Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog

In Memoriam: Margaret Morrison (1954-2021)

MOVING TO FRONT FROM JANUARY 11--UPDATED

A leading philosopher of science, Professor Morrison was emerita in philosophy at the University of Toronto, where she had taught since 1989.   You can learn more about her work here.  I will add links to memorial notices as they appear.

(Thanks to Professor Stephan Hartmann [LMU Munich] for notifying me of her passing, and for the link, above.)

UPDATE:   A memorial notice from Toronto.

ANOTHER UPDATE:  An informative memorial notice about her life and work.

Faces reveal political orientation?

Maybe so.  Who hasn't noticed that Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz, Sean Hannity...there's something "off" about those faces?   The return of (gasp) physiognomy?

(Thanks to Blake Myers for the pointer to the article.)

Blast from the past: the Ward Churchill case at the University of Colorado

Back in 2005.  Remarkably, the charlatan Paul Campos is still teaching at Colorado, while Churchill, after being wrongfully fired, has never taught again.   Churchill was an early victim of right-wing cancel culture aimed at the universities.

More good news about the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines

Here; an excerpt:

A new study suggests the messenger RNA vaccines produced by Moderna and the Pfizer-BioNTech partnership appeared to be 90% effective in preventing Covid-19 infection in a real-world setting....

The study followed nearly 4,000 health care workers, first responders, and other essential workers in eight U.S. locations as the first Covid vaccines were rolled out starting in December. Participants were tested weekly to look for all cases of Covid infection, even asymptomatic ones.

In the period from Dec. 14, 2020, to March 13, 2021, nearly 75% of the workers in the cohort received at least one dose of one of the mRNA vaccines...

Christ is contradictory...

...but non-classical logic (with help from philosopher Jc Beall [Notre Dame]) comes to the rescue!

Finacial issues in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education

I asked philosopher Steven Hales (Bloomsburg) if he could share some of what he and colleagues in the Pa. State System are confronting.  His account is bracing, and no doubt not unfamiliar elsewhere:

Pennsylvania has a very strange public higher ed system. On the one hand are the state-related universities like Penn State, University of Pittsburgh, and Temple. They get about 5% of their funding from the state. Then there are the 14 state-owned universities that comprise the PA State System of Higher Education (PASSHE). My university, Bloomsburg, is one of these. We get about 25% of our budget from the state. According to the system chancellor, out of 50 states, PA is 47^th when it comes to funding public higher ed. The PASSHE schools are struggling due to a perfect storm of factors: years of underfunding, massive cuts after the 2009 fiscal crisis, declining numbers of high school graduates, and COVID. As a result, the majority of the 14 universities are insolvent, with cratering enrollments and debt they cannot escape.

The Chancellor has instructed that three universities in the western part of the State—California, Edinboro, and Clarion—merge. Also three in the mideastern part of the state are to combine. Bloomsburg is to merge with Lock Haven (70 miles away) and Mansfield (90 miles away). Bloomsburg is far and away the strongest and most solvent of the three, but this is like telling a struggling swimmer to save two drowning swimmers. We are advised that they are going to fire 2/3rds of the administrators, retrench some of the faculty, make us teach hybrid classes, and somehow everything is going to be OK. So my Dean or Provost could wind up being 90 miles away, and I never meet them except on Zoom. Oh, and all academic departments will be scattered objects. I will be the Chair of a philosophy department (assuming we survive) with members at three different constituent colleges.

The Chancellor has said that if this does not work, next year he will propose dissolving the state system altogether. Now, all of the PASSHE schools have proud histories going back to the 19^th century. We only became a unified system in 1982. If we dissolve the system and all the universities remain public but independent, it will stop the financial drain from the stronger to the weaker schools. The result will be a Darwinian one: the strong survive and the weak perish. I have no idea whether this is ultimately for the best or not, but I certainly feel for all those perfectly decent scholars and staff who will lose their jobs.

Of course there was no systematic study done of possible alternative plans to these mergers, and no real economic analysis. We will marry in haste and repent at leisure. And it is a shotgun wedding: everyone is somewhere on the scale of worried to panicked. The state legislature is packed with businesspeople who think the sole purpose of a university is to feed young citizens into the maw of capitalism, so I am in the position of once again having to defend the existence of philosophy. It is grindingly depressing.

Readers aware of similar issues elsewhere should add details or links in the comments.

Guest on Tucker Carlson show: Repugs will have to choose a fascist in next 10-20 years...

...to protect themselves from dastardly liberals!   Or as Sinclair Lewis is supposed to have said: "When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross," to defend both against the liberals!   It's temping to laugh at this, but bear in mind that Carlson and his acolytes are deadly serious.   Add this to the list of reasons "America is doomed."

Kosch from Johns Hopkins back to Cornell

Michelle Kosch (Kant, post-Kantian Continental philosophy [esp. Kierkegaard and Fichte]), who moved last year to Johns Hopkins, has decided to return to Cornell University.

Informative news article comparing COVID vaccines

Here.  All the vaccines are quite good, but Pfizer and Moderna results are really quite remarkable.

"Rawls at 100"

Political philosopher Josh Cohen (Apple U & Berkeley) talks with economist Glenn Loury about Rawls on the centennary of his birth.

Huddleston from Birkbeck to Warwick

Andrew Huddleston (19th-century Continental philosophy [esp. Nietzsche], aesthetics), currently Reader in Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London, has accepted appointment as Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick starting the 2021-22 academic year. 

(His move will affect the recommendations for post-graduate Nietzsche study:  Birkbeck is a less attractive choice [although Ken Gemes remains there part-time], while Warwick will remain a leading choice [Peter Poellner has retired, but the addition of Huddleston renews the strength in that area].)

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Blodwyn Pig, "Same Old Story," 1970

Another number from Mick Abrahams' post-Jethro Tull band that we've featured in the past; one of my two  favorites songs by the band:

 

Approaches to affirmative action/diversity hiring: the poll results

MOVING TO FRONT FROM MARCH 25--MANY INTERESTING COMMENTS, MORE WELCOME.  AND LAWYER READERS:  DO CONSIDER REPLYING TO QUESTION #12, BELOW, ABOUT EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION LAW, IF YOU'RE KNOWLEDGEABLE ABOUT IT

So we got more than 550 responses since late yesterday afternoon to the poll, and the results have been fairly stable now for awhile.  Here they are:

Which description is closest to your approach to diversity/affirmative action hiring for faculty positions?

Make affirmative efforts to identify and solicit applications from members of underrepresented groups, but then choose the candidate with the strongest academic qualifications without regard to group membership. 27%

 

 

Same as #1, except treat membership in an underrepresented group as a tie breaker when academic qualifications of candidates are basically the same. 51%

 

 

Same as #1, except treat membership in an underrepresented group as decisive as long as the candidate is above some threshold of strength in terms of academic qualifications. 13%

 

 

None of the above 9%

 

 

Total votes: 566

Remember that the poll was aimed at academics who believe in affirmative action/diversity hiring (for the difference between affirmative action and diversity, see this CHE essay of mine).

The first choice--which garnered 27% of the votes--expresses what I would think of as the minimal requirement for affirmative action, namely that one take affirmative actions to identify and solicit applications from members of the target groups (e.g., African-Americans).  

The second option--which got the biggest share of the vote, 51%, including my own vote--then treats membership in the underrepresented group as a tie breaker when academic qualifications are more or less equivalent.  Of course, there the devil is in the details of comparing academic qualifications, and different people will do that differently.

More on the University of Liverpool fiasco involving "research metrics"

An article in Nature giving an overview.

On the expanding concept of "anti-semitism"

This essay makes the right points about the ludicrous expansion and weaponization of the concept to silence critics of Israel.

Rutgers University announces that COVID vaccination will be required for all students for enrollment next fall

Good for them.  They will give medical and (unfortunately) religious exemptions.  Other colleges and lower schools should follow suit.

(Thanks to Robert McGarvey for the pointer.)

Dewar (Munich) and S. Fine (KCL) to Cambridge

Neil Dewar (philosophy of physics), currently Assistant Professor at the Munich Center for Mathematical philosophy, and Sarah Fine (moral & political philosophy), currently Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at King's College, London, have both accepted permanent posts in philosophy at Cambridge University.

University of Rhode Island does not understand academic freedom...

...as this IHE story makes clear.  

First, it's not the job of the university to comment on the views of faculty members. 

Second, the "general right to  ‘academic freedom’ in..teaching and scholarship" is not "bounded" by the faculty member's "obligations to the university’s students and the university community.”  More precisely, a publication by a gender studies professor (an exercise of her academic freedom in scholarship) is not bounded by any "obligations to the...students" or "the university community," but only by standards of disciplinary competence.  Academic freedom in teaching (not at issue here) is "bounded" by precise "obligations to the university's students"--to successfully and competently teach the subject matter, and abide by applicable laws (e.g., anti-discrimination laws)--but again is not bounded by any generic obligations to the "community."

A poll about different approaches to affirmative action/diversity hiring

This poll is for academics who support affirmative action/diversity hiring at least to the extent of wanting to find and solicit applications from candidates from underrepresented groups.  "Underrepresented groups" here might be defined in terms of race, ethnicity, gender or gender identity, or sexual orientation.   "Academic qualifications" here means whatever attributes are considered relevant for the research and teaching requirements of a job, independent of group membership.  

The poll presents three different options for how affirmative action/diversity considerations might interact with academic qualifications in a job search:  in the first, group membership matters only in terms of outreach and soliciting applications, but not at the stage of choosing whom to hire; in the second, group membership is a tie breaker about whom to hire among those with equivalent academic qualifications; and in the third, group membership above a certain threshold of academic qualifications dominates in the final decisoin of whom to hire.  Once results are in, I'll open it for a discussion, including a discussion of options not considered in the poll.

Richard Marshall interviews Zach Weber (Otago)...

...at 3:16 AM.

Blast from the past: what kinds of obligations do philosophers have to referee papers?

Back in 2009, with discussion.  Have things changed in the interim?  Comments here are also open.

 

Yes, Canada is a small country, but it's still surprising that the Prime Minister is responding to a professor on Twitter...

...with about 9,000 followers.  California has more people than Canada, but I don't recall the Governor there bothering to speak out about any mid-sized Twitter accounts!  I guess I better make sure the Illinois Governor doesn't follow me on Twitter!

(Thanks to Joshua Selby for the pointer.)

ADDENDUM:  Someone on Twitter points out the most likely explanation for this:  "Not surprising for Canadians: an easy (and high profile) win for a federalist prime minister about to call an election and reliant on Quebec votes."

Update on Liverpool's proposal to fire faculty for insufficient numbers of citations or grants during a limited period

Regarding the situation at Liverpool, Tom Stafford (Sheffield) has sent out the following update:

Three weeks ago I wrote to 800 of you. As of today, nearly 3000 academics have signed the open letter. I include the first message I sent below, for those of you who missed it. In that message I said I hoped to only write again once we had won.

I am sorry to report that we have not yet won.

On 3rd of March I delivered the Open letter, with over 2,100 signatures, to the management team at the University of Liverpool and the management team of the faculty of health and life sciences. A PDF of the letter and signatures at that point is here http://tomstafford.staff.shef.ac.uk/docs/liverpool2126.pdf So far we have had no response. 

As well as your show of support, and the individual letters that I know many signatories have written, the University of Liverpool has also received letters from the Lead of the Hong Kong Principles and authors of the Leiden Manifesto on responsible metrics, as well as other UK bodies concerned with the responsible use of metrics. A partial collection of responses can be found here https://www.hls47.co.uk/letters-of-support/

A huge majority of staff in the affected faculty (HLS) have publicly stated their rejection of the University strategy, signing this open letter https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iaEhAbcVogT3PjH1bYPfCWJnKt-_ZMuwRiCjtbj3qbs/edit (264 signatures, ~75% of faculty)

Academic Freedom Alliance (AFA) statement on University of San Diego case

A propos this, the AFA has issued an excellent statement.

AI that can argue with humans?

Meet "Project Debater."

(Thanks to Jerry Dworkin for the pointer.  Jerry sent this to me with a subject line reading "machines that can argue with humans."  I replied:  "Aren't those called 'analytic philosophers'?"  Jerry retorted:  "No. Those are called machine guns. They fire rapidly mostly missing their target and often injuring innocent bystanders.")

In Memoriam: Andrew Levine (1944-2021)

Political philosopher turned social critic, Professor Levine taught for many years at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and wrote widely on political philosophy, Marxism, and radical social critique.  He also achieved brief popular fame (including an appearance on Johnny Carson) with his ability to speak backwards!  The Wisconsin memorial notice is here.   If anyone has a link to the Carson appearance, you may add a link in the comments.

In Memoriam: Stephen J. White (1983-2021)

I was very sorry to learn on Facebook of the untimely death of Professor White, a moral philosopher recently tenured at Northwestern University.   (He died of complications following heart surgery.)   Philosopher Jennifer Lackey at Northwestern is raising money to establish a scholarship or prize in his honor. 

I will add links to other memorial notices as they appear.

Academic freedom violation at the University of San Diego School of Law

It's disappointing when Deans at law schools behave this badly:  surely they should know what the legal rights of their faculty are?

Editorial fiasco at Pacific Philosophical Quarterly (which hopefully won't happen again)

MOVING TO FRONT FROM MARCH 19--UPDATED

A philosopher in the UK asked me to share an anonymized version of their unhappy experience:

I originally submitted this paper on 27 January 2020, and on 29 January I was told that the internal review process would take around 10 weeks. That period having passed without me hearing anything - and with the REF deadline of 31 December 2020 looming - I sent emails to the journal’s managing editor on 6 May and again on 5 June, without response. I then emailed the publisher on 3 September and again on 28 September. Finally, on 10 October, I was contacted by the managing editor who told me that she was waiting for the second reviewer’s report. Nearly 5 months later I discover in fact the paper had not been sent out for review at all. In sum, 13 months’ wait for a desk rejection with no feedback.

I know it’s common for long delays in the review process, but to my mind this really takes the biscuit.

PPQ was appropriately apologetic about this:

Due to a recently discovered mistake in our records from the past year, the email you received concerning your submission having passed initial review was sent in error and your submission had not been previously submitted for an initial review. We regret to inform you that after having sent your submission through an initial review our editors have decided not to publish your manuscript. The journal policy is to provide comments only on articles that receive external review, and due to the fact that this records error affected several submissions we are unfortunately unable to make an exception in this case despite the long delay in our decision. 

We know this situation is unacceptable and we sincerely apologize for the unfair burden our error has imposed on you. We are making significant changes in the operations of the journal to ensure this does not happen in the future. 

UPDATE:  I've heard from others who had similar experiences.  One young philosopher in the U.S. writes:

I had the same unhappy experience at PPQ...I have to say, I don't find the "records error" excuse convincing.  That doesn't explain (1) why I never got a confirmation that they'd received my MS; (2) why my follow-up to the journal's e-mail was not replied to; (3) why the multiple e-mails I sent to the managing editor wer replied to; (4) why an e-mail to Janet Levin [a faculty editor of the journal] was not replied to; (5) why it took seven months to complete the intra-department review.  I have my suspicions about what happened, but I think they're best left unsaid.  I will note that they have a new managing editor (another USC grad student).

For me, this was merely irritating.  But I do feel bad for those, like your correspondent, who are under pressure to publish.

2021 Sanders Prize in Philosophy of Religion

Philosopher Dean Zimmerman (Rutgers), co-editor of Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion, kindly shared the following announcement:

The winners of the 2021 Sanders Prize in Philosophy of Religion are Charity Anderson (Baylor University) and Jeffrey Sanford Russell (University of Southern California). Their prize-winning essay, “Divine Hiddenness and Other Evidence,” will be published in Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion.

More information about the competition and the authors may be found here:  https://marcsandersfoundation.org/philosophy-of-religion/

Threat to academic freedom and university autonomy at Ashoka University in India

Ashoka is one of the best-known, newer private, liberal arts universities in India.  Its former Vice-Chancellor (i.e., the head of the university), Pratap Bhanu Mehta, is both a political scientist and a vigorous critic of the increasingly fascist Modi regime.   Under pressure from Modi allies, Mehta has been forced to resign by the Board of Trustees at the university (see his resignation letter).   There is an open letter deploring this attack on academic freedom, and democratic values, by leading political scientists and others.  There are additional news accounts here and here.

(Thanks to Vikram Kumar for calling this to my attention and for some of the pointers.)

 

 

"How dangerous are the new COVID variants?"

This is an informative journalistic piece, that also explains the mechanisms in virtue of which the variants are more contagious.

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Pax, "A Storyless Junkie," 1972

Peruvian hard/acid rock band that was most active from the late 1960s until the mid-1970s, this great number comes from their debut album:

 

Blast from the past: underappreciated philosophers active in the U.S. in the first half of the 20th-century

Back in 2012, poll results and a discussion.

Appellate court's decision on Equal Pay Act claim by faculty member...

...may have significant ramifications for retention offers to faculty.

"The Onion" on the bizarre comments by the police on the arrest of the mass shooter in Atlanta

Sadly apt.

The Twitter smear campaign against journalist Jesse Singal

Speaking of Twitter fabrications, this is a useful catalogue of Twitter lies about journalist Jesse Singal, who has had the audacity to write articles on verboten topics (like this). 

On the revival of interest in Cassirer...

...in the New York Review of Books.   Samantha Matherne's book (see also the ad to the right) is going to play a key role in shaping the new philosophical reception of Cassirer in the years ahead.

Bullshitters more likely to fall for bullshit

Philosopher Christian Miller (Wake Forest) comments on some recent research.

Restall from Melbourne to St Andrews

Greg Restall (logic), Professor of Philosophy at the University of Melbourne, will take up a named professorship in philosophy at the University of St Andrews, effective August 1.

Daniel Dennett talks about his life and work...

...at IAITV.

Graduate student workers at Columbia University on strike

Details here.  With the Democrats in power, one can expect the NLRB to begin looking more favorably upon unionization efforts at private universities.  No doubt the usual bad arguments arguments against unionization will be trotted out too!

Southwest Baptist University in Missouri eliminates its philosophy program...

MOVING TO FRONT FROM OCTOBER 9, 2020--UPDATED

...and the job of its one tenured philosophy professor, who appears to be the real target.  Not a good look for SBU at all.

(Thanks to Rev. Beau Underwood for the pointer.)

UPDATE:  The AAUP enters the fray.

Richard Marshall interviews James O. Young (Victoria)...

...at 3:16 AM.

Frick from Princeton to Berkeley

Johann Frick (moral & political philosophy), Associate Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University, has accepted a tenured offer from the Department of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, where he will start July 1 of this year.   Joining Niko Kolodny and R. Jay Wallace, Berkeley will now be one of the top two or three U.S. programs in ethics.

(Thanks to Huseyin Gungor for the pointer.)

Birondo from Wichita State to UT El Paso

Noell Birondo (moral psychology, ancient philosophy, Latin American philosophy), currently at Wichita State University, has accepted appointment as Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Department at the University of Texas, El Paso (which offers a terminal MA degree, as well as undergraduate degrees).

Blast from the past: placement in PhD-granting programs...

...based on a 2017 report (albeit by a not always reliable researcher).

The saga of the NY Times reporter fired for mentioning someone's use of the N-word

An interesting saga, symptom of our times, but this is really the best part and it is very true:

I’m publishing my thoughts here on Medium because I know journalists.

We make America what it is — without a free press, democracy dies. But we’re still jackals. We can befriend you for years, and then bite off your arm just as you’re offering us a treat. We can’t help it. It’s the nature of the job.

At the highest levels, like Watergate, it’s about digging for the truth, no matter what corrupt government official it hurts. At the basest level, when even the crummiest scandal erupts, you have to repeat the accusation, even if you know it’s untrue or half-true, in order to explain the truth — no matter how much you may personally like the source you’re hurting....

Since January 28, I’ve been a jackal circled by jackals. Since not every journalist gets quotes right, on the rare occasions in my life that I’ve answered journalists’ questions, I’ve tried to do so in writing. That way, either they get it right or I can prove I was misquoted....

Blast from the past: the "progressive" contradiction when it comes to crimes in general vs. sex crimes

Back in 2016.

Vaccines should be able to end the pandemic, despite new variants

So say some Harvard researchers (let's hope they're right!):

“What we’re seeing is that these variants don’t seem to affect T-cell immunity all that much and they [the T-cells] seem to be as effective in recognizing these variants as they do the original virus,” [Harvared medicine professor] Alter said. “What that means is that we actually have very important backup mechanisms built into our vaccines that will continue to provide protection against these newly emerging variants.”