Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog

"The Long Haul of Long Covid"

Philosopher and bioethicist Gregory Pence (Alabama) comments.

UChicago's MA programs in humanities and social sciences

Students thinking about these programs ought to read this.  Students wanting to continue on for a PhD in philosophy would generally be much better off at one of the good terminal MA programs in philosophy.

(Thanks to Chris Morris for the pointer.)

Philosopher Amia Srinivasan (Oxford) profiled...

...in British Vogue no less!

Against moral philosophy (and morality)

From an essay by philosopher Ronald DeSousa (emeritus, Toronto):

Morality, I now believe, is a shadow of religion, serving to comfort those who no longer accept divine guidance but still hope for an ‘objective’ source of certainty about right and wrong. Moralists claim to discern the existence of commands as inescapable as those of an omniscient and omnipotent God. Those commands, moral philosophers teach, deserve to prevail over all other reasons to act – always, everywhere, and for all time. But that claim is bogus.

In Memoriam: Bob Moses (1935-2021)

One of the great figures of the Civil Rights movement, a man of extraordinary courage and moral clarity, Moses had studied philosophy as an undergraduate and graduate student, before more pressing matters commanded his attention.   The NYT obituary is here.  Philosopher Michael Wedin (emeritus, UC Davis), who wrote me last night about his passing, kindly gave permission to share his remembrance:

Just to let you know that Bob Moses has died. It was the greatest privilege of my life to work with him in the summer of 1964 in Mississippi. The news has hit me hard, somehow I expected him to live forever. In the spring of 1964 we organized the "West Coast Civil Rights Conference" at Stanford -- sole purposes were to raise money for and recruit volunteers for the Mississippi summer project. We got MLK to keynote the thing and convinced Bob to come out, which he did by car with four of his field workers. King was the big name but the real draw was Bob Moses. Not prone to King's style of elevated rhetoric, Bob really just held a conversation with the audience. But it was riveting--five hundred in the auditorium and you could hear a pin drop. Did not talk much philosophy with him, but he did say he'd been working on Wittgenstein before he left Harvard for Mississippi. There we were involved in getting a Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party delegation selected to challenge the regular group and the national meeting. Lost track of him after Mississippi but years later was informed by Hilary Putnam that he'd returned to Harvard to complete his Ph. D. and that Quine has given him all of his correspondence with Carnap. Won't even besgin to talk about his extraordinary work in the south.

Deleuze did not like Wittgenstein

Amusing:

(Thanks to Guy Elgat for the pointer.)

 

Percentage of tenure-stream faculty who are female in PhD programs in philosophy increased about 40% since 2004...

(MOVING TO FRONT FROM JULY 22--SOME CORRECTIONS TO THE ADDENDUM)

...with some variation depending on the caliber of the program:  top analytically-oriented departments saw significant increases (18% of tenure-stream faculty were female in 2004, now 26% are), but still do not have as high a percentage of female faculty as programs in the SPEP universe of nominally "Continental"-oriented departments.   Since the "analytic" departments identify more closely with math and the natural sciences, it's not wholly surprising that female representation is more like what we find in those latter fields; by contrast, the SPEP departments tend to be more closely allied with humanities fields like English, which have higher proportions of female representation in the faculty ranks.  Given current hiring trends, and the pattern of recent retirements (overwhelmingly men), I expect female representation in tenure-stream philosophy positions will continue to increase.

ADDENDUM:  Regarding recent retirements (i.e., since the 2017 PGR),there were 37 retirements, phased retirements, or announced impending retirements, of which 7 were women, and 30 men.  The full list is below the fold:

Two philosophers elected Fellows of the British Academy

They are:   Richard Holton (Cambridge) and Helen Steward (Leeds).  In addition, Philip Kitcher (Columbia) was elected a Corresponding Fellow.

ADDENDUM:  Professor Holton kindly calls to my attention that David Dyzenhaus, on the law and philosophy faculties at the University of Toronto, and well-known for his work on Carl Schmitt, was also elected a Corresponding Fellow.

Justin Garson (Hunter/CUNY) discusses madness...

...at Brain in a Vat.

Philosopher Craig Callender (UCSD) talks about "scientific freedom"...

...at IAITV.

"Moral Injury and Stoic Resilience"

Philosopher Nancy Sherman (Georgetown) discusses.

Against utilitarian thinking during a pandemic

Philosopher Anna Whiston (Oxford) comments.

In Memoriam: Jorge J.E. Gracia (1942-2021)

Professor Gracia was a longtime member of the philosophy department at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York, where he retired in 2019.  He wrote widely in metaphysics, medieval philosophy, Latin-American philosophy, philosophy of race, and other areas.  The Buffalo memorial notice is here.

(Thanks to Adam Taylor for the pointer.)

 

Richard Marshall interviews Lee McIntyre (BU Center for Phil & Hist of Science)...

...at 3:16 AM.

Survey on "human extinction"

Philosopher Phil Torres is interested in having blog readers respond to a survey; he writes:

I'm conducting a survey with a colleague of mine, Bruce Tonn, on the topic of human extinction -- specifically, on what philosophers think about the ethical/evaluative implications of our permanent disappearance. Would it be good, bad, or neutral? How wrong, or right, would bringing it about be?  It's here: https://philosophersurvey2.questionpro.com/

Sanders and Templeton Foundations to sponsor a "Philosophy in the Media" initiative

Details here; briefly:

The initiative aims to increase the presence of philosophy in print, audio, and video media by training philosophers to write and produce for the public and by connecting philosophers to editors and commissioners in the media industry.

For the first stage of the initiative, up to 30 philosophers will be selected to be MSF Media Fellows. Fellows will receive workshop training, connection to industry professionals, and a $1500 honorarium.

I just hope that, unlike so much "public" philosophy, this program attracts some good philosophers.

(Thanks to Barry Lam, whose podcasts are a nice example of succcesful public philosophy, for the pointer.)

In Memoriam: Richard Lewontin (1929-2021)

A few readers now have suggested I should note the passing of the great evolutionary geneticist Richard Lewontin, whose work was very influential in philosophy of biology and with whom many philosophers of science studied at one point or another.  The NYT obituary is here, and there is a rich and very personal memorial by one of his best-known students, the biologist Jerry Coyne (Chicago).   Comments are open for those who want to comment on the significance of Lewontin's work for philosophy.

Which philosophy journals accept longer papers?

MOVING TO FRONT FROM JULY 8--MANY USEFUL COMMENTS SO FAR, MORE WELCOME

A philosopher elsewhere was wondering if there are journals that typically will consider and publish papers longer than, e.g., 12K words.  Maybe there is a list somewhere?  Otherwise, please post names of journals that are open to longer papers.

In Memoriam: Gerasimos Xenophon Santas (1931-2021)

Professor Santas, a scholar of ancient Greek philosophy who was emeritus at the University of California, Irvine, passed away on June 20.  Born and raised on the island of Lefkada, he had a long and distinguished academic career that included teaching at UC Berkeley, Brandeis, Wellesley, Johns Hopkins, Claremont Graduate, Stanford, and finally UC Irvine.   He had far-reaching and multi-disciplinary intellectual interests, including in psychology, genetics and evolution.  He is especially well-known for his many influential publications on Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

(Thanks to Philip Mitsis [NYU] for the information.)

In Memoriam: Graham Bird (1930-2021)

Graham Bird was Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Manchester, and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool. He was a leading Kant scholar for nearly 40 years, and the author of Kant's Theory of Knowledge (1962), William James (1986), and The Revolutionary Kant (2006). He was President of the Aristotelian Society and Chair of the UK Kant Society.  With Howard Williams, he founded the Kantian Review in 1997.  

I will add links to memorial notices as they appear.

(Thanks to Sally Sedgwick [BU] for this information.)

Schools with the *most* philosophy majors and the highest percentage of philosophy majors among undergraduates

Fascinating data, courtesy of Professor Schwitzgebel.

Michigan philosophy will not be accepting PhD applications this fall, but will resume accepting applications the following year

Announcement here; they had unexpectedly large yields the last two years, so want to get back to a more normal size for the graduate program.

(Thanks to Abdul Ansari for the pointer.)

Memorial events for philosopher Joseph Margolis

Professor Espen Hammer, chair of the department at Temple University, kindly shared the following information about memorial events for Professor Margolis:

The memorial ceremony for Professor Joe Margolis is planned for Sunday July 25, 12:00PM-3:00PM, at Banca, 600 Spring Garden Street in Philadelphia.

In addition to that, the Temple Department of Philosophy will be hosting a memorial event on Friday September 17 at 3pm (Women's Study Lounge, 8th floor Anderson Hall; if necessary we will be using zoom).

Being an academic philosopher in Ghana

It's not easy.   Also has some interesting remarks on Ghanian philosophers.

Finding academic mentor(s)

A junior philosopher on tenure-track writes:

I wonder if you could put a question -anonymously- to your readers, which might interest other (early career) scholars as well. How would you go about finding an academic mentor, specifically to discuss and strategize about scholarly and career-related questions at the tenure-track level? I’d be interested to learn what people in a position to be a mentor think about this: do you consider it something worth your while? Under what conditions? Of course, relationships could develop through research-related activities. But I reckon that there could be mentor-mentee relationships outside of primarily research-related interactions, too. Have some of your readers established such relationships, and have they been fruitful for both parties?

Kierkegaard as the father of existentialism

Philosopher Alastair Hannay (Oslo) comments.

Proof from the capitalist marketplace that art beats philosophy

Painting of "A Philosopher Reading" sold for $9 million; actual philosopher reading never earned so much.

(Thanks to Mark Couch for the pointer.)

Allais from UC San Diego to Johns Hopkins

Lucy Allais (Kant, moral psychology), holder of the Henry Allison Chair in philosophy at the University of California, San Diego, has accepted a senior offer from the Department of Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University, where she will be roughly half-time (as she was at UCSD).  She will continue to be part of the year at the University of Witwatersrand in her native South Africa.

Mari Mikkola (Amsterdam) talks about hate speech and pornography...

...at the Brain in a Vat podcast.

"Gender is not a spectrum"

Philosopher Rebecca Reilly-Cooper (Warwick) comments.

"Vain, lazy, and pompous"

MOVING TO FRONT FROM JUNE 24, COMMENTS ARE OPEN NOW, DISCUSSION OF THE IMPORT OF THIS RESEARCH WELCOME

That's our guy John Locke, according to an account of a contemporary.

(Thanks to David Zimmerman for the pointer.)

The final nail in the coffin for the failed science of "implicit bias"?

Philosopher Edouard Machery (Pittsburgh), a leading contributor to philosophy of cognitive science, shared with me his latest analysis of the empirical literature.  (Professor Machery also was kind of enough to allow me to post the penultimate draft of the typescript:   Download Machery Anomalies in Implicit Attitudes Research copy.)

As Professor Machery summarizes the research:

Egalitarianism, the mongoose way

Parents don't know which offspring are theirs.

(Thanks to Joshua Selby for the pointer.)

Philosopher Marc Lange's (North Carolina) letter to the UNC Board of Trustees...

...regarding their failure to approve a recommendation of tenure.  He's of course right about the damage this has and will do.

Richard Marshall interviews Peter Finocchiaro (Wuhan)...

...at 3:16 AM.

"Two Pessimisms in Mill"

I commend this important paper in Utilitas by one of our PhD students, Joshua Fox, who is defending his splendid dissertation on pessimism in Mill, Schopenhauer and  Nietzsche next month.  The paper, which draws on dissertation material, sheds fascinating and new light on an aspects of Mill's ethics that I've not seen addressed before.  (A different part of the project, related to Nietzsche, is found in this paper, which Nietzsche scholars will want to read.)

Arts, humanities and AI ethics

Philosopher John Tasioulas (Oxford) comments.

"Moral Accounting" and good governance

Robert J. Bloomfield--an accounting professor at Cornell, who has written a number of papers tying accounting to philosophical issues, including limits to speech, and pragmatics of language--is seeking feedback from philosophers about his current project on "moral accounting" and governance.  Professor Bloomfield discusses the philosophical issues here, and some practical implications here.   These blog posts also include his email address, for those who would like to offer Professor Bloomfield comments.

In Memoriam: Aryeh (L.A.) Kosman (1935-2021)

A longtime member of the philosophy faculty at Haverford College, Professor Kosman also taught as a visiting professor at several leading PhD programs.  He was well-known for his contributions to scholarship on ancient philosophy, especially Aristotle.  The Haverford memorial notice is here.

"Choosing the self we want to be"

Philosopher Laurie (L.A.) Paul (Yale) discusses.

When philosophers cozy up to authoritarian rulers...

...they get their own line of coffee shops!

(Thanks to David Zimmerman for the pointer.)

Philosophy as the "handmaiden of the human resources" department

Amusingly apt description of this, in an essay by philosopher Justin E.H. Smith (Paris 7) mostly concerned with literature.

Interesting UK decision under their Equality Act...

...which protects people from being discriminated against in employment for their "religious and philosophical beliefs"--in this case, beliefs in some tenets of gender critical feminism.  This is a much stronger employment protection than American workers enjoy.

(Thanks to James Ladyman for the pointer.)

Richard Marshall interviews Anya Plutynski (Wash U/St. Louis)...

...at 3:16 AM.  Quite interesting:  is cancer a natural kind? and other questions.

In Memoriam: Joseph Margolis (1924-2021)

A longtime member of the faculty at Temple University, Professor Margolis wrote very widely in philosophy, perhaps being best-known for his version of pragmatism and his contributions to aesthetics.  I will add links to memorial notices as they appear.

(Thanks to Noel Carroll for the information about Professor Margolis's death.)

Patricia Churchland talks about the neurophilosophy of non-conscious decisions and morality...

...at IAITV.

Philosopher Kathleen Stock (Sussex) talks about her new book "Material Girls"...

...at the Brain in a Vat podcast.

Unfortunately, when the podcast hosts posted the podcast link on the Teaching Philosophy Facebook page, some of the usual suspects--Rebecca Kukla (who now appears to go by "Quill" rather than Rebecca) (Georgetown), Mark Lance (Georgetown), Robin James (UNC-Charlotte), among others--protested its presence, and the page administrator Thi Nguyen (Utah) removed it.

This nonsense has been going on for awhile now, with a small noisy band of repeat players embarrassing the philosophy profession and consistently opposing basic academic freedom.  I have no idea whether most philosophers agree or disagree with Professor Stock, but I know most oppose these efforts to try to shut her down.    More philosophers need to speak up against these "living caricatures" with their "puritan outrage, the over-the-top sanctimony, moralizing, and preaching."  They represent everything philosophy as an academic discipline should oppose.

Interesting autobiographical interview with Amartya Sen...

...at the Harvard Gazette.

"The Stone" blog at the NY Times is dead

A reader points out that the new opinion editor at the NYT has cancelled the various special topics blogs, including the awful "Stone" blog that was ostensibly about philosophy.  (For earlier coverage of the "Stone" spectacle, see here, here, here and here.)  For every decent blog column it ran over the years, there must have been at least a dozen weak or embarrassing ones.  It also gave a highly misleading and selective sense of what philosophers work on, no doubt because of the hack moderating it, whose friends were over-represented as contributors. 

The basic problem is that too many of those who want to do "public philosophy" aren't very good at philosophy, and, so unsurprisingly, their public philosophy is no better.  The best public philosophy is by those who are really good philosophers who also have a talent for communicating their research with an educated public (think Tim Maudlin [NYU] or Hanna Pickard [Johns Hopkins].   No doubt that work will continue to appear, but fortunately the field will be spared the further embarrassment of mediocrities doing "public philosophy" under the NYT banner--as well as competent philosophers simply peddling their trendy and trite political ideas with a little philosophical garnish under the same imprimatur.

Martha Nussbaum talks about sexual harassment, the #MeToo movement, and her recent book...

...at The New Yorker.