Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog

Blast from the past: On New York bluntness...

...and other offenses to "WASP decorum" (back in 2017).

Blast from the past: "Expanding notions of harm in psychology"

Back in 2015, but still relevant.

Blast from the past: the most significant moral philosophers in the history of Western philosophy?

A poll, and discussion, back in 2013.

Blast from the past: Graduate school and starting a family: when?

Back in 2009, no doubt still highly relevant.

Blast from the past: from the bowels of cyberspace...

...back in 2010 (nothing has changed, unsurprisingly).

Blast from the past: Longuenesse on "analytic" and "Continental" philosophy

Back in 2007.

Blast from the past: the job market and "stale" PhDs

Back in 2012.   There may be less of an effect on PhDs in 2020 because of the world-historic catastrophe that everyone is familiar with, and the resulting collapse of the job market.

Blast from the past: why it's wonderful to study and teach philosophy

Back in 2011, but hopefully still true!

Blast from the past: philosophy in 2011

2020 in review will be coming up soon, but here's 2011.  Kind of amusing.  This was before online philosophy cracked up in 2014.

Blast from the past: the best or most important philosophy books/articles from 2000-2009

A pretty good list, courtesy of readers (back in 2009).  I'll open a thread for publications since 2010 later this week.

Blast from the past: Kitcher on the need for "reconstruction in philosophy"

Back in 2011, with a lively discussion in the comments, including contributions from David Wallace, Peter Ludlow, Colin Farrelly, Laurie Paul, Keith DeRose, and many others, and replies from Philip Kitcher.

Blast from the past: Does having publications hurt a job seeker at schools whose primary mission is teaching?

Back in 2009.

ADDENDUM:   A senior philosopher elsewhere writes:  "My sense is things may have changed a bit since 2009: with the exception of community colleges, almost everybody wants pubs.  Most students [at a top 30ish PhD program where this philosopher taught] compete for teaching jobs, and our sense there was things start to look good after 3 pubs.  Quality of venue mattering much less at weaker places."   I'm opening this for further comments on whether things have chnaged since 2009 and what people's experience is more recently.

Blast from the past: Brian Bruya makes things up

Five years ago, I predicted that Bruya's fraudulent and confused criticisms of the PGR and the whole Bruyahaha spectacle (and here) would have no influence on the PGR, and it didn't.   Meanwhile, Metaphilosophy was discredited by its handling of the matter, but we did learn a few useful lessons.

Blast from the past: when Robin James reported some important "theorizing"...

...that still hasn't seen the light of day alas.

Blast from the past: what is an "area of competence" for CV purposes?

Back in 2007.

Blast from the past: smoking a liability on the job market?

Back in 2008.  The comments go on to discuss other odd habits, like being a vegan!

Blast from the past: Inflated letters of recommendation

A discussion, back in 2011.

(The first link in the 2011 post isn't working:  it goes to this earlier post about the "code" in which letters of recommendation are too often written.)

Blast from the past: how difficult for a North American PhD to move from a job in the developing world to a North American job

Back in 2016, and probably on the mind of some job-seekers this year as well.

Blast from the past: remembering Annette Baier

Back in 2012.

Blast from the past: Why study history of philosophy?

Back in 2011, an open letter from Robert Pasnau (Colorado), and an extensive discussion in the comments.

Blast from the past: Hacker on Williamson on "The Philosophy of Philosophy"

Back in 2009.

Blast from the past: what blog readers most feared about a Trump Administration...

...back in Novmeber 2016.  Several did, indeed, come to pass.

Blast from the past: what Anglophone philosophers almost studied *instead* of philosophy

Back in 2016.

Blast from the past: the best post-WWII Anglophone scholars of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy

Back in 2016.

Blast from the past: where the (untenured) tenure-track faculty at the U.S. top 20 got their PhD...

...back in 2005!

Blast from the past: what might the philosophy profession look like in 2043?

Back in 2013.

Do philosophers make the world a better place? Thoughts from the late John Gardner (Oxford)

I posed the question back in 2013, and thought I'd re-up the late John Gardner's interesting answer at that time (and invite reader thoughts/reactions):

I'd be the first to say that the world is a better place - constitutively - just in virtue of containing more good philosophy, and more good philosophers. But I take it that the questioner is asking about making the world a better place instrumentally by his or her work, owed to to the dissemination of good ideas in it. Beyond helping students and other scholars to solve puzzles or to frame arguments, I do not believe that my philosophical work has any significant consequences via such dissemination and I do not intend it to have any. I do not intend it to have any, partly because I suspect that any consequences it would have, if it had any, would be really bad. Not because it is bad philosophy (though maybe it is) but because philosophy (in my subfields: moral, political, legal) is ripe for abuse. It is better not to have any effects than to have predictably unwelcome effects through the kind of people who are likely to put my work to use. On the very rare occasions when I have seen my work used by judges, policymakers, journalists, etc. - what Andrew [in a comment above] callled 'intermediaries' - I have very much disapproved of what they did with it and wished that I had managed to keep it much more secret.

Blast from the past: best philosophical stylists for students to emulate?

Back in 2011.

Blast from the past: "sanctiramus" (from the dynamic lexicon)

Back in 2016.

Blast from the past: when "trigger warnings" were the issue du jour

Back in 2015.

Blast from the past: the 10 most important philosophers of the early modern period

A poll, back in 2009.

Blast from the past: for a JD/PhD, does the caliber of the law school matter?

Back in 2011, and still applicable.  Worth noting that Harvard, which used to fully fund all JD/PhDs, has stopped doing so. (LINK NOW FIXED TO GO DIRECTLY TO THE OLD POST.)

Blast from the past: what to look for in a contract with an academic press

Back in 2018.

Blast from the past: when philosopher Dan Hicks lost his mind

Last year.  Hopefully he's recovered!

Blast from the past: Best Anglophone Philosophers of action since 1945

Back in 2016.

Blast from the past: when Brett "no ideas and the ability to express them" Stephens smeared Chomsky...

...and compared him to Heidegger.

Blast from the past: an interview about "identity politics," Marx, Trump, and more

Back in 2018.  Sadly, but unsurprisingly, still relevant.

Blast from the past: when Nathan Oseroff was abusing his position at the APA blog

There were several incidents, but this one was one of the weirdest.  The APA Blog subsequently introduced reforms because of Mr. Oseroff's bad behavior.

(I wouldn't bother revisiting this except people keep pointing out to me that Mr. Oseroff continues to lie on social media about what he actually did.  It defeats the point of his apology for his misconduct for him to now lie about what transpired.)

There were several incidents, but this one was one of the weirdest.  The APA Blog subsequently introduced reforms because of Mr. Oseroff's bad behavior.

(I wouldn't bother revisiting this except people keep pointing out to me that Mr. Oseroff continues to lie on social media about what he actually did.  It defeats the point of his apology for his misconduct for him to now lie about what transpired.)

Blast from the past: most important epistemologists since 1945

Back in 2016.

Blast from the past: best Anglophone philosophers of art since 1945?

A poll back in 2016.

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

Back in 2014.

Blast from the past: Steve Fuller makes things up

It's important not to forget who the charlatans are.

Blast from the past: shameless hypocrisy of philosophers edition

Back in 2018:  philosopher Adriel Trott (Wabash), who participated in the online harsassment of Rebecca Tuvel, complains about online harassment in philosophy!

Blast from the past: if universities had only arisen after WWII, would philosophy have been taught?

A discussion of some counterfactul speculation by Dummett (back in 2010).

After the pandemic: disability and the right to work from home

Philosopher Leslie Green (Oxford/Queen's U) comments.

Blast from the past: when philosophers had to issue a statement in defense of academic freedom to discuss issues related to sex and gender

Only last summer but it seems like another era.  I wonder how many of the absurd miscreants are still at it?

UPDATE:   A senior philosopher elsewhere writes:  "I'm not plugged into social media, but I've also wondered whether this crisis has inspired philosophy's woke brigade to endeavors more serious than narcissistic moral preening.  I rather doubt it."

Blast from the past: in praise of terminal M.A. programs

Back in 2015.

Blast from the past: "'Me studies' and philosophy's problems"

Back in 2015.

Blast from the past: when a Routledge Companion editor dropped a contributor for alleged wrongdoing

Back in 2016.  It's striking that so many of the bad actors in the profession are clustered in the LEMMing areas.

Blast from the past: what happens in a country where the law protects reputations, not defamers

Back in summer 2019.