Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog

Florio from Birmingham to Oslo

Salvatore Florio (philosophy of language & mathematics, philosophical logic), currently Reader in Philosophy at the University of Birmingham, will become Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oslo (where is also currently a Professorial Fellow) this September.

A few more pieces on the affirmative action decision

Thanks to readers for useful discussion on yesterday's thread, which I commend to those interested in these issues.  A few more items I've come across that are worth reading:

    *A man of the actual left, Freddie deBoer, with whom I mostly agree.

    *My law colleague William Baude.

    *Law professor Michael Dorf (Cornell) (commenting mostly on the misrepresentation of precedents in the majority opinion).

    *Lawyer and policy analyst Matt Bruenig (noted by Bill Edmundson on yesterday's thread).

Further discussion of any of these commentaries welcome.

The Supreme Court's affirmative action in admissions decision

It is here.  As expected, the Court finds that the Harvard and North Carolina admissions practices violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.  More in a bit.

UPDATE (9:20 am CST):   It appears the Court did not overrule Grutter and did not reject the view that "diversity" is a compelling state interest.  Justice Thomas's summary of the key points of the majority opinion is useful:

First, to satisfy strict scrutiny, universities must be able to establish an actual link between racial discrimination [i.e., considering an applicant's race in admissions] and educational benefits. Second, those engaged in racial discrimination do not deserve deference with respect to their reasons for discriminating. Third, attempts to remedy past governmental discrimination must be closely tailored to address that particular past governmental discrimination.

In other words, while "diversity" is a permissible consideration, it will be very difficult if not impossible to justify racial preferences on its basis.  Universities cannot just say, "We know it has benefits," they will actually have to show what they are precisely and that there was no other way to achieve those benefits.  "Strict scrutiny" is the most demanding form of judicial scrutiny of state action, and almost no state action survives this test.  (Please email me if I'm missing something.  I'm still reading!) (UPDATE:  Dan Epps, a constitutional law scholar at Wash U/St. Louis, says the decision means affirmative action is unconstitutional, since, as he rightly replies to me in comments, almost nothing can survive strict scrutiny.)

MORE:   From C.J. Roberts's majority opinion (I bolded part of it):

At the same time, as all parties agree, nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise. See, e.g., 4 App. in No. 21–707, at 1725–
1726, 1741; Tr. of Oral Arg. in No. 20–1199, at 10. But, despite the dissent’s assertion to the contrary, universities may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today...“[W]hat cannot be done directly cannot be done indirectly. The Constitution deals with substance, not shadows,” and the prohibition against racial discrimination is “levelled at the thing not the name.”Cummingsv.Missouri, 4 Wall. 277, 325  (1867). A benefit to a student who overcame racial discrimination, for example, must be tied tothat student’scourage and determination.Or a benefit to a student whose heritage or culture motivated him or her to assume a leadership role or attain a particular goal must be tied tothat student’s unique ability to contribute to the university.In other words, the student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual—not on the basis of race.

I'm opening comments for those who have more time to parse the whole opinion.  I have to do something else for the next few hours, but will try to approve comments as they come in.  Thank you.

Psychology PhD students at UCLA object to faculty candidate for having incorrect views about "diversity"

Their letter, which one of the signatories made public, is here.  The letter itself is a symptom of the "group think" pathology afflicting American higher education, but more to the point, if the faculty candidate, an associate professor at the University of Toronto, was denied the job because of this, then UCLA engaged in unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination, which is exactly the worry about these "diversity" statements.  The irony, of course, is that the U.S. super-legislature is about to declare "diversity" an unconstitutional consideration in college admissions.  Whether the opinion has implications for employment remains to be seen, but it's hard to see how universities can require statements about a constitutionally impermissible consideration.

Man stabs instructor and two students in philosophy of gender class....

...at University of Waterloo.  The assailant is in custody and no one was seriously injured, fortunately.  Of course, in the U.S. the misogynistic assailant would have had an assault rifle, not a knife....

(Thanks to Paul Raymont for the pointer.)

Williamson to continue teaching at Oxford through 2026

Timothy Williamson, Wykeham Professor of Logic at Oxford, who turns 68 this August, has hit the mandatory retirement age.  However, according to his official Twitter page (and consistent with what he told me earlier), he will continue teaching and supervision through 2026.  It is pretty rare for Oxford to make these kinds of accomodations, but they are wise to do so, since it is very unclear Oxford will be able to fill the Wykeham Chair with someone at his level.

UPDATE:  Professor Williamson tells me the new "official" title for 2023-2026 will be Senior Research and Teaching Fellow on the Faculty of Philosophy, but he will be doing exactly what he was doing as Wykeham Professor in terms of teaching and supervision.

Kevin Dorst (MIT) talks about rationality...

...at Robinson's Podcast.

Crisis in New Zealand higher education

MOVING TO FRONT FROM JUNE 24, 2023:  SEE UPDATES ON THE SITUATION IN THE COMMENTS

The proposed cuts are very dramatic (see also, and also this); you can add your name, as I have done, to a petition here.   Comments are open for additional information from those in New Zealand or elsewhere.

Chalmers/Koch bet regarding consciousness

Chalmers wins (but what does he win?):

A 25-year science wager has come to an end. In 1998, neuroscientist Christof Koch bet philosopher David Chalmers that the mechanism by which the brain’s neurons produce consciousness would be discovered by 2023. Both scientists agreed publicly on 23 June, at the annual meeting of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC) in New York City, that it is still an ongoing quest — and declared Chalmers the winner.

What ultimately helped to settle the bet was a key study testing two leading hypotheses about the neural basis of consciousness, whose findings were unveiled at the conference.

“It was always a relatively good bet for me and a bold bet for Christof,” says Chalmers, who is now co-director of the Center for Mind, Brain and Consciousness at New York University. But he also says this isn’t the end of the story, and that an answer will come eventually: “There’s been a lot of progress in the field.”

(Thanks to Joshua Selby for the pointer.)

"John Lewis: Good Trouble"

During a flight back from Seattle the other day, I actually watched a fairly interesting documentary about John Lewis, the civil and voting rights activist and leader, and later Congressman from Atlanta; the film was much better than standard airline movie fare of Hollywood trash and old "classics."  The most interesting part concerned his life before Congress:   his activism, commitment to non-violence, and remarkable bravery in the face of vicious racist violence (Representative Clyburn, I think it was, described him in the film as the "most courageous person I've known").   After the Freedom Riders, including Lewis, arrived in Rock Hill, South Carolina in 1961, Lewis and others were beaten bloody by a white mob.  In the film, Lewis comments that after Rock Hill, "I lost all fear.  And when you lose all fear, you are free." 

Great moments in (somewhat) obscure rock 'n' roll: Ry Cooder, "Billy the Kid," 1972

Renowned rock and blues guitarist, Cooder is probably best-known for his work with others (including The Rolling Stones, Doobie Brothers, Rita Coolidge, Arlo Guthrie, Van Morrison, and many others).  But he also produced many solo albums.  This song comes from his second solo effort:

Feel free to post links to other Ry Cooder favorites in the comments.

Russia will use nuclear weapons in Ukraine

MOVING TO Front from June 14

This analysis, unfortunately, seems very compelling.  Do not comment until you have read it in full.  If the author is wrong, I'd be very interested to hear why.

(Thanks to Boris Dagaev for the pointer.)

Another college considers eliminating philosophy, alas: Simmons University in Boston

From the Boston Globe:  

Simmons University, Boston’s only women’s college, is considering eliminating many undergraduate departments in the liberal arts, including philosophy and sociology, in response to substantial financial challenges and declining graduate enrollment.

The private university, which has trained generations of social workers and nurses, is the latest women’s college to confront existential threats to its business model, which has increasingly relied on graduate tuition to fund its operations in recent years. Its struggles are prompting concern among faculty members and alumnae.

Simmons president Lynn Perry Wooten, a scholar of crisis leadership, said the college must make difficult decisions to achieve financial stability, including adding revenue streams with new graduate programs and accelerated degree programs, discontinuing majors with low enrollment, and offering early retirement packages to faculty members. She estimates the turnaround process could take three to five years.

(Thanks to Arthur Smith for the pointer.)

Nathan Salmon talks about the philosophy of Saul Kripke...

...at Simply Charly.

In praise of doing nothing

A short essay on the Romanian philosopher Emil Cioran.

Blast from the past: "the feminist cause"

Back in 2018.

Carl Jung did not like Joyce's "Ulysses"

This is rather amusing:

I had an uncle whose thinking was always to the point. One day he stopped me on the street and asked, “Do you know how the devil tortures the souls in hell?” When I said no, he declared, “He keeps them waiting.” And with that he walked away. This remark occurred to me when I was ploughing through Ulysses for the first time. Every sentence raises an expectation which is not fulfilled; finally, out of sheer resignation, you come to expect nothing any longer. Then, bit by bit, again to your horror, it dawns upon you that in all truth you have hit the nail on the head. It is actual fact that nothing happens and nothing comes of it, and yet a secret expectation at war with hopeless resignation drags the reader from page to page… You read and read and read and you pretend to understand what you read. Occasionally you drop through an air pocket into another sentence, but when once the proper degree of resignation has been reached you accustom yourself to anything. So I, too, read to page one hundred and thirty-five with despair in my heart, falling asleep twice on the way… Nothing comes to meet the reader, everything turns away from him, leaving him gaping after it. The book is always up and away, dissatisfied with itself, ironic, sardonic, virulent, contemptuous, sad, despairing, and bitter…

Another liberal egalitarian philosopher cashes in

Really amazing.  At least if she were a Marxist, it would be explicable rational behavior under capitalist conditions.  But this is someone who purports to believe in morality and moral obligations.  It reminds me of Thomas Nagel's remarkable concession in his review of G.A. Cohen's If You're a Egalitarian, How Come You're So Rich? (that I've discussed before):

I have to admit that, although I am an adherent of the liberal conception of [justice and equality], I don’t have an answer to Cohen’s charge of moral incoherence.  It is hard to render consistent the exemption of private choice from the motives that support redistributive public policies.  I could sign a standing banker’s order giving away everything I earn above the national average, for example, and it wouldn’t kill me.  I could even try to increase my income at the same time, knowing the excess would go to people who needed it more than I did.  I’m not about to do anything of the kind, but the equality-friendly justifications I can think of for not doing so all strike me as rationalizations.

In Memoriam: Robin Downie (1933-2023)

Emeritus Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Glasgow, Professor Downie was best-known for his work in ethics and applied ethics.  Professor David Bain, current Head of Department at Glasgow, writes:

With great sadness, the Philosophy Department at the University of Glasgow would like to register the death of our greatly valued colleague, Robin Downie, emeritus Chair of Moral Philosophy.

Robin died in February, at the age of 89.  An appreciation of Robin can be found on our website here: 

https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/humanities/research/philosophyresearch/newsandevents/headline_971073_en.html. 

Those who knew Robin or his work might also be interested in:

A former student's remembrance of Robin, published in the Scottish Review:  https://www.scottishreview.net/AlanMcIntyre648a.html

An obituary in the Scotsman:  https://www.scotsman.com/news/people/scotsman-obituaries-robin-downie-professor-of-moral-philosophy-at-glasgow-university-4142665

Another obituary in the Times:  https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/robin-downie-obituary-zbhb6bwp8 

Robin will be greatly missed.

Comments are open for remembrances from those knew Professor Downie, or for those who wish to comment on the significance of his work.

Great moments in (somewhat) obscure rock 'n' roll: Dr. John, "Stack-A-Lee," 1972

A leading figure of "New Orleans blues," famed for his live performances, this comes from his fifth album, right before his 1973 hit "Right Place Wrong Time":

Feel free to post other Dr. John links in the comments, or other New Orleans blues/soul favorites.

 

Kirchin from Kent to Leeds

Simon Kirchin (ethics, metaethics), currently Professor of Philosophy at the University of Kent, will become Professor of Applied Ethics at the University of Leeds in January 2024, where he will also be Director of the Inter-Disciplinary Ethics Applied Centre.

Philosophy professor Stephen Kershnar sues SUNY-Fredonia for violation of his First Amendment rights...

...by continuing to bar him from campus and teaching.  (Earlier coverage.)  I hope he prevails.  (Kudos to F.I.R.E. for funding his legal case.)

UPDATE:  You can read the complaint here:  Download Kershnar v. Kolison et al Complaint.  Paragraph 7 of the complaint actually made me laugh, which is pretty good for a complaint!  And it will, rightly, embarrass the university.

In Memoriam: Richard W. Miller (1945-2023)

Professor Miller spent his career at Cornell University, where he was emeritus.  His writings ranged widely over philosophy of science, ethics, metaethics, political philosophy and Marx.   He wrote some brilliantly synoptic books on all these topics, including Analyzing Marx (which is, oddly, omitted from this obituary).  Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Miller, or for those who wish to comment on the significance of his work.

(Thanks to Phil Gasper for the pointer.)

UPDATE:  The Cornell memorial notice is here.

An amusing review of what sounds like a very bad book critiquing "Effective [sic] Altruism"

Richard Yetter Chappell is a partisan of "Effective [sic] Altruism" (i.e., measurable short-term effects altruism), and I am not, but he certainly does a good number on what sounds like a very weak collection of criticisms; an amusing excerpt:

At the end of the first chapter (p. 7), we’re told that:

"[failing to fund] work being done by a Black activist in Black communities is upholding white supremacist ideas about which communities are worthy of support and which ones aren’t. In other words, it’s racist, plain and simple."

The second chapter tells us that featuring endorsements from attractive celebrities constitutes “body shaming, ableism, and sexism.” (p. 13)

From the third, we learn that “Normative Whiteness is cooked into the ideological foundation, because it focuses on maximizing the effectiveness of donors’ resources.” (p. 28)

And so on.

It’s like a caricature of delusional humanities professors invented to provide fodder to Tucker Carlson. Except it’s real. Apparently some people really think this kind of thing passes for argumentation.

Only the good die young, as Billy Joel observed

Henry Kissinger recently turned 100.

In Memoriam: Henry E. Allison (1937-2023)

MOVING TO FRONT FROM SATURDAY, JUNE 10

Professor Allison, one of the most important and influential Kant scholars of the last fifty years, taught for many years at the University of California, San Diego, before joining Boston University, and then later the University of California, Davis.  He was only this year elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, which was long overdue.  Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Allison, or for those who wish to comment on the significance of his work.

Easwaran from Texas A&M to UC Irvine

MOVING TO FRONT FROM SATURDAY, JUNE 10

Kenny Easwaran (formal epistemology, epistemology, logic, philosophy of mathematics), Professor of Philosophy at Texas A&M University, has accepted a senior offer from the Department of Logic & Philosophy of Science at the University of California, Irvine, where he will start this coming academic year.  That's a major loss for Texas A&M, and a notable addition for Irvine! 

Peter Ludlow did not like Philip Kitcher's book either

An amusing takedown (earlier); an excerpt:

It is said that the very first Western philosopher was Thales of Miletus, who lived from around 620 to 546 BCE. That is about 150 years before Socrates, and 200 years before Plato. His greatest claim to fame is his conjecture that “all is water,” which is important because it is our earliest record of someone asking about the fundamental constituent stuff of reality. But Thales second greatest claim to fame involves that time he fell in a well or a pit or whatever it was. Plato conveyed the story in the Theatetus dialogue...

[W]hat really matters is the point that Plato was trying to convey: People are always up in philosophers’ business, giving them shit for not doing practical things. Sometimes philosophers feel the sting of this criticism and take it to heart. According to Aristotle, Thales decided to show the world that he could do practical things if he wanted to, so one season when he predicted a large imminent olive harvest, he cornered the market on olive presses and price gouged the poor olive famers around Miletus. He thus became not only the father of western philosophy, of but risk arbitrage as well. A Milesian Gordon Gekko. Aristotle thought Thales thus proved that “it is easy for philosophers to be rich if they choose, but this is not what they care about.”

In Memoriam: Donald J. Munro (1931-2023)

A longtime member of the philosophy and Chinese faculties at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he was emeritus, Professor Munro was one of the leading scholars of Chinese philosophy of his generation in the Anglophone world.  There is an obituary here.  Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Munro, or for those who wish to comment on the significance of his work.

(Thanks to Eric Hutton for the pointer.)

Great moments in (not quite as) obscure rock 'n' roll: Velvet Underground, "What Goes On," 1969

This probably isn't the Velvet Underground's best-known song, but it is certainly my favorite:

I also love this cover by Elizabeth Mitchell, from 2006:

Three tenured hires for Notre Dame: Cohen from Edinburgh; Elliott and Isserow from Leeds

The University of Notre Dame has made three tenured hires:   Alix Cohen (Kant) will join as Professor of Philosophy from the University of Edinburgh this fall; and Edward Elliott (philosophy of mind, decision theory) and Jessica Isserow (metaethics, ethics, moral psychology) will both join as Associate Professors of Philosophy in fall 2024 from the University of Leeds.

(Thanks to Fritz Warfield for the information.)

Faculty in philosophy and other humanities fields at risk of losing their jobs at the University of Kent

Philosophers at the University of Kent write:

We are writing to alert readers to the fact that the philosophy department is one of several Arts and Humanities departments presently targeted for compulsory redundancies by the University of Kent.  This is not on the grounds of quality: the philosophy department was ranked 3^rd in the UK for overall student satisfaction in the most recent national student survey, and 5^th in the UK in terms of GPA in the most recent research assessment (2^nd for quality of research outputs).  The reasoning is based on finances.  We understand that the local union disputes some of the figures being used.  

The first round of compulsory redundancies is due to take place in July, with more financial cuts planned for the next academic year.

The union has a petition here.  As well as defending jobs, it highlights a particular concern around an agreement they reached with senior management about redundancies. 

We in the philosophy department would very much appreciate your support.  

As the petition makes clear, it was only last fall that university leadership promised there would be no compulsory redundancies!   I encourage readers to sign the petition.

Mayo Clinic disciplines doctor and professor for expressing "incorrect" views about transgender issues

The Academic Freedom Alliance correctly criticizes Mayo, and has provided a lawyer to vindicate the doctor's rights.  What an embarrassment for an otherwise reputable institution.  The fact that 'Republicans are currently running a vicious campaign of harassment against transgender people is no justification for abridging a medical professional's legal right to express his professional judgment.  (The comments at issue by Dr. Joyner are utterly banal, and clearly correct, which makes this even more bizarre.  Mayo deserves to lose "big time.")

Feminist philosopher Ann Cudd, incoming Portland State President, gets $10 million "start-up fund" plus housing allowance...

...and everyone else gets cuts.  Not a good look.

Epistemology in the Andes and Amazonia

An interesting project.

Summer blogging plans, and thereafter

MOVING TO FRONT FROM JUNE 1--UPDATED

As usual, I'll be posting somewhat less in June (a few times per week), and even less in July and August (maybe once or twice per week, depending on what's happening).  August 3, 2023 will mark the 20th anniversary of the blog, and I am thinking that I will scale back my blogging going forward, although I won't stop altogether.   I'm still debating how much I will cut back (and how I will adjust the advertising rates for next year in light of that).  I'll make an announcement in August, perhaps on or around the 20th blog anniversary.   I sincerely appreciate all the intelligent readers I've been fortunate to attract over the years, and I've enjoyed the opportunity to correspond with many of you and to meet others in person.  While Twitter has taken a toll on blogs generally, this one is still going remarkably strong, averaging well over three million unique visitors per year, so it seems a good time to begin phasing into blog retirement while it's still widely read and influential (much to the chagrin of the Wokerati, of course).  But it will be a multi-year phasing, and come September I am sure I will still be posting a few times each week, but nothing like the volume in the past.  

Thanks, as always, for your interest and indulgence over many years!

UPDATE (6/6/23): Thanks to the many readers who wrote me after last week's post.  I should clarify that my phased blogging retirement may last a long time--I won't wholly abandon the philosophy blogosphere to the Wokerati and those hell-bent on destroying the field!  And as the enemies of academic freedom become more aggressive, I will continue to shine a light on those issues.   It's even possible that when I do retire from my actual job in 15 years or so, I may resume a more active blogging schedule.  I still haven't decided what the new schedule for September will look like, but it will be reduced from that of past years.

"Conversation and Democracy"

A nice graduation speech by my law colleague Tom Ginsburg, who has spent his career studying democracies and constitutions.

I talk about Marx, historical materialism, ideology and "socialism or barbarism"...

...at Robinson's Podcast.

Mismanagement leads to financial crisis at West Virginia University, which will now be "solved" by cutting tenured faculty positions

This sounds like a U.S. version of the Birkbeck disaster, and it really deserves more serious coverage in the traditional media.  A professor at WVU (not in philosophy) writes:

WVU is currently in an unprecedented financial crisis and the administration is starting the process of cutting academic programs and faculty, including tenured faculty. I'm writing to you because you've often written about administrative overreach and malfeasance in cases like this before, and that is definitely what we have going on here at WVU. I'm trying to keep my name out of the public eye, because my department is surely going to undergo personnel cuts and I'd rather not be a visible enemy of the administration. But I wondered if you might give us some visibility by posting about the situation on your blog, which I know is quite influential. 

Essentially, the administration has been advancing a narrative where the school is a victim of general demographic trends, Covid, and inflation, and now they have to cut lots of faculty to eliminate a structural budget deficit that isn't anybody's fault. What's actually happened is that the President and his protege (a VP of 'strategic initiatives') have pursued a reckless and utterly failed growth strategy for the last 10 years, during which time enrollment has shrunk considerably, which has put the university in a huge financial hole. Their malfeasance and dishonesty is documented in great detail in this anonymous investigation by WVU faculty: https://wvufacts.wordpress.com/ .... We're having trouble getting any publicity or media coverage on what's actually happening here, because faculty are scared to go on record with the media, given the autocratic and deeply corrupt nature of Gordon Gee's administration (this probably won't be news to anybody who's followed higher-ed over the last 40 years or so of Gee's checkered career). And Gee and his cronies have giant media operations who have managed to get more or less friendly stories placed in local and regional media (and even Inside Higher Ed), basically parroting their dishonest version of events. 

Life in the American apartheid terror state

If you subscribe to the NYRB, this review essay by the historian Eric Foner is worth reading.  It's a good, graphic reminder of the horrors of American apartheid, for which affirmative action, before it devolved into diversity blather, was one very modest remedial measure.

In Memoriam: William J. Talbott (1949-2023)

MOVING TO FRONT FROM MAY 19, 2023:  UPDATED

Professor Talbott was a longtime faculty member at the University of Washington, Seattle, where he was emeritus.   His initial work was in epistemology, but he then wrote influentially in moral, political, and legal philosophy.   I met him many years ago; he was a first-rate intellect.  I will add links to memorial notices as they appear.  Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Talbott, or those who want to comment on the significance of his work.

(Thanks to Matt Lister and Colin Marshall for information.)

UPDATE:  Professor Talbott's year of birth was 1949 (not 1950 as I originally had it); my thanks to his UW colleague Professor Jamie Mayerfield (in Political Science) for the correction.

ANOTHER UPDATE:   An obituary at the Seattle Times.  And a podcast with Professor Talbott on naturalized epistemology.  (Thanks to Professor Mayerfield for the pointer.)

In Memoriam: Ian Jarvie (1937-2023)

A longtime faculty member at York University, Toronto, where he was emeritus, Professor Jarvie was best-known for his work in philosophy of the social sciences (especially on anthropology) and in film theory.  Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Jarvie, or for those who would like to comment on the significance of his work.

(Thanks to David Gordon for alerting me to his death.)

In Memoriam: Peter Machamer (1942-2023)

A longtime faculty member of the History and Philosophy of Science Department at the University of Pittsburgh, Professor Machamer was perhaps best-known for his work on Galileo and on the concept of mechanism.    Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Machamer, or for those who wish to comment on the significance of his work.