Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog

"Open Doors Academy" at University of Pittsburgh this summer

MOVING TO FRONT FROM MARCH 11:  A reader points out that the definition of who is eligible has been broadened (see under "Who?"), to explicitly take account of economic disadvantage, and to remove references to some of the now legally dubious categories (e.g., race).  The deadline is coming up, so apply if you're interested!

It's for undergraduates from underrepresented groups considering graduate work in philosophy; "underrepresented" is defined as follows:

We welcome applications from individuals including (but not limited to) first-generation undergraduates and those starting in community colleges; persons of diverse racial, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds; individuals with disabilities; women, non-binary, and LGBTQIA+ individuals. Though we are primarily interested in students who are majoring or have majored in Philosophy and who have not yet been admitted to a Ph.D. program, we will consider non-majors wh

I would hope it also includes those coming from lower income or poor backgrounds, who at this point in time seem to be less represented than, e.g., women and LGBT individuals.

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Grannie, "Leaving," 1971

LAST POSTED SEPTEMBER 14, 2019

This is one of the very first obscure numbers I posted several years ago, but it's such a great tune by a forgotten British band that I'm putting it up front again (a mix of Blind Faith and Traffic, as it were):

 

Illinois makes bid for two tenured faculty at Syracuse (UPDATE: they have accepted!)

MOVING TO FRONT FROM MARCH 7--UPDATED

The Department of Philosophy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has made senior offers to two tenured philosophers at Syracuse University:  Luvell Anderson (philosophy of language, philosophy of race, aesthetics) and Verena Erlenbusch-Anderson (political philosophy, contemporary European philosophy) (the latter offer is joint with Political Science at Illinois).  This is part of a re-building effort at Illinois over the last two yeras.  Students considering either Illinois or Syracuse will want to keep an eye on what happens.

UPDATE:   Professors Anderson and Erlenbusch-Anderson have accepted the Illinois offer!

Philosopher Leif Wenar on effective (i.e., short-term, measurable) altruism

A pretty wicked takedown, but basically right.  It turns out even the emphasis on short-term measurable effects involves bad measurements.   An excerpt:

Where [Toby] Ord was earnest, [Will] MacAskill was shameless. “HOW YOU CAN SAVE HUNDREDS OF LIVES” is the name of a chapter in his pitch book for EA. The book tells you that you can be a hero by giving to charities in the EA way—you’ll be like the guy who pulls people from a burning building, it says, or even like Oskar Schindler. Your heroic donations can do “a tremendous amount of good.”

MacAskill admits that many experts are skeptics about aid. Yet he gushes that aid has been “incredibly beneficial”:

    "The claim that there is “not much to show for [aid]” is simply false. Even among the “bottom billion”—the population of countries that have experienced the weakest economic growth over the last few decades—quality of life has increased dramatically. In 1950, life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa was just 36.7 years. Now it’s 56 years, a gain of almost 50% … In reality, a tiny amount of aid has been spent, and there have been dramatic increases in the welfare of the world’s poorest people."

Now this is pure hooey. Even aid’s biggest boosters would cringe at the implication that aid had caused a 50 percent increase in sub-Saharan life expectancies. And what follows this astonishing statement is a tangle of qualifications and irrelevancies trailing off into the footnotes. To anyone who knows even a little about aid, it’s like MacAskill has tattooed “Not Serious” on his forehead.

Do read the whole essay.

Blast from the past: How readers answer the "What's your philosophy?" question in casual conversation with strangers

Back in 2014.

"Not everything is about gender"

Katha Pollitt, the longtime feminist critic and commentator at The Nation, on the latest blather from Judith Butler (in The Atlantic, not The Nation, which tends to tread rather lightly on this topic); an excerpt:

The central idea of Who’s Afraid of Gender? is that fascism is gaining strength around the world, and that its weapon is what Butler calls the “phantasm of gender,” which they describe as a confused and irrational bundle of fears that displaces real dangers onto imaginary ones. Instead of facing up to the problems of, for example, war, declining living standards, environmental damage, and climate change, right-wing leaders whip up hysteria about threats to patriarchy, traditional families, and heterosexuality....

Butler is obviously correct that the authoritarian right sets itself against feminism and modern sexual rights and freedom. This nothing new....But is the gender phantasm as crucial to the global far right as Butler claims? Butler has little to say about the appeal of nationalism and community, insistence on ethnic purity, opposition to immigration, anxiety over economic and social stresses, fear of middle-class-status loss, hatred of “elites.” If I had to say why Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is so popular, it would be less his invocation of the gender phantasm and more his ruthless determination to keep immigrants out, especially Muslim ones, along with his delivery of massive social services to families in an attempt to raise the birth rate. He neatly combines anti-feminist rhetoric about women’s duty to produce more Hungarians with policies that aim to make it easier for mothers to hold jobs, which is, however tacitly, feminist....

Fallout from St. Norbert's mass firing of humanities junior faculty

In the wake of this, I've heard from a number of prominent moral and political philosophers who have now cancelled speaking engagements (including for their Killeen Lecture series) at St. Norbert College to protest the shabby treatment of the humanities, including philosophy.  Kudos to them!  The students are also up in arms.  Let's see if the administration gets the message.

UPDATE:  More student protests.

On retiring

An apt comment, from the earlier thread, from philosopher Paul Guyer (recently emeritus at Brown University) that deserves special notice:

We have it good in philosophy and other humanities fields: retiring does not necessitate the end of research and writing, as it might for natural scientists dependent on maintaining a lab, including continuing to get grants. On the contrary, it can mean more time for one's own work, if one wants to continue doing that. And since philosophers often think about what we owe to future generations in the abstract, it is good to think about it in the concrete. In a non-expansionary period for philosophy and other disciplines such as we find ourselves in, at some point, which can no doubt not be determined mechanically, one should think about making room for younger people -- if indeed retiring will facilitate that, which is not always the case. This was hardly my only reason for retiring, but I did think that after fifty years of enjoying the benefits of good positions and perks in leading universities, it was time for me to let someone else have a crack at a job and a career (which did indeed happen at my well-off university). Otherwise, what have we been training new PhDs for?

This point seems to me well-taken; does anyone disagree with it?  If so, why?  Note that it is premised on the thought that one's position will be filled by someone else, which is not always the case obviously.

Talk about having a change of heart

From NeoNazi to observant Jew!

Epiphenomenalism about consciousness

Philosopher Helen Yetter-Chappell sets out the case.

Trump, the Mafioso, an ongoing saga

He's now embracing it openly.

(Thanks to Steve Sverdlik for the pointer.)

Another UK university crisis brewing: University of Essex

According to the academic staff union, the administratio has proposed "a new Academic Framework, including (among other things) a *45-week* teaching period, up to *3* entry points for students within the year, and sweeping rigid changes to module structure."   Comments are open for more details about what is going on at Essex, and also what is going on more generally in UK higher education (a topic discussed before).

What is it like to be "manic"?

Philosopher Paul Lodge discusses.  (This is from a few years ago, but I only just came across this interesting essay.)

ADDENDUM:  Philosopher Aaron Garrett calls my attention to this related piece.

SUNY-Fredonia does indeed axe philosophy and a dozen other programs

Here. [Link fixed]  As we noted previously, this will surely be an issue in Professor Kershnar's lawsuit (i.e., that this was a stealth way of violating his First Amendment rights).

(Thanks to Brock Sides for the pointer.)

I'd settle for this as an epitaph

I've been fortunate over the last few years to have a steady ally on issues pertaining to academic freedom, and UChicago's Kalven Report, in the eminent biologist Jerry Coyne, now emeritus here.  A propos a recent misrepresentation of the Kalven Report and my rejoinder to it, Jerry offered these kind words:   "I’ve worked with Brian on Kalven, and although he can be brusque, he’s also efficient, eloquent, and, by [God], gets things done!"  

(At Jerry's blog, he says not "by God" but "by Ceiling Cat," a standing joke for all the atheists there who try to avoid reference to the non-existent deity.)  

 

In Memoriam: John F. Malcolm (1930-2023)

Professor Malcolm, a longtime member of the Department of Philosophy at the University of California at Davis, where he was emeritus, died in September 2023.  A scholar of ancient philosophy, he was best-known for his work on Plato.  The UC Davis memorial notice is here.  Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Malcolm or for those who wish to comment on the significance of his work.

(Thanks to David Copp for the pointer.)

Akrasia in The Guardian

A rather substantial piece.

(Thanks to Eric Wolf for the pointer.)

In Memoriam: William W. Tait (1929-2024)

Professor Tait, a leading figure in philosophy of mathematics, was emeritus at the University of Chicago, where he taught for nearly a quarter-century.  Matt Boyle, Chair of the Department here, kindly shared a memorial notice, that is below the fold.  Comments are also open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Tait or for those who would like to comment on the significance of his work.  (Memorial notice follows.)

A new podcast series of "conversations" from Pitt's Center for the Philosophy of Science

The first one is here.

(Thanks to Edouard Machery for the pointer.)

Ney from UC Davis to LMU Munich

Alyssa Ney (metaphysics, philosophy of science and physics, philoophy of mind), Professor of Philosophy at the University of California at Davis, has accepted the Chair in Metaphysics at LMU Munich, starting July 1, 2024.  This will solidify LMU Munich's position as the strongest "analytic" (and formal philosophy) department on the European Continent, and by a wide margin.

Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (UPDATED)

MOVING TO FRON FROM YESTERDAY

On FB, Alex Guerrero noted the dramatic decline in the number of reviews NDPR publishes each year in the last few years, which generated a lively discussion.  Here's what happened.  Gary and Staci Gutting worked tirelessly (and without much support or compensation) to produce the hundreds of reviews each year; subsequent editors (Jc Beall, Christopher Shields) did not receive sufficient course relief or administrative support to continue that volume of publication.  My sense is editors would need relief from at least two courses, and financial support for two administrative assistants to significantly increase the number of reviews published each year--either that or Notre Dame needs to find someone who will work for free, and at the expense of their other work, to do this!

UPDATE:  Chris Shields, the current editor, writes with some corrections regarding the current situation (which sounds improved from when Jc Beall was editor):

Many thanks for calling attention to the situation at NDPR. Your diagnosis is at least partly correct: we run on a very tight budget, and since leaving Notre Dame, where I received a one-course reduction for serving as Editor, I edit the journal uncompensated. (Notre Dame does offer material support of a reasonable sort for a Managing Editor and an Editorial Assistant.) It is also true, just as you say, that Gary and Stacie Gutting ran NDPR as a labor of love and dedicated enormous amounts of time and energy to its success. 

The issue of late, however, derives not from any lack of resources: we are ready to publish a good deal more—we are comfortably provisioned to publish +/- 120 reviews per year—but we are simply not receiving commissioned reviews. Oddly, and inexplicably, reviewers have en masse begun to ignore agreed deadlines: over the last months submissions have dwindled to a fistful per month. I am really not sure why. We currently have over 200 reviews outstanding and we are simply not receiving submissions from those who have agreed to review for us. We chase and nudge and prod—really the least edifying part of what we do—but mainly to no avail.

I wonder: are other journals or publishers experiencing similar issues?

Comments are open for answers to this last question.  Given how quickly NDPR reviews appear and how influential they can be, I'm surprised folks don't leap at the chance to review when invited.

After pretending to listen, U of Kent senior management decides to close its successful philosophy department anyway

Philosopher Simon Kirchin, formerly of Kent, asked me to share the following:

Further to previous announcements of plans, the University of Kent has decided to close its Department of Philosophy.  It will take no new students from now on.  Existing students will be 'taught out' across the next two academic years.  The University has made provision for a (very) small amount of fte to carry out teaching from 2024-2026.

Colleagues at Kent are actively looking for posts elsewhere.

In recent times, the department achieved high student satisfaction scores and came fifth by GPA in REF2021, the UK research evaluation exercise.

This is really an ominous decision.  Kent philosophers were successful by all the relevant national metrics, and still got axed.

John K. Wilson is not a reliable supporter of academic freedom

Years ago, I was impressed that Mr. Wilson (a freelance "academic freedom" expert [sic] as it were) was one of the few who spoke up on behalf of the attack on the free speech rights of Ward Churchill.  Alas, it's now clear that his interest in free speech and academic freeodm is partisan through and through, as his astonishingly dishonest attack on the University of Chicago's Kalven Report makes clear.  As I wrote in a letter that CHE has published:

Although John K. Wilson links to the actual text of the Kalven Report, he mischaracterizes it throughout his piece while alleging, ironically, that others “misunderstand” it (“More Colleges Are Swearing Off Political Positions. They’re Getting It Wrong”, The Chronicle Review, March 18). He declares that “shared-governance...is an essential part of the Kalven Report,” although it is not mentioned and has nothing to do with the principles articulated in that document. He says falsely that “the University of Chicago administration has been violating the Kalven Report for decades by imposing its own interpretations of neutrality without faculty consultation,” even though the Report requires no such consultation and even though, in the most recent cases, it was precisely faculty (including myself) who raised Kalven violations with the University, prompting it to act. Most astonishing, however, was Mr. Wilson’s claim that,

"In 2020, the president of the University of Chicago at the time, Robert J. Zimmer, announced a radical reinterpretation of the Kalven Report, declaring that the document applied to all sub-units of the university, including departments. The Kalven Report was transformed from a document where the faculty asked the administration to keep quiet to protect the faculty, to one where the administrators ordered faculty units to remain silent. Since then, the scope of censorship at the University of Chicago conducted in the name of the Kalven Report has been breathtaking. In 2023, the University of Chicago administration imposed a ban on all land acknowledgments by any department or program, even when they are merely factual statements about history."

Jared Kushner, consigliere to Mafia Don Trump, sees real estate opportunity in ethnic cleansing of Gaza

Good capitalist instincts in this guy.

On Berkeley, Kant and perspectivalism

Paul Franks discusses at IAITV.

New philosophy Acquisitions Editor at OUP!

I was very pleased to learn that the new editor (following Peter Momtchiloff's retirement) will be April Peake, who was previously an Associate Editor for Philosophy at OUP (I had the pleasure of working with her then on my Moral Psychology with Nietzsche [2019]).  I am delighted she has been recruited back to OUP!

Another free speech crisis in the universities in Israel

Hebrew University in Jerusalem has suspended (with pay) a professor who gave an interview denouncing Zionism and raising doubts about the October 7 atrocities.  In the U.S., her speech would be protected (in principle) under the AAUP "academic freedom" rubric, which includes extramural speech on matters of political interet under its protection--but American academic freedom law is an outlier in this regard.  In Israel, as I understand it, this is a pure "free speech" issue.   I welcome more information about this case, and the law of free speech and academic freedom in Israel, in the comments; I do not welcome off-topic comments about Israel generally, Gaza etc.

(Thanks to David Enoch for calling this case to my attention.)

In Memoriam: Howard Stein (1929-2024)

Well-known for his work in philosophy of science and physics, Professor Stein was emeritus at the University of Chicago, where he taught from 1980 to 2000, after also teaching at Columbia and Case Western Universities.  There is an evocative memorial from one of his former students, Eric Schliesser, here.  Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Stein or for those who wish to comment on the significance of his work. 

How does holding a PhD in another field affect admissions to PhD in philosophy programs?

A propos an earlier thread, a longtime reader writes:

You recently posted about earning two PhDs in philosophy, but in different areas (Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog: Two PhDs in philosophy, but in different areas? ). I am wondering if applying to philosophy programs with a PhD in another humanities field (in my case, literature) would help, hurt, or have no discernible effect on admission committees' decisions. How, generally, would committees view such applicants? Or does already holding a PhD have no bearing on admissions?

Comments are open for reports from faculty involved in graduate admissions or students who applied to PhD programs under these circumstances.

More on "redundant" publications

A philosopher elsewhere writes:

Regarding redundant publications in Analysis, I was recently asked to review a paper for Analysis. As soon as I started reading the paper, I realized that I had just reviewed a longer version of the same paper for another journal.  (Same thesis, same arguments.) That first paper had been accepted for publication, but as far as I know, had not actually been published. I recommended that Analysis reject the paper for this reason. But it occurred to me that it was just dumb luck that I was asked to review both. Had someone else reviewed either in place of me, then the Analysis paper might have been accepted for publication before anyone realized the overlap.

Another young philosopher writes:

I also have never seen a "retraction" like the one Analysis posted, but the phenomenon of redundant publication is no doubt widespread in analytic philosophy. In my experience, it coincides with the rise of "salami slicing" in our field, and both are obvious side-effects of a publish or perish culture. I wonder whether something like a reporting system could deter it, e.g., where journals allow anonymous (or not) reporting of redundant publications. Even if these kinds of announcements are rare, the mere threat of them would likely have some deterrent effect, or so I would hope.

I'm not sure we want to encourage anonymous "informants," and I do worry a lot of editorial time may be wasted in following up leads.  Maybe the APA could take a break from its diversity obsession and convene a committee to articulate some standards or expectations on this score, both for authors and for journals that suspect they have issued a "redundant" publication.  If folks have ideas, please post them below.   Do not "call out" alleged redundant publications, please.

CFPs at The Monist?

A junior philosopher writes:

There was a discussion a year ago at the Philosopher's Cocoon about why the Monist stopped posting CFPs (as was always their custom) that did not get much attention. And so the question remains unanswered. As someone who periodically used to check in to see what was coming out at The Monist, and who was interested in submitting should there be a fit, this is sort of a bummer. I really have no idea why the change, and how things are working at The Monist now. Maybe your blog could call on them for clarification in a way the Cocoon cannot? 

Comment are open for anyone with information.  It would be great if someone from The Monist could addres the concern.

2024 Schock Prize in "Logic and Philosophy"...

...goes to Irene Heim (MIT) and Hans Kamp (Stuttgart and [part-time] UT Austin) for their work in formal semantics.  (More on the Schock Prize.)

"Statement of Redundant Publication"

I've never seen this before.

Nuclear armageddon

The NYT is to be commended for running this feature and this one.  The risk of a nuclear war, including an accidental one, is only going to increase as the speed with which interballistic missles travel increases, and the time for fateful decisions is cut shorter.  The only countervailing development may be improved detection, both in speed and reliability.  Barring that, I can't see how we are not going to see nuclear weapons used in the next couple of decades.  As the first NYT feature notes, we need to start "imagining" nuclear war more, not less.

Waldron on dignity and the trajectory of a human life

Jeremy Waldron's very fine Dewey Lecture in Law and Philosophy at the University of Chicago Law School in February is now available for viewing here.

Blast from the past: Class, rudeness, Trump, Biden

Back in 2020, and about to become very relevant again.

Jewish anti-Zionism

Interesting interview with Shaul Magid, at Jacobin.

(Thanks to Cora Diamond for the pointer.)

Why philosophy?

Philosopher Nicolas Delon, a former Law & Philosophy Fellow here, offers some sensible (and amusing) thoughts.  (Professor Delon left New College of Florida after the takeover of the school by the fascists, and is now a tenure-track professor of philosophy at the College of Charleston.)

An informative essay on Rosa Luxemburg's ideas...

...by the political theorist Lea Ypi at Tribune Magazine.

 

Wonderly from UC San Diego to Johns Hopkins

Monique Wonderly (ethics, applied ethics, moral psychology, philosophy of emotions), currently Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, San Diego, has accepted appointment as Associate Professor of Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University (where she currently has a visiting position), effective July 1, 2024.  That's the third tenured associate hire for Hopkins this academic year!  I would expect the Hopkins Department to be in the U.S. top 20 in the next PGR surveys.

Are there too many "elderly" faculty?

Mandatory retirement for faculty in the U.S. ended in January 1994, and the forecasts about its likely effects were, we can say in retrospect, rather Panglossian:

A 1991 study by the National Research Council, an arm of the academy, found that most tenured professors chose to retire before age 70, and, on many campuses, before 65.

The study predicted that those patterns would continue in the absence of mandatory retirement....

A recent CHE article asked, "Are there too many elderly professors?"  As the piece notes,

In some fields, especially in the humanities, there’s no guarantee that earlier retirements will in fact result in greater opportunity for younger scholars. As Jonathan Zimmerman wrote a few years ago in our pages, “A mass retirement by senior professors wouldn’t derail the adjunctification train; if anything, it would speed the train up.” I have spoken to aging scholars who would in fact like to retire but are reluctant to do so because they know their tenure line will not be replaced.

At least at the major reseach departments, however, retirees do tend to be replaced.  

Tosi from Texas Tech to Georgetown

Justin Tosi (social, political, moral & legal philosphy), Associate Professor of Philosophy at Texas Tech University, has accepted appointment as Associate Professor of Strategy, Economics, Ethics & Public Policy in the Business School at Georgetown University, effective this August.

Citation mills, a case study from mathematics

This is alarming, and casts further doubt on the "Shanghai Rankings," which focus only on the natural and social sciences, and are heavily dependent on dubious citation data:

Mathematics, an open-access journal produced by the Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, published more than 4,763 articles in 2023, making up 9.3 percent of all publications in the field, according to the Web of Science. It has an impact factor of 2.4 and an article-influence measure of just 0.37, but, crucially, it is indexed with Clarivate’s Web of Science, Elsevier’s Scopus, and other indexers, which means its citations count toward a variety of professional metrics. (By contrast, the Annals of Mathematics, published by Princeton University, contained 22 articles last year, and has an impact factor of 4.9 and an article-influence measure of 8.3.)

One important citation metric targeted for citational gamesmanship is Clarivate’s prestigious “Highly Cited Researchers” list....The Highly Cited Researchers list also feeds into one indicator in the Shanghai Ranking, an academic ranking of world universities....

In 2023 a network of around 100 researchers [in mathematics] managed to co-author 17 papers — and get those papers cited 396 times from 2023 to early 2024. That is a remarkable citation rate. All 17 papers are on Clarivate’s “Highly Cited Papers” list for mathematics in 2023.

Another college "balancing the budget" on the back of the humanities

St. Norbert College in Wisconsin--a Catholic liberal arts college no less--is firing all its assistant professors in the humanities (except in theology!), including both (untenured) assistant professors of philosophy.  (They're also stripping emeritus faculty over 65 of health insurance!) 

One of those assistant professors is Jaime Edwards, co-author of the Marx volume I've recently posted about.  In addition to the excellent work he did on the book (he is primary author of four of the seven chapters, although we each revised each other's work), he is also a great teacher, who revived their undergraduate philosophy club.  (My colleague Martha Nussbaum, who visited St. Norbert a year or two ago, can attest to the fabulous work he has done with the undergraduate students she met with there.)  Needless to say, he will now be looking for a new job.  If you have one, reach out to him please!  Feel free to reach out to me for more information as well.

Shame on St. Norbert!

UPDATE:   Please note that I was given permission only to name one of the affected assistant professors.

"Seven realities" of the Israel/Palestine situation

A lot of sensible points in this essay by political theorist Alex Gourevitch.

(Thanks to Stefan Sciaraffa for the pointer.)

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Jeronimo, "Understanding," 1971

ORIGINALLY POSTED APRIL 13, 2019--STILL LIKE THIS NUMBER!

German hard rock band that had some success in Europe in the early 1970s.  This song is a bit atypical, and better than their standard fare (which I found a bit tedious):

 

Texas Tech suspends (with pay) a professor over his Twitter account

MOVING TO FRONT FROM YESTERDAY--UPDATED

I don't know a lot about this case beyond what is described here, but it sure looks like a First Amendment violation.  The important thing to note is that the recent Congressional jihad against speech critical of Israel is having real effects.  As the University itself states:

Additionally, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has recently warned universities that they have the duty under Title VI to take prompt action if it knows, or even should have known, that discriminatory harassment has occurred. The OCR stated that, “…a school violates Title VI when it fails to take adequate steps to address discriminatory harassment, such as antisemitic harassment.”

I expect we will see more cases like this.  If anyone has more information, please add links in the comments.  I will be moderating comments for relevance, so this is not a general invitation to air grievances:   I'd like more information about this case.  Thanks.

UPDATE:  The AFA letter to Texas Tech, which seems to me exactly right.

Explaining "sociological idealism"

"Sociological idealism" was Charles Mills's term for one kind of critique of ideology in Marx, namely, a critique of views that, incorrectly, treat ideas as the primary cause of events in the socio-economic world.  Marx's target was the Left Young Hegelians (whose heirs in the legal academy were the flash-in-the-pan Critical Legal Studies), but the critique extends much more widely:   every day, the newspapers and social media are full of pontificating that assumes that ideas are driving events.  Marx was always interested in the question why ideologists make the mistakes they do.   Here's the account Jaime Edwards and I offer in our forthcoming Marx book about Marx's explanation of this phenomenon (Edwards is mostly responsible for this astute account, which draws on his dissertation):

Gallow from Dianoia/ACU to Southern California

J. Dmitri Gallow (metaphysics, epistemology, philospohy of science, rational choice theory), Senior Research Fellow at the soon-to-be-defunct Dianoia Institute at the Australian Catholic University, has accepted an appointment as Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California, effective this August.

By now, Dianoia faculty have accepted positions at USC, UCL, Melbourne, and ANU, among other places--making even clearer how much talent the ACU Vice-Chancellor scattered to the winds by destroying the Institute.

Bence Nanay on "mental imagery"

An "open access" book from OUP!