Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog

Pandemic redux?

Covid is no longer as disruptive, but it's still here and still killing tens of thousands of people each year in the U.S.  And now "bird flu" is back in the news, with the first reported case of mammal-to-human transmission from Texas.  (Bird flu has been infecting mammals around the world for several years now.)  That individual had only very mild symptoms ("pink eye"), compared to the high mortality rate associated with individuals infected through close contact with birds, usually poultry, in the past.   It does sound like the U.S. is better prepared to handle a serious outbreak of bird flu transmissible among human beings.  Of course, it will depend on how quickly it spreads before public health officials identify it as spreading.

Philosopher Nancy Fraser talks about cancellation of a lecture at the University of Cologne...

...because she signed the "Philosophers for Palestine" letter noted in the fall.   Academic freedom (more precisely, freedom in research and teaching) enjoys constitutional status in Germany, although I'm not sure if it encompasses decisions by academics to invite certain scholars to give lecture series (it would in the U.S.).  Of course, Germany has a very different free speech regime than the U.S. (all democracies do, by the way), one that includes prohibitions on certain kinds of hate speech and in which human dignity is the supreme constitutional value.  It seems to me dubious that that letter would run afoul of those limitations, but I am not expert on German constitutional law.

In Memoriam: David Konstan (1940-2024)

A well-known scholar of ancient Greek literature and philosophy, Professor Konstan taught classics and classical philosophy at Wesleyan University for twenty years, then at Brown University for nearly a quarter century (where he is emeritus), before moving to NYU in 2010, where he was teaching at the time of his death.  Comments are open for remembrances from those knew Professor Konstan or for those who wish to comment on the significance of his work.

(Thanks to David Gordon for the pointer.)

Exactly as predicted months ago, there is now famine in parts of Gaza...

...and even U.S. officials are saying so.    It's clear that Israel, which is now an international pariah because of its butchery in Gaza, should have followed Thomas Friedman's advice last fall, if only for prudential reasons.

More on the funding situation for graduate students at the University of Western Ontario

Philosophy graduate student Charles Bakker writes with an update on the situation noted previously (and see also):

I am writing to inform you that the University of Western Ontario has just ratified a new deal with the graduate teaching assistant's union (PSAC 610). While this deal is a marked improvement over previous deals, it does little to change the overall financial situation for graduate students at Western, especially those in the Arts and Humanities. For as it stands, our guaranteed funding package, which includes that money we earn as GTAs, and which does not include a waiver for tuition, still nets us less than half of what would be considered even just a living wage in the city of London, Ontario. 

Even though Western is a publicly funded institution, their unwillingness and/or inability to compensate us fairly for the prestige which our cutting-edge research brings to the university entails that only those who are independently well-off can afford to receive a tax-funded graduate education at Western. Not only is this clearly unethical, but it is also short-sighted. For as the pool of potential graduate students able to study at Western shrinks, the probability of attracting the best and the brightest students will also shrink. Over time this will result in a diminishing of academic prestige, which will in turn eventually result in a diminishing of funding. It should be noted that much of the blame for this brain drain is to be placed on the provincial government of Ontario and the federal government of Canada for having long undervalued and underfunded higher education. However, that these larger institutions share a significant proportion of the blame only makes the problem worse. For it implies that not only are graduate students in Canada radically underfunded, they will likely continue to remain so for years to come.

Call for papers for the 8th annual meeting of the International Society of Nietzsche Studies...

...which will meet at the University of Chicago on March 28-29, 2025 (a Friday/Saturday).  We have three confirmed speakers for 2025:   Christopher Janaway, Paul Katsafanas, and Claire Kirwin.  We will select at least two papers from the CFP.  Note that this year we can reimburse travel (up to $1,000) and pay for three nights of lodging for those whose papers are accepted in the CFP.

Meanwhile, pro-Palestinian protesters at UCLA are attacked by masked men...

...and street fights break out for hours before the police intervene.  What a disaster.

UPDATE:  Via UCLA law professor Stephen Bainbridge on Twitter, I came across this striking account of recent events on campus by a UCLA history professor.

Barnard College evicted students (in the middle of the night!) from their dorm rooms after the April 18 protest...

...including students who were not arrested!  No wonder there's "no confidence" in the Barnard President.

Following up on Emmanuel College's (Cambridge) violation of academic freedom rights

A propos this, the Times of London has published this letter today:

Sir,

We were dismayed to learn that Dr Nathan Cofnas, a researcher in Cambridge University’s Faculty of Philosophy and Research Associate at Emmanuel College, is to be expelled from the College and is the subject of investigations by the Faculty and the Leverhulme Trust on the ground that he made controversial comments about race and academic ability ("Cambridge in free-speech row over researcher’s ‘race realism’ blog”, Apr 19). 

The initial response of Cambridge University to this controversy seems to us to have been completely correct. Professor Bhaskar Vira, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education, issued a statement that began with the following passage: "Freedom of speech within the law is a right that sits at the heart of the University of Cambridge. We encourage our community to challenge ideas they disagree with and engage in rigorous debate.” Given this, we do not understand why the Philosophy Faculty is conducting an investigation. Members of the College or University who disagree with Dr Cofnas’s views could issue statements repudiating those views and explaining why they believe them to be mistaken.

We urge Emmanuel College to reverse its decision and the Philosophy Faculty and the Leverhulme Trust to call off their investigations. There is nothing here to investigate.

This should not need to be said, but given the current climate we would like to add that signing this letter does not indicate endorsement of Dr Cofnas’s views.

Yours faithfully,

Roger Crisp (Professor of Moral Philosophy, University of Oxford)

Marie Daouda (Lecturer in French, Oriel College, University of Oxford)

Sir Partha Dasgupta FBA FRS (Frank Ramsey Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Cambridge)

Cornell chapter of Heterodox Society organizes a panel on academic witchhunts...

...featuring two victims well-known to readers of the blog, Kathleen Stock and Rebecca Tuvel (whose views on trans issues are quite different, as it happens, but both have felt the wrath of the Wokerati).  Now the Department of Philosophy at Cornell and several other departments have organized an event at the very same time as the Stock/Tuvel event, billed as a "celebration of transgender scholarship and life, to counter anti-trans speech on campus and abroad."  While this is better than trying to shutdown the Stock/Tuvel event, it certainly confirms the basic problem.  I'm sure all readers can guess at least one of the Cornell philosophers participating in the counter-event, a well-known opponent of academic freedom and free speech.

 

Arruza from New School to Boston University

Cinzia Arruza (ancient philosophy, feminist philosophy), Associate Professor of Philosophy at The New School in New York, will take up a tenured full professor appointment in the Department of Philosophy at Boston University, effective this fall.

(Thanks to Aaron Garrett for the information.)

Barnard College votes "no confidence" in its President

Barnard is the all-female liberal arts college that is part of Columbia University (which did not admit women students until around 1983-84), whose President is Laura Rosenbury, a law professor and feminist legal theorist who taught at Washington University, St. Louis, before becoming Dean of the law school at the University of Florida Gainesville, and then President of Barnard.  Philosopher Frederick Neuhouser is quoted in the story about the vote of "no confidence":

“I hope this vote has the effect of instigating real change in the way Barnard is run and organized, including long-term changes, especially around the issue of shared governance, shared faculty governance,” Neuhouser said. “Because the events of this academic year have revealed really clearly to us something we really weren’t aware of before, namely, that faculty participation in governance at Barnard is really very small and we have very few powers compared to the faculty at Columbia, for example.”

Bradley vs. Russell

Michael Della Rocca--probably our leading contemporary monist--thinks Bradley won that debate.  Curious to hear from the Russellians!

Most Black Americans want to increase police presence and spending on police

Striking findings, but consistent with the complete lack of political support, including among Black politicans, for the "abolish the police" nonsense of recent years.  The idea that a country awash in guns and extreme economic inequality could afford to do away with the police is quite remarkable.  For a very different perspective, see this essay by a legal philosopher and scholar at Harvard.