Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog

Live interview with John Martin Fischer (UC Riverside) this Wednesday

Philosopher Taylor Cyr (Samford) kindly shared this information:

This Wednesday, March 17, beginning at 7:30pm Eastern Time, John Martin Fischer is going to be interviewed about his recent work on God and free will. The interview will be live-streamed on YouTube, and there will be an opportunity to ask questions via the live chat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOFtj2nDoYs&feature=youtu.be

Gillies from Rutgers to Arizona

MOVING TO FRONT FROM FRIDAY EVENING

Anthony Gillies (philosophy of language, epistemology), Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, will take up an endowed professorship in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Arizona in August, where he will also be affiliated with the Freedom Center.  That's a major appointment for Arizona, which has suffered some notable losses recently.

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Jericho Jones, "Man in the Crowd," 1971

Israeli hard rock and sometimes psychedelic band, active from the mid-1960s into the 1970s, sometimes under the name "The Churchills."  This is a representative number from their harder rock phase:

 

Violations of academic freedom related to teaching and research about issues of sex and gender

A useful catalogue of violations (as well as a more general theoretical discussion of academic freedom), mostly but not exclusively from Britain.  This is a useful corrective to those who would try to dismiss academic freedom concerns as merely having to do with "hurt feelings" and "not wanting to be criticized" (for example).

Blast from the past: best Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entries

Back in 2019.

What is it like to be a philosopher? John Doris edition

Here.

A case of reinfection with the South African variant of the coronavirus

The patient was much sicker the second time.  Alarming, and hopefully anomalous.

(Thanks to Jason Brennan on FB for the pointer.)

How the powerful use "identity" as a shield from criticism

Greenwald--who has become a mostly unreadable narcissist--is actually pretty funny and apt on this topic; He uses, as his initial example, a hack NYT journalist, Taylor Lorenz:

[One] reason Lorenz is the topic of recent discussion is that she has been repeatedly caught fabricating claims about influential people, and attempting to ruin the reputations and lives of decidedly non-famous people....

She also often uses her large, powerful public platform to malign private citizens without any power or public standing by accusing them of harboring bad beliefs and/or associating with others who do. (She is currently being sued by a citizen named Arya Toufanian, who claims Lorenz has used her private Twitter account to destroy her reputation and business, particularly with a tweet that Lorenz kept pinned at the top of her Twitter page for eight months, while several other non-public figures complain that Lorenz has “reported” on their non-public activities). It is to be expected that a New York Times journalist who gets caught lying as she did against Andreessen and trying to destroy the reputations of non-public figures will be a topic of conversation.

Some further thoughts on Twitter

The first round of observations was so popular (especially on Twitter!), I thought I'd add a few more based on things I've learned and observed the last couple of months.

1.  I came across this interesting chart via Justin Weinberg's blog, which shows that the vast majority of U.S. adults do not use Twitter at all (thank God!), and that usage varies, unsurprisingly, by generation.  38% of those 18-29 use Twitter (the highest percentage), while only 7% of those over 65 use it.  I'm in the distinct minority in my age range (only 17% of those 50-64 use it), and I mostly use it to provide links to the blog for the benefit the readers who now follow the blog by Twitter. 

2.  This data is consistent with an e-mail shared on Twitter awhile back by the journalist Jesse Singal: 

"[T]he vast majority of both psychologically healthy and accomplished philosophers stay off twitter like their life depends on it. The vast majority of people I know in academic philosophy either ignore, mock, or disdain philosophy twitter." - professional philosopher in email

Although many Twitterati reacted with rage and denial to Mr. Singal's tweet, the claim about "the vast majority" is consistent with the data about usage by age alone.  (Are the non-users psychologically healthier and more accomplished?  Probably, but the preceding data are neutral on that.)   I strongly suspect that relatively few non-Twitter users "mock or disdain philosophy twitter" (although that would be a warranted response were they to look), and that most simply ignore it. 

Richard Marshall interviews Theodore Gracyk (Minnesota State)...

...at 3:16 AM.

Crime and punishment, animal kingdom edition

The crime:

The result:

Yesterday's discussion of Marx...

...noted earlier is now online.  Thanks to Dr. Donna Lyons (Law, Trinity College Dublin) and Prof. Brian O'Connor (Philosophy, University College Dublin) for their questions, as well as members of the audience.

 

Twitter as symptom of the end of writing (and thinking)

This little essay by philosopher Charlie Huenemann (Utah State University) is quite important, and everyone should read it and share it (longtime readers will know I don't say that very often!).  Some excerpts and some comments:

The internet broadens the public square, and allows many more people to participate in the exchange of ideas (or, failing that, memes). This is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, more participation means a more vibrant and eclectic breeding ground for culture: more diversity, more creativity, more involvement, and more communication, which are all good things. On the other hand, the “moremoremore” tends to drive shorter attention spans and shallower content.

It is simply false, as the whole Internet demonstrates, that "more participation means a more vibrant and eclectic breeding ground for culture":  all culture worth the time depends on exclusion, judgment, and screening.  Most people have nothing to say that is worth hearing (vide Twitter again!), which is why the Internet is an unmitigated disaster for culture, even if prior intermediaries were often deficient along many dimensions.  Despite that normative disagreement, I agree fully with Professor Huenemann's next observation:

Blast from the past: the ultimate "esoteric" reading of Plato

Back in 2010 (and due see the comments from several ancient philosophy experts).

A new webpage about the logician Richard Montague

Here.  He was murdered a half-century ago in Los Angeles.  Interestingly, he lived openly as a gay man and in an interracial relationship.

Das Kapital guide to job interviews for wage slaves

Two social parasites aired their grievances about the social parasites in their extended family

This is the funniest takedown of this absurd and irrelevant display, courtesy of The Irish Times:

The contemporary royals have no real power. They serve entirely to enshrine classism in the British nonconstitution. They live in high luxury and low autonomy, cosplaying as their ancestors, and are the subject of constant psychosocial projection from people mourning the loss of empire. They’re basically a Rorschach test that the tabloids hold up in order to gauge what level of hysterical batshittery their readers are capable of at any moment in time.

The most recent internecine struggle is between the royal family and a newly disentangled Prince Harry and his wife, the former actor Meghan Markle. Traditionally, us peasants would be nervously picking a side and retrieving our pikes from the thatch. Luckily, these days the pitched battles happen in television interviews....

DSA candidates sweep leadership elections of Nevada Democratic Party...

...and all the staff quit.  Wow!

Interview with Keith Whittington (Princeton) about the Academic Freedom Alliance

Informative Q&A here.

(Thanks to Tom Kelly for the pointer.)

In Memoriam: Jude P. Dougherty (1930-2021)

The longtime editor of the Review of Metaphysics, Professor Dougherty spent most of his academic career at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he also took his Ph.D.  I will add links to memorial notices as they appear.

(Thanks to David Gordon for alerting me to Professor Dougherty's passing.)

Akron is the tip of an iceberg of ugly retrenchments and other mischief in higher education

Here's just a few recent ones besides Akron:  Ithaca College; Wright State University; John Carroll University, plus Florida considering cutting off aid for majors that don't lead to jobs.  Please add more in the comments, including links.  (Just paste the URL into a comment, it will convert automatically.)

 

Talking about Marx tomorrow...

...with Dr. Donna Lyons (Law, Trinity College Dublin) and Prof. Brian O'Connor (Philosophy, University College Dublin).  Details.

"Hostage Chess"

MOVING TO FRONT FROM FRIDAY EVENING--FOR THOSE WHO MAY HAVE MISSED IT

Philosopher John Leslie (emeritus, Guelph) writes about a chess variant that he designed:

It tries to capture the spirit of Shogi, the great Japanese chess game in which men change sides when captured. Instead I make captives into “hostages” which are exchanged.   The variant is therefore called “Hostage Chess”. Larry Kaufman, a western-chess Grandmaster, and for decades the strongest western player of Shogi, judges it “the most interesting, exciting variant that can be played with a standard chess set”.

Enjoy your "Hostage Chess"!

"Academic Freedom Alliance"

This new organization will provide moral and in some cases legal support for faculty whose academic freedom rights (including their right to engage in extramural speech) are under attack.  CHE has an article about the new organization here.   I will note that in recruiting initial members, it was made very clear that the AFA would have defended Ward Churchill and Steven Salaita, as well as Amy Wax and Adrian Vermeule.  That is how a principled defense of the academic freedom rights of faculty should proceed.

ADDENDUM:  While the delusional Wokerati in academia pose a growing threat to academic freedom, it's worth noting that in the examples mentioned above, the two faculty who lost their jobs were targeted, successfully, by reactionary forces outside the universities.

Ludlow on Chomsky and philosophy of linguistics...

...at Dare to Know.

AI Ethics: Distinguishing the real issues from the sci-fi fantasies

Philosopher Tim Crane (CEU) comments.

The future of COVID: short-term, medium-term, long-term

Informative, as usual, from STAT News.

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Zior, "I Really Do," 1971

A not very good British hard rock/blues band that did record one memorable number:

 

Martha Nussbaum (Chicago) wins 2021 Holberg Prize

The Holberg announcement is here.  Past philosophy winners include Onora O'Neil, Jurgen Habermas, Ronald Dworkin, and Ian Hacking.

Jason Brennan on Dr. Seuss

This is amusing.  The anti-Irish racism is indisputable!

Social liberals need not be moral relativists

Philosopher Thomas Hurka (Toronto) comments.

What explains the increase in expenditures at Harvard over the last 15 years?

Short answer:  it looks mostly like additional funding of research, esp. salaries for post-docs, technicians, research staff etc.  I've opened comments if any readers have comments on the linked analysis.

(Thanks to Chris Morris for the pointer.)

"Defund the police" drove voters to Trump

Not a surprise, really, but here's some data and analysis:

What we found is that Clinton voters with conservative views on crime, policing, and public safety were far more likely to switch to Trump than voters with less conservative views on those issues. And having conservative views on those issues was more predictive of switching from Clinton to Trump than having conservative views on any other issue-set was.

This lines up pretty well with trends we saw during the campaign. In the summer, following the emergence of “defund the police” as a nationally salient issue, support for Biden among Hispanic voters declined. So I think you can tell this microstory: We raised the salience of an ideologically charged issue that millions of nonwhite voters disagreed with us on. And then, as a result, these conservative Hispanic voters who’d been voting for us despite their ideological inclinations started voting more like conservative whites.

"Defund the police" is like "we need more charter schools" in urban areas:  it focuses on a symptom, rather than the causes of the problem (police violence, poor outcomes in urban public schools).  (Earlier discussion.)

Thank you for supporting the faculty fired from the University of Akron

Since Monday afternoon, readers have contributed another $2,300 to the legal fund of the purged Akron faculty, on top of the more than $2,000 raised through the weekend.  Nearly 100 readers have contributed in total.  Thank you.  While I often ask readers to sign worthy petitions, I try not to ask readers often for monetary contributions, but this is an important case for the academy quite generally, and I'm grateful, as I know the Akron faculty are, for your support.  I will continue to post updates about the Akron case.

ADDENDUM:  In the last 12 hours, even more readers have contributed (thank you), pushing the total support from readers well over $5,000!  (Special acknowledgment to Professor Brian Ogilvie for a very generous contribution to the legal fund.)

Schafer from UC Irvine to Texas

Karl Schafer (ethics, metaethics, epistemology, Kant, Hume), Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Irvine, has accepted a senior offer from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Texas, Austin where he will start this summer.

America is doomed, part 501: how long will the "United States" remain united?

A substantial minority now favor splitting up the country:

The survey finds the political divide in America has gotten so bad 29 percent of voters would entertain the idea of spitting the country into smaller regions. One in three Republican respondents support their state seceding from the union.

Overall, just 21 percent of Democratic voters also support secession however, the idea is even more popular on the left in areas where Democrats hold power.

More signs of the times: the case of Baker University

Story here; an excerpt:

Several faculty with over 20 years of employment at Baker were offered an early retirement incentive created by the Human Resources department. In addition, three faculty members’ contracts were terminated.

Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Darcy Russell explained that program reductions were determined on the basis of low enrollment numbers in comparison to other programs. As a result, Baker will no longer offer a major or minor in French or German, leaving Spanish as the only option for a world language major. Further, Theatre and Philosophy programs will be reduced to a minor only.

(Thanks to Marcos Mendoza for the pointer.)

Richard Marshall interviews Samuel Newlands (Notre Dame)...

...at 3:16 AM.

Otsuka from LSE to Rutgers

Michael Otsuka (political philosophy, ethics), Professor of Philosophy at the London School of Economics, has accepted a senior offer from the Department of Philosophy at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, where he will begin full-time in fall 2022.  (He will also be a part-time Visiting Professor at Rutgers in 2021-22, teaching remotely from London.)  He will also be a "Core Scholar" in the Rutgers Center for Population Level Bio-Ethics.

"The Practical Origins of Ideas: Genealogy as Conceptual Reverse-Engineering"

The new book by philosopher Matthieu Queloz (Oxford) is completely open-access!  (Dr. Queloz got a grant that enabled him to purchase the permanent open-access option from OUP.)

Schopenhauer express train

Blast from the past: Bret Stephens on Heidegger and Chomsky

He was a know-nothing back in 2011 too.

Changes in Australian higher education over the last half-century...

...with a particular focus on the decline of teaching in the humanities.

Faculty purged at University of Akron need our support

MOVING TO FRONT FROM FRIDAY AFTERNOON--MANY THANKS TO THE SEVERAL DOZEN READERS WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED MORE THAN $2,000 SINCE FRIDAY AFTERNOON!  I HOPE OTHER READERS WILL CONTRIBUTE TODAY.  IF ONLY 1 OUT OF EVERY 20 VISITORS TO THE BLOG TODAY WERE TO CONTRIBUTE $10, THIS WOULD RAISE ANOTHER $5,000, AND QUITE A BIT MORE IF READERS WHO ARE ABLE CONTRIBUTE CONTRIBUTE $25 OR $50, INSTEAD OF $10.  A DECISIVE COURT VICTORY FOR THE TERMINATED FACULTY WILL SEND A CLEAR MESSAGE TO OTHER UNIVERSITIES CONTEMPLATING SIMILAR VIOLATIONS OF THE CONTRACTUAL RIGHTS OF FACULTY.

Philosopher John Bussanich (New Mexico) called to my attention the outrageous conduct of the University of Akron, which decided to eliminate nearly 100 faculty positions, many of them tenured.  If Akron gets away with this, the precedent set will be dangerous.   Some of the faculty are now fighting back in court; you can contribute to their legal fees here, and I encourage you to do so, as I have.  I reached out to get information about their legal representation and confirmation that all monies would be used for purposes of vindicating the legal rights of the terminated faculty in court.  Professor Del Rey Loven, one of the victims of the purge (a tenured professor with 14 years of service), kindly replied with the following and gave permission to share it with readers:

Our attorney is S. David Worhatch. 

https://www.worhatchlaw.com

In addition to working with Mr. Worhatch, some of us have also consulted with attorney William S. Whitaker, and he was co-counsel during the first phase of our case.  Although labor law is not his specialty, Whitaker served as a second set of eyes on our legal documents and proceedings.

All funds will be applied to the costs of our case:

1. Attorney fees
2. Court costs

And anticipated is the need for 

3. Expert witness fees, particularly for an accounting firm to audit the University of Akron financials, as our grievance includes the assertion that they did not fulfill their contractual obligations to prove that the ONLY way they could achieve their budget goals was to toss aside contractually agreed upon retrenchment procedures, supersede tenure, and terminate 97 mostly senior faculty.  
4. In the unlikely event there are unused funds when our case(s) are resolved, we will meet as a group of six and vote on an appropriate use.

Our GoFundMe donations are deposited into a dedicated Chase checking account that is co-managed by Certified Public Accountant  Douglas B. Woods, and myself (Del Rey Loven).  All drafts from the account are first presented to a meeting of all six co-plaintiffs in the case, for their approval, and that check is written by Douglas Woods, CPA.  [H]e is copied on this message.

University of Liverpool is a disgrace

The administration is using a snapshot of metrics like citations and "grant capture" to justify firing 47 faculty in Life and Health Sciences; note that the justification is not even "to save money," but to get rid of faculty who during a short time frame failed to get cited enough or bring in enough grants.  There is an open letter to the administration with more details about this disgraceful initiative.  The UK doesn't have tenure, which means faculty elsewhere are vulnerable to this mindless bureaucratic decision-making if Liverpool succeeds.  If you're on Twitter, retweet this thread; Liverpool's Executive Pro Vice Chancellor Louise Kenny (who is behind this initiative) can be reached at this address:  Louise.Kenny@liverpool.ac.uk.   

Longtime readers will recall when mad bureaucrats at King's College, London moved to terminate distinguished faculty; the subsequent outcry, including from many readers at this blog, got the University to reverse course.

America is doomed, part 500: huge swaths of the Republican Party believe that the 2020 Presidential election was "stolen"

And they're just getting going to "do something about it":

“The typical response by a losing party in a functioning democracy is that they alter their platform to make it more appealing,” Kenneth Mayer, an expert on voting and elections at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said. “Here the response is to try to keep people from voting. It’s dangerously antidemocratic.”

Newspaper published an editorial about John Rawls

Remarkable.  This is not an op-ed, but a statement by the editorial board!

(Thanks to Robert McGarvey for the pointer.)