sounds like a good idea!

Philosophy books for "tweens"?

A lawyer I know (who studied philosophy before law school) poses a good question:

Do you have any ideas for beginning philosophy books for tweens?  I should probably say books that exemplify a philosophical way of thinking. My son is 11 and I’d like to develop that ability in him.  And my 9-year-old daughter just the other day figured out there is no Santa Claus and no God so she might be ready, too.  I’m not sure I know of anything that might fit the bill, though. 

I did not.  Suggestions from readers?

Three senior hires for Oxford

The newest is Catherine Abell (philosophy of art), who was previously Reader in Philosophy at the University of Manchester.  The two older ones, which I had missed, were Alice Crary (ethics, feminist philosophy) who is taking up a half-time post at Oxford, but will also continue half-time at the New School in New York City; and Joel David Hamkins (logic), who was previously at the College of Staten Island and the City University of New York Graduate Center.  All three are professors as well as tutorial fellows at various Oxford colleges.

(Thanks to Eric Sheng for alerting me to these moves.)

Are "Social Justice Warriors" concerned with justice?

Not at all clear.

(Thanks to several readers who sent this along; it's been a crazy month, so I only just got to take a look at this.)

"Neurodiversity" and the trivialization of autism

This is interesting.

(Thanks to James O'Connor for the pointer.)

The President of the United States is an imbecile, an ongoing saga

Why didn't General Mattis save us from this imbecile?

The British ruling class is unhappy with Boris Johnson

This is a pretty harsh editorial for the Financial Times.

Zealots working overtime now to shut down gender critical feminists

Philosopher Kathleen Stock (Sussex) asked me to share her statement about recent events, which I'm happy to do (the title of this blog post is mine; Prof. Stock's statement follows):

I see that the blog of the Institute of Art and Ideas has taken down a piece ( Download The current transgender debate polarizes Western societies like no other) to which Holly Lawford-Smith and I contributed, alongside Julie Bindel, Robin Dembroff, Susan Stryker and Rebecca Kukla. I assume the reason to be the fuss the latter three have been making on social media and letters to the editor since the piece was published. 

One complaint I’ve seen from them is that I have no relevant expertise in this area. Yet my contribution links to my forthcoming piece on sexual orientation, sex, and gender, in the Aristotelian Society proceedings. (Moreover this isn’t a criteria I’ve ever seen employed when the contributor agrees with self-ID in law and policy, as we obviously do not. As usual it’s a highly selective use of a norm).