Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog

The new Cambridge "Elements" series (UPDATED)

These short "booklets" are proliferating across many different subjects in philosophy, and while some have been pretty bad, others have attracted serious authors and look more promising.  The Elements volumes offer one very attractive feature for authors (especially junior authors), which is that the volume is made available for free downloads the first two weeks after publication.  But they have another feature which is very odd and very unattractive for more senior authors:  Cambridge does not pay royalties, just a flat fee ($250 recently).   Despite this, Cambridge University Press charges $20-25 per booklet!   

Which philosophers are mentioned in the most articles at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy?

It wasn't possible (due to false positives) to search smoe (like Berkeley, David Lewis, William James, and Bacon--Berkeley and Lewis would have surely been in the top 30), but for the rest the number of articles in which they appear tracks fairly well some earlier polls run here, though with an obvious skew to the major figures in 20th-century "analytic" philosophy.  I searched only philosophers no longer alive (some living figures would have made the top 30).

1.  Plato (1012)

2.  Aristotle (1001)

3.  Kant (801)

4.  Hume (590)

5.  Descartes (542)

6.  Leibniz (451)

7.  Locke (442)

8.  Frege (395)

9.  Socrates (391)

10.  Aquinas (374)

Nagasawa from Birmingham to Oklahoma

Yujin Nagasawa (philosophy of religion, philosophy of mind), currently Professor of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham, has accepted appointment as Professor of Philosophy and holder of the Kingfisher Chair in Philosophy of Religion and Ethics at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, effective January 2024.

The new best Szechuan restaurant in Chicago

This is it.  Learned of it through a visiting professor from Hong Kong.  Very casual, also BYOB.  The best Kung Pao Chicken and Twice Cooked Pork I've had in a long, long time.

Viktor DeSantis's war on higher education in Florida...this is what it looks like on the ground

A philosopher at a public university in Florida shares the email their Chair felt the need (no doubt correctly) to send out:

I wanted to give you a heads up about a recent law that has passed our legislature, SB 266, which goes into effect on July 1. For those of you who haven't followed the details, this law intervenes in higher education in a variety of ways that impact us, and I am happy to discuss any of this in more detail in person or over the phone/zoom. If anyone is interested, I can ask someone from the Counsel's office to attend our retreat to share their perspective on this with us. 

Chairs met with some of the university lawyers earlier this week, and they pointed out some of the sections of the law that might be important for us. 

While I would recommend that you familiarize yourself with the entire law, if you are teaching general education, you may want to attend to the section on general education that begins on line 528, with special attention to section c (line 556-561) and D2 (lines 567-571). I'm not sending this on because I anticipate problems, but simply for you to be aware of. 

Section c: "(c) General education core courses may not distort significant historical events or include a curriculum that teaches identity politics, violates s. 1000.05, or is based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political, and economic inequities."

Blast from the past: The political orientation of readers of the blog

Back in 2010.  I'll have to run one of these surveys again.

Happy Memorial Day to U.S. readers!

Here's a story about the 1937 Memorial Day massacre of striking workers in Chicago.

Tenure in Texas: the aftermath

Tenure will remain at public universities in Texas, but new standards for revocation of tenure have been codified, including "moral turpitude" (without any definition or requirement for a criminal conviction) and "unprofessional conduct" that "adversely affects the institution."  What if a faculty member participates in a drag show?  Is that "moral turpitude"?  What if a faculty member tweets something controversial or vulgar, that attracts unfavorable media attention:  is that "unprofessional conduct" that "adversely affects the institution"?  There will be First Amendment challenges to some of the potential applications of these new standards, which are highly unusual and not at all part of standard AAUP criteria for tenure revocation.  Here's what the Texas chapter of the AAUP had to say:

"We do not believe that such a codification is necessary; furthermore, we are concerned with dangerously broad grounds for termination in the bill as well as the lack of the due process provisions recommended by the AAUP and adopted by more than 1,300 colleges and universities nationally, including many in Texas," said Brian Evans, vice president of Texas chapter of the AAUP. "Nevertheless, the legislation passed by the House and Senate improves dramatically on the original bill, and we are grateful to the legislators, faculty, staff, students, and professional organizations whose work contributed to the amended bill."

More on North Carolina's war on tenure and the universities

Informative.

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Poobah, "Mr. Destroyer," 1972

ORIGINALLY POSTED DECEMBER 15, 2018

Youngstown, Ohio hard rock/heavy metal outfit (think Black Sabbath) led by guitarist Jim Gustafson.  They had a big Ohio following, but thanks to bad luck and lack of smart management, never made it nationally or internationally.   Hard to understand why this song, from their debut album, isn't a standard of "classic rock" radio, for example:

 

Simon Blackburn on the biography of Parfit

A more appreciative review of the biography than Mulhall's, and more philosophically substantial as well, including some sharp and what seem to me correct criticisms of Parfit's views.

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

Here.

97 years ago today Sholem Schwarzbard assassinated a Ukrainian nationalist and butcher of Jews

He was later acquitted by a French court.  A different world, still a stunning story.  (A longer, scholarly treatment here.)

The war on tenure (and abortion) comes to North Carolina

Philosopher David Austin (North Carolina State University) writes:

North Carolina House bill HB715 would eliminate tenure for all future UNC system faculty hires, replacing it with 1-4 year contracts.

The joint effect of the restrictions on abortion (SB20, effective July 1) and elimination of tenure would be enormous damage to NC's economy. Most women will not want to attend post-secondary education in states that restrict access to abortion. Most female faculty and those whose partners are women, as well as those who have female children, will want to avoid states that restrict access to abortion. Many businesses will leave or avoid such states. (If travel to another state or country to get an abortion can be criminalized by a woman's state of residence, business offers to cover any travel expenses won't help.) Some supporting detail is in the attached:   Download NCRestrictsAbortionTenure

I've seen little or no discussion in the media of the inevitable joint effects of limiting or eliminating tenure plus restricting access to abortion; maybe I missed it. I've looked for and not found comments by any economists of education. Perhaps they believe that it would be wasted effort because Republican legislators care only about their own re-elections and those who voted for them are ignorant or indifferent even if not favorably disposed towards the restrictions and the elimination.

Stephen Mulhall did not like Derek Parfit's way of doing philosophy...

...so, unsurprisingly, he did not much like a biography of Parfit.  There were a couple of apt criticisms of the philosophy and the philosopher.  For example:

[A]lthough Parfit’s favoured method for pursuing and refining ethical thinking presents itself as open to all whatever their ethical stance, it actually incorporates a subtle but pervasive bias against approaches to ethics that don’t focus exclusively or primarily on the outcomes of individual actions.

And also:

You don’t have to be Nietzsche to see in Parfit’s adult life a particularly stark version of an ascetic ideal that has its historical roots in the religious framework his family inhabited, but which has mutated into a variety of avowedly secular cultural forms, in science, art and philosophy. These ideals attribute a transcendent value to truth and truthfulness, and so to forms of human life that seek it, no matter what costs they impose. To the martyred Galileo and the abused avant-gardiste, we can now add the moral philosopher who cloisters himself within a cloistered institution whose founding purpose was to pray for the faithful departed. All these exemplary figures exhibit a sadomasochistic structure of self-denial, in which most of what makes life worth living is sacrificed to one’s intellectual calling. 

UPDATE:  Dr. Roger Albin writes:

Thanks for linking to Mulhall’s interesting review of the Parfit bio.  Having read Reasons & Persons, I agree with several of his criticisms.  His comment about Parfit’s personality and adult life, however, particularly the “…sadomasochistic structure of self-denial, in which most of what makes life worth living is sacrificed to one’s intellectual calling” remark may be misleading.  At an earlier point in the review, he notes that Parfit’s biographer suggested that Parfit might have had an autism spectrum disorder (though disorder is something of a misnomer).  Based on what I’ve read about Parfit, I’d say this is more than plausible.  But if that is the case, then spending his life in the cloistered environment of All Souls College, and Parfit’s apparently obsessive conduct, would not be “sadomasochistic denial.”  Many of the ordinary demands, pleasures, and uncertainties of conventional life may well have been distressing for Parfit.  His life would be uncomfortably demanding for the great majority of us, but it may well have been the most comfortable for him. 

A celebration of the life and work of Maria Rosa Antognazza on June 14...

...at King's College, London.  (The earlier memorial announcement.)

Poitier meets Plato

MOVING TO FRONT FROM MAY 22--SEE UPDATE

From his 1964 album:

(Thanks to Rob Tempio for the pointer.)

UPDATE:  There is a digital version of the full album here.   (Thanks to Neil Jahren for the pointer.)

 

Wash U/St. Louis professor being recruited for UT Austin's new "free enterprise" think tank...

...turns down offer because of the attack on tenure.  Will the awful Texas Lt. Governor, who championed the think tank and the attack on tenure, pick up this market signal?

(Thanks to Humphreys McGee for the pointer.)

St. Norbert College philosophy professor strikes it rich...

...on the game show Jeopardy!  A quarter million dollars!

(Thanks to Phil Gasper for the pointer.)

The Republican war on K-12 education: South Carolina edition

Here, with interesting history of race relations in South Carolina, and an appropriate skewering of Viktor DeSantis's slimy and stupid hitman Christopher Rufo.

(Thanks to Jason Stanley for the pointer.)

Year-long initiative on free speech and academic freedom at UC Irvine

Announcement here.  UC Irvine Chancellor Howard Gillman has written widely on these issues.  University of Chicago recently created a new "Forum" on these topics, to be led by my law colleague Tom Ginsburg.  He has already been running a series of talks on these issues (I gave one on "The Law and Philosophy of Academic Freedom").  Hopefully we will see more such initiatives proliferating, including in states facing threats from Republican Governors and legislatures.

Texas tenure battle continues

We'll find out by Friday whether Texas will destroy its public research universities or not.  The bill that passed the Texas Senate will eliminate tenure for all new hires; the bill that passed the Texas House preserves tenure, but permits termination for some non-traditional reasons that are ripe for abuse, such as “conduct involving moral turpitude” or “unprofessional conduct that adversely affects the institution.”  The latter is especially egregious.  Some schools do have "moral turpitude" clauses, but defined in terms of criminal conviction for a felony.   The final bill will be worked out in a somewhat opaque "negotiation" process that I never understood even when I lived in Texas.  If the House version prevails, it will not be an immediate disaster, although if the vague clauses are weaponized by some schools, it will become a disaster.  If the Senate version prevails, the major research centers in the public university system (e.g., UT Austin, UT Southwestern in Dallas, Texas A&M) will be decimated over the next ten years.

Silicon Valley, Elon Musk, and the popularity of eugenics

Interesting and creepy.  To be clear, I'm not wholly opposed to eugenics:  people like Elon Musk should not be allowed to reproduce.

(Thanks to Phil Gasper for the pointer.)

Blast from the past: Best Anglophone political philosophers since 1945

Back in 2016.

Would you choose to live forever?

Philosopher John Martin Fischer discusses the topic for a popular audience.

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: The Third Power, "Gettin' Together," 1970

Another number from this Michigan band's only album, this is the lead track:

 

UC Santa Cruz being sued over its unlawful "diversity" statement requirement for job applicants

A news release here, and the complaint is here.   The plaintiff claims that the state is imposing unconstitutional conditions on job applicants in violation of their First Amendment rights, as well as engaging in unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination (I have emphasized the latter).

One philosopher elected to American Philosophical Society

He is philosopher of science and biology John Dupre at the University of Exeter.

APA announces prizes....

...including the Dewey Lectures, the Gittler Prize, and others.

Humanities (including philosophy) at risk of being totally gutted at the University of Brighton in the UK

The proposed cuts are draconian!  At the prior link, there is also a link to an open letter that readers can sign in support of their Brighton colleagues.

(Thanks to Pascal Brixel for the pointer.)

Students in the UK are still trying to deplatform philosopher Kathleen Stock

MOVING TO FRONT FROM YESTERDAY--UPDATED

It's apparently not enough to have run her out of her job, some of them still can't abide her being invited to speak.  The latest incident was at Oxford.  Philosopher Jeff McMahan (Oxford) kindly shared the very good letter he and other Oxford academics (including many philosophers [e.g., Timothy Williamson, Joel Hamkins, John Tasioulas, etc.]) sent to The Telegraph.  An excerpt (I added bolding to the crucial point):

Professor Stock believes that biological sex in humans is real and socially salient, a view which until recently would have been so commonplace as to hardly merit asserting. Whether or not one agrees with Professor Stock’s views, there is no plausible and attractive ideal of academic freedom, or of free speech more generally, which would condemn their expression as outside the bounds of permissible discourse. Unfortunately, the position of her opponents seems to be that Professor Stock’s views are so illicit that they cannot be safely discussed in front of an audience of consenting and intelligent adults at the main debating society at the University of Oxford. If this were the case, it is doubtful that they could be safely expressed anywhere – a result that, as her opponents are no doubt satisfied to find, would amount to their effective prohibition.

Anyone who disagrees with the bolded bit is really not fit for university life.

UPDATE:  The Oxford Student Union has sent out a message to its members denying that severing its financial relationship with the Oxford Union was related to the invitation to Professor Stock:

Hello Students,

We refer to the recent commentary in the national media regarding the decision of Oxford SU, the student union of the University of Oxford, to suspend its commercial and financial relationship with the Oxford Union, the private members’ club and debating society.

The press coverage erroneously conflates the recent motion passed by the Student Council of Oxford SU in relation to the Oxford Union with the Oxford Union’s decision to invite Dr Kathleen Stock as a speaker. The motion was unrelated to Dr Stock’s intended talk. It did not mention Dr Stock or any other speaker at the Oxford Union, instead citing long-standing concerns relating to alleged bullying, sexual harassment, discrimination and data privacy breaches which affect students. The motion was democratically passed at a meeting of students, following a debate which also did not mention Dr Stock.

It is deeply unfortunate that the media has chosen to imply a connection between the Student Council’s vote and Dr Stock’s talk.  Oxford SU is a charity which exists to promote the interests and welfare of students and to provide social, cultural, and recreational activities and forums for discussions and debate. We are committed to freedom of expression and freedom of speech, and will defend the right of people to have controversial and unpopular ideas debated as an integral part of university life and the student experience.

Draft Minutes from Student Council

 

Blast from the past: Mark Taylor (Columbia Religion Dept.) is an ignorant menace

Back in 2010.

There should be severe liability for creating "counterfeit people" using AI

Philosopher Daniel Dennett in The Atlantic:

Today, for the first time in history, thanks to artificial intelligence, it is possible for anybody to make counterfeit people who can pass for real in many of the new digital environments we have created. These counterfeit people are the most dangerous artifacts in human history, capable of destroying not just economies but human freedom itself. Before it’s too late (it may well be too late already) we must outlaw both the creation of counterfeit people and the “passing along” of counterfeit people. The penalties for either offense should be extremely severe, given that civilization itself is at risk.

Ruse on Setiya on Kitcher (with Leiter's commentary)

Philosopher Kieran Setiya wrote a fairly critical review of Philip Kitcher's recent book, What's the Use of Philosophy.  A few excerpts:

What Kitcher finds in philosophy today is arid technicality, produced for an audience of insiders. He complains about the fetish for clarity and the needless use of formalism; he objects to a methodology that splices intuitions about fanciful cases with assertions of a priori knowledge (‘sprinkling fairy dust’); he accuses philosophers of not knowing enough about the sciences that pertain to their work and of failing to question whether their projects are worthwhile. What he wants is a philosophy of use to scientists, or which can be applied to social problems. He also wants new synthetic visions, ways of seeing the world that bring together different disciplines with an eye to human flourishing.

Scientists are useful people, but there is more to philosophy than being useful to science or solving "social problems," although I do think philosophy could do a lot more of the former, and has done almost none of the latter.   Genuine philosophers are legislators of value, as one 19th-century German observed (Kant and Hegel were not genuine philosophers on this view, merely "philosophical laborers" who "pressed into formulas" existing values:  see Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, section 211).  Perhaps that latter conception of philosophy falls under Kitcher's idea of producing "ways of seeing the world...with an eye to human flourishing."  Setiya continues:

Kitcher pleads for a ‘reconstruction in philosophy.' 

Blast from the past: the Dover decision on "Intelligent Design" (and the unfortunate intervention by Professor Alschuler)

Back in 2005.

Viktor DeSantis's war on higher education in Florida: the latest

He has now signed legislation that, among other things,

restricts certain topics from being taught in general education courses, the lower-level classes that all students must take for their degrees. It also expands the hiring and firing powers of university boards and presidents, limits protections for tenured faculty members and prohibits spending related to diversity, equity and inclusion programs beyond what is required by accreditors.

Regarding the restricted topics, the measure borrows language from last year’s Individual Freedom Act, also known as the Stop Woke Act. It targets “theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political and economic inequities.” While those ideas will be kept out of general education courses on Florida campuses, they could be allowed in higher-level or elective courses, subject to review by the Board of Governors for universities or the State Board of Education for colleges.

I expect SB 266 to be struck down as unconstitutional by the courts.  The only action he's taken that is not unconstitutional, and actually protects constitutional rights, is eliminating the use of "diversity statements" in employment.  Of course, as his other actions make clear, his motivation for doing so has nothing to do with a commitment to constitutional rights or academic freedom.  It's just an accidental by-product of his illiberal agenda.

Git and Pandoc for managing your academic work

Philosopher Richard Yetter Chappell walks you through it!

On the legal import, going forward, of Trump's liability for defaming E. Jean Carroll

Law professor Tobias Wolff (son of philosopher Robert Paul Wolff) explains it clearly here.

Peter Singer is drowning in a pond...

...so it's time for a utilitarian calculation!

(Thanks to Phil Gasper for the pointer.)

Spinoza's anti-humanism

Philosopher Yitzhak Melamed, a leading Spinoza scholar, comments.

Trans men among the Marsh Arabs

An interesting story, courtesy of philosopher Galen Strawson.  As Professor Stawson notes, a far more civilized attitude than one finds in most "red" states in America these days.

More on American gun barbarism

According to this study,

The likelihood of knowing a gun violence victim within any given personal network over a lifetime is 99.85% (99.8% to 99.9%). The likelihood among non-Hispanic white, black, Hispanic and other race Americans were 97.1%, 99.9%, 99.5% and 88.9% respectively.

Email me if you've seen a similar study done for civilized countries with normal gun laws.

Great moments in (extremely) obscure rock 'n' roll: Head Over Heels, "In My Woman," 1971

Another fun find from reader Dave Wasser is this Michigan hard rock trio; this comes from their only album:

 

In Memoriam: Thomas M. Robinson (1936-2023)

Professor Robinson, a longtime member of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Toronto, where he was emeritus, was well-known for his work in ancient philosophy, perhaps most especially his Plato's Psychology (1970).  The Toronto memorial notice is here.  Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Robinson or for those who wish to comment on the significance of his work.

(Thanks to Professor George Boys-Stones for the pointer.)

Richard Marshall interviews Peter van Inwagen...

...at 3:16 AM.

In Memoriam: Ian Hacking (1936-2023)

MOVING TO THE FRONT FROM YESTERDAY--SOME NICE REMEMBRANCES, MORE WELCOME

Professor Hacking, who was emeritus at Toronto where he taught for more than two decades after stints at Stanford and Cambridge, was one of the most creative and influential thinkers in the history and philosophy of the sciences, broadly construed, over the last fifty years.  The Toronto memorial notice is here.  Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Hacking, or for those who wish to comment on the significance of his work.

"Mass shooting tracker"

Here's a good resource for tracking how barbaric the United States is thanks to the gun craziness.  A "mass shooting" is any outburst of gun violence in which four or more people are shot.  The U.S. has nearly two mass shootings every day; in 2023 already, 376 people have been killed and more than 900 wounded.  That was obviously the intention of the "Framers" of the U.S. Constitution.  As a good originalist, however, I do believe everyone is entitled to own a single shot musket.

Blast from the past: "Ignorance of philosophy, identity politics, and the cosmopolitan ideal"

Back in 2014.

Talk of eliminating or eviscerating tenure in Texas is already causing problems

From CHE:

“People turn down jobs for lots of reasons, but from what these candidates told me, the uncertainty around tenure was a big factor in our failure to hire this year,” said Daniel Brinks, chair of the government department at the University of Texas at Austin. 

Brinks said he’d made job offers to six candidates for two faculty openings this year, and all six declined. Another professor in the department informed Brinks last week that he’d be leaving.

In Memoriam: Albert Borgmann (1937-2023)

A longtime member of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Montana, Professor Borgmann established the field of philosophy of technology in the Anglophone world.  There is an obituary here.  Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Borgmann, or who wish to comment on the signficance of his work.

(Thanks to Armond Duwell for the information.)