Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog

Richard Marshall interviews Paul Neiman (Webster State)...

...at 3:16 AM.

Virginia Commonwealth University now requiring what is almost certainly an unlawful "diversity" statement from faculty candidates

The details of the requirement are here, and F.I.R.E. has sent this sensible letter to the Administration explaining why it is unconstitutional:  Download FIRE Letter to Virginia Commonwealth University May 10 2021 (1) (1).   (I wrote about the similar University of California diversity statements here.)  My guess is that these "diversity" statements will continue to proliferate; that they will be challenged in court; and that they will eventually be struck down.  As a matter of constitutional law, requiring faculty to profess commitment to a particular conception of diversity and its value is clearly unlawful--just as requirnig them to profess commitment to the free market or socialism would be unlawful.

(Thanks to philosopher Donald Smith for the pointer.)

 

Sanders Prize in Metaethics for 2021

The winner is Graham Bex-Priestly (Leeds) for a paper on "Expressivists Should Be Reductive Naturalists," and the runner-up is Claire Kirwin (Clemson) for a paper on "Value Realism and Idiosyncrasy." 

(As a point of personal privilege, let me say I'm especially pleased to see Professor Kirwin's work recognized, since I had the good fortune to work with her here at Chicago.)

Lateral hiring in philosophy since 2003 in schools with graduate programs...

...based on information collected on this blog over the years.

In Memoriam: Eugenio Bulygin (1931-2021)

An Argentinian legal philosopher, and longtime member of the law faculty at the University of Buenos Aires, Professor Bulygin enjoyed an international reputation for important contributions to all aspects of jurisprudence (see a collection of his papers from OUP for a sense of the range of issues he worked on); his most famous and influential work was probably 1971's Normative  Systems.  I will add links to memorial notices as they appear.

On a personal note, I had the great honor of meeting him a number of years ago when he came to my lecture at the University of Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires.   A great legal philosopher and a very gracious man.

(Thanks to Luís Duarte d'Almeida for calling his death to my attention.)

UPDATE:   An obituary in Spanish is here.

Philosopher Samantha Matherne (Harvard) talks about her new book on Cassirer...

...at the New Books in Philosophy podcast.  (There's an ad for the book in the right-hand column on this blog.)

 

Shostakovich and his music in Leningrad during WWII

Philosopher Alex Miller (Otago) tells the story.

"Indigenous science" is bad science

That's pretty clear; calling it pseudoscience presupposes a solution to the demarcation problem, which no one has.

(Thanks to Mike G. for the pointer.)

UPDATE:  If you're coming here from Justin Smith's aggressively dishonest characterization of this post and Professor Pigliucci's critique of including "indigenous science" in the Canadian science curriculum, do take the time to follow the link, above, and read what Pigliucci actually had to say--Professor Smith obviously didn't.

Callard v. Paul on reasoning about transformative decisions

Here.

Blast from the past: "Weapons of math instruction"

Way back in 2003, when weapons of mass destruction were in the news.

Equity-cum-demographic diversity is not a value in scholarship, redux

A young scholar recently shared with me a referee report he received that was, in many ways, complimentary, although it ultimately recommended rejection.  But here was the very first comment:

1.      One of the first things I noticed is that not a single female author is being referenced or cited in this piece. Given that this is generally seen as problematic, I urge the author to make an effort to engage with some women scholars, such as [female professor X], who I believe wrote on [the topic of the essay] fairly recently.

Female professor X was not a philosopher, and her work was not actually relevant to the topic of the essay.  Indeed, since I know something about this topic, I can't think of any female authors who have done relevant work.  (I can think of one Black author who has done quite relevant work, but that wasn't the issue here.)  If I were an editor of the journal for which a referee started his comments with something this irrelevant, I would never use that referee again.  As I wrote recently:

[R]acial or demographic equity in citations is not a value in scholarship; truth and knowledge are the only values. If past racism has resulted in neglect of scholars who can contribute to truth and knowledge in a particular domain, then the demand should be to name those scholars so that they can be studied. But equity-qua--demographic-diversity per se is not a scholarly value. It has a stronger claim to be a value in pedagogy....

Philosopher Pamela Hieronymi (UCLA) discusses Strawson's "Freedom and Resentment"...

...at The Polonsky Salon with philosopher Daniel Telech (Van Leer Institute, Jerusalem). It's this Thursday, May 13.

Great moments in live rock 'n' roll: Marshall Tucker Band, "Ramblin," 1973

Continuing with our new series of live rock 'n' roll video clips, we turn to the Marshall Tucker Band from South Carolina.  Never quite as successful as the Allman Brothers or Lynyrd Skynyrd, Tucker still contributed some staples of "Southern rock," including this rousing live performance of "Ramblin," with the late Toy Caldwell on lead guitar.

 

Philosopher Jane O'Grady reviews Kathleen Stock's new book...

....at The Telegraph (you may need to register for a free trial).

UPDATE:   The full text of the review is available at this Internet chat forum.  (Thanks to David Zimmerman for the pointer.) (Link now fixed.)

Blast from the past: On the "pathologically self-righteous people" using social media to suppress thought and speech

Back in 2016, but still relevant, alas.  (Link fixed.)

In Memoriam: Katherine Hawley (1971-2021)

MOVING TO FRONT FROM APRIL 28--UPDATED

Professor of Philosophy at the University of St Andrews, Professor Hawley was known for wide-ranging contributions to metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and philosophy of science.  She died, tragically, of cancer.  I will add links to memorial notices as they appear.

(Thanks to Matt Kramer for letting me know about Professor Hawley's passing.)

UPDATE:  Professor Hawley talks about her book How to be Trustworthy here.

ANOTHER:  The St Andrews memorial page is here, which also includes space for readers to contribute remembrances and appreciations.

"Camille Nous"

A manifesto in support of the collective nature of scholarly research and progress.

(Thanks to Philippe Huneman for the pointer.)

Curious elections at the American Academy of "each other's friends" in the Arts & Sciences

I've heard from several readers puzzled about the recent annoncement of newly elected Fellows.

As I've mentioned before, most Fellows in philosophy are elected in their 60s or later (exceptions include philosophers like David Chalmers, Miranda Fricker, John MacFarlane, and Martha Nussbaum--all unusual cases I imagine most readers would agree); the average age is even older for those who are philosophers teaching outside the United States.   All the new U.S.-resident Fellows in philosophy fit the normal pattern:  Cristina Bicchieri, Michele Moody-Adams, Angela Davis, Frederick Neuhouser, Stewart Shapiro, R. Jay Wallace are all in their 60s or 70s.   Davis aside, they are all clearly distinguished contributors to different areas of philosophy.  Davis is an admirable and courageous person, and although she did a PhD in philosophy under Herbert Marcuse, she has not been a major contributor to philosophy since.  It's proof that this is still a free country that she should be recognized, even if this category isn't the obvious one.  (John Etchemendy, the Stanford logician who is almost 70, was elected in the category for accomplished academic leaders [he was Provost for many years at Stanford].)

Blast from the past: "the Right-Wing Blob"

Back in 2011.

Richard Marshall interviews Samuel Fleischacker (Illinois/Chicago)...

...at 3:16 AM.  Professor Fleischacker's book on Adam Smith will be out this summer in my Routledge Philosophers series.

Philosopher Cheyney Ryan (Oxford) to receive honorary doctorate from Quinnipiac University...

...in recognition of his "impact as a leading scholar on the frontier of peace and conflict studies and numerous awards for human rights activism." 

AFA statement on the San Diego case and one other

Good work by the AFA!

List of colleges now requiring students and/or employees to be vaccinated

At CHE.

Blast from the past: Does Wall Street produce anything of value?

Back in 2010.  Still relevant, unsurprisingly.

Major Linfield U donor resigns from Board of Trustees over unlawful firing of English professor

The latest developments at Lindfield University in the wake of the massive breach of academic freedom and tenure rights by the university.

Academic freedom prevails at University of San Diego

Details.

Co-editor of Schlick's collected works now flirting with crypo-fascism...

...which would have been appalling to Schlick.   Philosopher Martin Kusch (Vienna) kindly gave permission to share this statement:

JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING HANS JÜRGEN WENDEL'S PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR THE GERMAN FAR-RIGHT "ALTERNATIVE FOR GERMANY" (AfD) PARTY

As has been widely reported in the German media, the current co-editor of the Moritz Schlick Gesamtausgabe, prof. em. Hans Jürgen Wendel, has joined the German far-right AfD party, and given interviews in support of the AfD. This action completely contradicts the life and work of Moritz Schlick and the philosophy of the Vienna Circle generally. The Institute Vienna Circle and the Vienna Circle Society are committed, in their objectives and principles, to the values of the historical Vienna Circle. Together with the Moritz Schlick Forschungsstelle at the University of Rostock and the Springer Verlag Wiesbaden, we are aiming to reorganize the editing of Schlick's works.

Prof. Martin Kusch, Institute Vienna Circle

Prof. em. Friedrich Stadler, Vienna Circle Society, Co-editor of the Schlick Gesamtausgabe

 

Blast from the past: How to prepare for job interviews at schools with a primary emphasis on teaching?

Back in 2008.

A 1961 lecture by A.J. Ayer on "the concept of a person"

(Thanks to Richard Marshall for the pointer.)

How effective are the COVID vaccines?

Really effective.  (There's more at biologist Jerry Coyne's blog, where I first saw this.)

Survey about online teaching (UPDATED WITH RESULTS)

MOVING TO FRONT FROM APRIL 27--UPDATED WITH RESULTS

Philosopher Thomas Nadelhoffer (Charleston) writes:

Like many departments around the country, mine is discussing which policies (if any) we should adopt concerning online teaching moving forward. Since there is a dearth of evidence on teaching philosophy online, I thought it made sense to collect some preliminary data about the experiences of as many philosophers as possible! The survey just takes a few minutes, so I hope people are willing to take it. As I explain, I will make the findings publicly available once I am done collecting them. Perhaps others will find the survey results useful for the purposes of discussions at their home institutions.

Here is the link: 

https://cofc.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eE86YleCg0gV2Iu

UPDATE:  There were shy of 400 responses to the survey.  Various charts representing the results are here:   Download Nadelhoffer Online Philosophy Survey results.   And the raw data is here:  Download Nadelhoffer Online Philosophy Survey raw data

I've invited Professor Nadelhoffer to say more about the results when he has a chance.  I'll open comments here as well.

When "experts" disagree

Philosopher Anandi Hattiangadi (Stockholm) comments.

Changes in the Zeitgeist

Not sure if "everyone" knew these, but philosopher Dan Kaufman (Missouri State) is definitely on to something interesting about the evolution (or devolution) of cultural norms (in part due to the Internet).  As I'm also a New Yorker, I can confirm that a lot of these would have been widely shared norms and expectations of the 1970s and 80s (some do seem to me to capture more the kind of ideological compromises stressed middle class existence requires).  Some norms do change, for the better, but certainly not all.  Here's a few notable ones that particularly resonated with me:

[4] Confronting strangers with a raftload of stipulations as to how they must engage with you assumes that they care to engage with you in the first place, which may be untrue. And if they do, they probably will cease wanting to, unless you bring something so extraordinary to the table that it justifies all the trouble....

[15] Offense, insult, and hurt feelings are not particularly important, other than to oneself and to one’s intimates. This does not mean that you should go out of your way to offend others but rather that if you are offended, you shouldn’t be surprised if those outside your friends-and-family circle aren’t inclined to make a federal case out of it.

[16] You don’t accost random strangers on the street and unload your personal meshugas on them, because it’s not their business and they don’t give a damn. Nothing about these reasons fails to apply when you replace ‘street’ with ‘internet’.

[17] Scores of millions of people, most of whom neither know nor live near one another cannot constitute a “community"....

[22] The most virtuous people are the quietest about it. The least are the loudest.

[23] Terrible people have produced and continue to produce great works of art and popular culture, the value of which persists, regardless of the character or conduct of their creators.

Yale report on the "economic status" of the faculty in arts & sciences in 2017-18

This is an interesting document, for those curious about the economics of elite higher education.  It is mostly concerned with how Yale salaries and benefits compare with its competitors (including Harvard, Chicago, Princeton, Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, Columbia, and Michigan, among others).  Basic salaries are about in the middle of the pack for Yale's private competitors, although I strongly suspect the comparison with some of these schools is misleading, since places like Stanford, Chicago, and Columbia are also including law and business school faculty in the mix, not just "arts & sciences" faculty as I take it the Yale report is.  (A giveaway is that at the "Associate" rank, median Chicago salaries trail Yale's, even though Chicago comes out ahead at the rank of "Professor" and "Assistant Professor."  But there is no "Associate" rank in the Law School, and very few "Associate Professors" in the Business School, so I strongly suspect the higher salaries in law and business are driving up the medians.  This also makes Princeton's median salaries especially notable, since they have neither a law school nor a business school.  Given how breathtakingly wealthy Princeton is, this isn't surprising.)

COVID indoor safety guidelines

This is interesting (it allows you to calculate risk and "best practices" for different scenarios).

(Thanks to Jeff Roland for the pointer.)

Ted Cruz announces he "may" no longer accept bribes from "woke" CEOs...

...in return for cutting their taxes.  A man of principle at last in the Senate!

Cancel culture watch, Human Rights Watch edition

A lawyer, discussing legal regulation of hate speech, did nothing wrong by mentioning the N-word, not using it.  Yet she's still been fired by a group that is supposed to protect human rights, which presumably includes rights of expression.  She didn't engage in hate speech, she was talking about hate speech.  In the current insane environment, even I'm not going to mention the actual N-word (I would of course never use it).

ADDENDUM:   A statement from the fired lawyer's attorney (sadly, having lost her job, she's now apologizing, despite having done nothing wrong):

Ms. PoKempner has dedicated her entire career to the protection of human rights. She used the n-word while teaching a class, solely for pedagogical purposes. She was providing a verbatim retelling of an incident involving the deposition of a KKK witness—by the Southern Poverty Law Center—that she had witnessed as a young legal intern. In that story, a lawyer used the word in questioning a KKK witness, to provoke a like response from the witness and get it on the record, which was important to winning the case. Her pedagogical purpose was to inspire a discussion of whether it is ever appropriate to use such language for the purpose of eliciting hate speech, even for the goal of exposing and combating racism. Following the telling, she told the students that when she heard this over 30 years ago that it shocked her. Unfortunately, she did not consider the shock her students would feel and how this stifled the very discussion she sought to generate. She deeply regrets the impact of her words on students and apologized to them repeatedly in class for her insensitivity, and continues to regret her language.”

Great moments in live rock 'n' roll: Allman Brothers, "One Way Out," 1971

We'll take a break for a couple of months from our usual "obscure" fare in favor of some great live performances, mostly of non-obscure songs, but hopefully some readers haven't seen some of these clips.  We'll start with a gem from the Allman Brothers, from their famous show at the Filmore East in 1971, not long before Duane Allman (on slide guitar) died in a motorcyle accident.  And that's Dickey Betts, of course, on lead guitar.