Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog

"Does consciousness have a gender?"

Philosopher Sophie-Grace Chappell (Open U) comments.

Richard Marshall interviews Wilhelm Dilthey (Berlin)...

...at 3:16 AM.

The saga of Anna Stubblefield: the movie?

Curious (scroll down to Andrew Bluestone).  (Earlier coverage.)

(Thanks to Rhys Southan for the pointer.)

Troubles at the Liberty Fund?

An informative piece of reporting about some tragic events and what they reveal about the direction of the right-leaning Liberty Fund.  Many philosophers will have participated in Liberty Fund events, although unlike, say, Social Philosophy & Policy conferences, the Liberty Fund has tended to invite more marginal figures on the right end of the spectrum, which may be why it has never been as influential in academic philosophy.  I have heard good reports, however, from some philosophers in the past, so it would be a loss if it is veering off in a less intellectual direction and more mindlessly partisan political direction.

Pollitt on Srinivasan at Dissent

This is one of the more interesting reviews (both appropriately complimentary and intelligently critical) of Amia Srinivasan's The Right to Sex, by Katha Pollitt, the longtime feminist critic at The Nation (here writing in Dissent); an excerpt:

The Right to Sex is clever, well-written, and worth reading, but I don’t quite understand why it’s received so much attention....There’s almost nothing about marriage, motherhood, child care, equality with men in the workplace, domestic labor, political representation, reproductive rights, misogynist culture, women’s health, the medical pathologizing of women’s bodies and minds, the continuing power of sexism to shape women’s expectations and behavior from birth, and the myriad obvious or subtle ways so many women are pushed, little by little, into becoming the support system for a man. The urgent and growing threat of fundamentalist religion and semi-fascist nationalist movements around the world goes unmentioned, as do the millions of mothers who were forced out of their jobs, some permanently, when the pandemic closed day-care centers and schools. It’s a truism of reviewing that you have to permit a writer her choice of subject; you can’t blame her for not writing a different book...Still, I found myself wondering if the most important issues in the lives of most women have been around so long, with so little fundamental improvement, that we’d just rather talk about something else. Like incels and pornography and professors who sleep with their students.

"Systemic racism" as an (uninformative) Aristotelian explanation for racial disparities

Philosopher Matt Lutz (Wuhan) comments.

Jeff McMahan (Oxford) talks about Derek Parfit...

...at Brain in a Vat.

The "metaphysics" in Pippin's Hegel

As we saw, Pippin's Hegel has been influential in the scholarly literature, and this short essay gives a nice capsule summary of his view.   I'm not sure it's actually Hegel, though; Charles Taylor's Hegel (also influential) is more plausible as an interpretation in some respects, as are Frederick Beiser's and Michael Forster's interpretations.  Pippin's reading has many attractions, and has had a strong influence on the "Pittsburgh Hegel."

Peter Singer comes out as a moral realist and hedonist...

...in this podcast.  The Swedish moral philosopher Torbjörn Tännsjö (also in the podcast) writes:  

Peter Singer and I have had similar views on many topics, but while he has been a prescriptivist I have for decades been a moral realist, and while he has been a preferantialist, I have also for decades been a hedonist. He now agrees with me on both these accounts. The latter should be of importance for his view on disability. We discuss this at the end of this podcast.

Now Professor Singer has two more mistaken views!

(Just to be clear, Singer has embraced these views in print previously, but now it's official, since it's a podcast!)

CDC guidelines give the unvaccinated substantial priority for antiviral treatments for Covid

MOVING TO FRONT FROM YESTERDAY--INFORMATIVE DISCUSSION IN THE COMMENTS!

This seems surprising; an excerpt:

Current therapies such as Sotrovimab, a monoclonal antibody with activity against omicron, and the oral agents, Paxlovid, and Molnupiravir, exist in very short supply. Already the demand has far outstripped our capacities raising the specter of rationing and a host of medical, social and ethical issues. 

The use and administration of these therapies — funded by the federal government without cost to the end user — are governed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state prioritizations. Although immunosuppressed patients are appropriately atop the list, most unvaccinated patients will be granted the next highest level of priority.  

For example, a 35-year-old unvaccinated former smoker with asthma gains priority over a 66-year-old vaccinated cancer patient. Similarly, an unvaccinated 25-year-old smoker with depression takes precedence over a 64-year-old vaccinated patient with chronic pulmonary disease. Indeed, the highest priority on the CDC list does not include a single profile of vaccinated patients other than the immunosuppressed, regardless of other comorbidities. Based on current supplies, unvaccinated patients will receive most of these lifesaving medications.  

Beyond its inherent unfairness, the decision to prioritize unvaccinated patients for scarce therapies is based on assumptions regarding risk factors, and the data regarding which risk factors contribute to a poor prognosis is weak at best. It is this very paucity of evidence that explains the lack of clear prioritizations in the initial vaccine rollout. 

I'm curious what readers, and especially those working in and around bioethics, think about this.

Most cited Anglophone books on Hegel and on Nietzsche...

...according to Google Scholar.

Total citations--Hegel books in English

Rank	Author	Book	Year published	Citations
1	Charles Taylor (McGill, emeritus)	Hegel and Modern Society	1979	1480
2	Robert Pippin (Chicago)	Hegel’s Idealism	1989	1260
3	Terry Pinkard (Georgetown)	Hegel’s Phenomenology:  The Sociality of Reason	1994	1120
4	Allen Wood (Indiana)	Hegel’s Ethics	1990	1110
5	Robert Pippin (Chicago)	Hegel’s Practical Philosophy	2008	760

Citations by year

Rank	Author	Book	Year published	Citations per year since publication
1	Robert Pippin (Chicago)	Hegel’s Practical Philosophy	2008	59
2	Frederick Neuhouser (Barnard/Columbia)	Foundations of Hegel’s Social Theory	2009	53
3	Terry Pinkard (Georgetown)	Hegel’s Phenomenology:  The Sociality of Reason	1994	42
4	Robert Pippin (Chicago)	Hegel’s Idealism	1989	39
5	Allen Wood (Indiana)	Hegel’s Ethical Thought	1990	36

"Civic engagement" projects in philosophy classes

Philosopher Mylan Engel, Jr. (Northern Illinois) discusses his pedagogical approach.

"Science can't state all the facts"

Philosopher Tim Crane (CEU) discusses at IAITV.

Richard Marshall interviews Nancy Sherman (Georgetown)...

...at 3:16 AM.

"Virtual reality" and reality

Philosopher David Chalmers (NYU) thinks the distinction will go away.  I'm skeptical...

Skrymsian Signalling Simulations

Now you can run them yourself.

Ahmed, Bertram, Bird

Philosopher Arif Ahmed (Cambridge) complains in Unherd about ideological indoctrination at the universities.  Philosopher Chris Bertram (emeritus, Bristol), who keeps track of scholars who write for publications with "incorrect" views, tweets:

Alexander Bird, a Cambridge philosopher, replies:

An interview with the psychologist Richard Nisbett

Nisbett's work has been important for many philosophers. He talks about his recent memoir at The Brains Blog.

 

Lottocracy...

...at Vox.  An excerpt:

Representatives selected by lot don’t have to campaign and don’t need campaign funds, goes the argument, limiting opportunities for corruption. As [Alex] Guerrero [Rutgers] puts it, “Lotteries excel at preventing corruption or undue influence in the selection of representatives.”

(Thanks to Phil Gasper for the pointer.)

Seven philosophers win NEH Fellowships (or equivalent) for "advanced research in humanities" (CORRECTED)

MOVING TO FRONT FROM YESTERDAY--CORRECTED

They are:   Sara Bernstein (Notre Dame), Teresa Kouri Kissel (Old Dominion), Lisa Miracchi (Penn), James Reid (Metropolitan State U), Joseph Stenberg (San Jose State), Thomas Ward (Baylor), and Rachel Zuckert (Northwestern). 

(Note:  this year, for the first time I've seen, there are two categories of awards for 'advanced research in the humanities" (usually meaning writing a book):  the traditional Fellowships (that I've always noted) and "Awards for Faculty" which are essentially Fellowships, but reserved for faculty who teach at historically Black colleges, or primarily Hispanic-serving or Tribal-serving colleges.)

(Thanks to Bob Pasnau and Abe Roth for corrections.)

 

"What is happiness?"

Interesting CHE interview about a course taught by philosopher Bernard Reginster (Brown) and one of his colleagues in psychology.  As Professor Reginster aptly says:

On the one hand, the empirical investigation of a topic like happiness is only going to be as good as the initial conceptualization that frames the hypothesis guiding the inquiry. If you ask the wrong questions, the answers you get are not going to be very helpful. On the other hand, if the hypothesis your initial conceptualization supplied isn’t confirmed by empirical inquiries, then your initial conceptualization probably missed something.

"Agency and Responsibility Research Group": Spring schedule of online events...

...is now available.

"Migration Ethics": a new podcast...

....here, from political theorist Kieran Oberman (Edinburgh).

In Memoriam: Kwasi Wiredu (1931-2022)

One of the leading figures of African philosophy, Professor Wiredu taught at the University of Ghana for more than two decades, before moving to the University of South Florida in the late 1980s, where he was emeritus.  The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy has an informative entry about his work.  I will add links to memorial notices as they appear.

"Stop caring about consciousness"

Philosopher Peter Carruthers (Maryland) argues we should.

A new website for discussing philosophy pre-prints...

...courtesy of philosophers Filippo Contesi and Giulio Pietroiusti (both Barcelona); they write:

In some academic disciplines, publication and discussion of articles
before journal submission is generally much more widespread than in philosophy. Indeed, most journal publishing houses are publicly
committed to considering pre-archived papers for publication. You can double-check this for your journal of choice here:

https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/

Philosophers already can make their pre-prints publicly available at
any point on at least one pre-print repository: PhilArchive.org.
However, currently existing web platforms for public discussion of
scientific pre-prints (e.g. PubPeer.org) cannot be used to discuss PhilArchive-d papers.

So, we have created a website that allows anyone to comment freely on
papers present on PhilArchive and/or PhilPapers:

https://freelosophy.github.io/

On Freelosophy, scholars can add comments to a paper (and read them) by using its PhilPapers/Archive ID, an identifier present on the page
of each paper on PhilArchive. Each paper on PhilPapers also has its
own PhilPaper/Archive ID (in the URL).

Everyone interested is most welcome to start using our service, which
is currently in public beta. Please do not hesitate to contact us at
philfreedback@gmail.com for any comments or feedback.

Professor Contesi tells me they will moderate the discussion forum to make sure it does not degenerate into a metablog!

In Memoriam: Hugh S. Chandler (1930-2022)

Professor Chandler, who wrote on a wide range of philosophical issues (including in ethics, philosophy of religion, and metaphysics) taught for decades at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  The Illinois memorial notice is here.

(Thanks to Jeff McMahan for the pointer.)

Legal philosopher Leslie Green retires now from Queen's U in Canada

A nice write-up here.  We noted previously the significance of his retirement last fall from Oxford (a result borne out by the recent PGR surveys, where Oxford was no longer in a group by itself).

(Thanks to Gregoire Webber for the pointer.)

The FBI file on Foucault

Our tax dollars being put to work.

Richard Marshall interviews Ruth Boeker (University College Dublin)...

...at 3:16 AM.

In Memoriam: Michael (M.J.) Inwood (1944-2021)

A longtime member of the Oxford philosophy faculty, he was especially well-known for his work on Hegel and on Heidegger, at a time when few Oxford philosophers were interested in either.   There is a brief memorial notice from the Oxford philosophy faculty here.

(Thanks to Roger Crisp for the pointer.)

UPDATE:   Cambridge University Press has made available this article (on Hegel and Aristotle) by Professor Inwood.

"Bernard Williams: Philosopher"

The website, courtesy of philosopher Paul Russell (British Columbia/Lund).

Do your own research on how to "do your own research"

Philosopher Nathan Ballantyne (Fordham) and psychologist David Dunning (of Dunning-Kruger Effect fame) comment.

Extended effect of psychedelic drug use on metaphysical beliefs

Less belief in materialism, more in pansychism.  Seriously!

(Thanks to Alex Parrish for the pointer.)

New Hampshire legislator files bill that would require high school students to take a half-year introduction to philosophy...

...that would focus on epistemology, logic, ethics, and philosophy of science.  The sole sponsor is Julius Soti (R-District 7), who has a B.A. in philosophy and history from William Paterson University.

(Thanks to Glenn Branch for the information and pointers.)

Philosophers on the bodily and other pleasures

Max Hayward (Sheffield) comments at The Atlantic.

What is it like to be a philosopher? Yujin Nagasawa (Birmingham) edition

Here.

Setting health-care priorities during pandemics and other mass casualty events

The entire conference, featuring many philosophers, is online here.  The topic, alas, is rather obviously timely!  The schedule is below the fold:

The Israeli General and Deleuze & Guattari

A strange story.

(Thanks to Aaron Garrett for the pointer.)

Colorado Summer School in Philosophy, 2022

Philosopher David Boonin (Colorado) writes:

I’ve now finalized the topic for this summer: “Parts and Wholes," understood broadly to include issues involving individuals and groups, like intergenerational ethics and statistical profiling, as well as more straightforwardly part/whole subjects like issues in mereology and set theory, and am ready to start accepting applications. The link to the site containing all the information is here:

https://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/events/summer-seminar

I've heard good things about these summer seminars over the years, so I encourage undergraduate readers, especially those thinking they might be interested in graduate school, to take a look.

Wittgenstein's Tractatus at 100

Philosophers A.W. Moore (Oxford), Marie McGinn (emerita, York), Jose Zalabardo (UCL), and others comment at IAITV.

2021 JHP Book Prize to Prof. Karen Ng (Vanderbilt)

Philosopher Jean-Luc Solère (Boston College), the book review editor of JHP, asked me to share that the Journal of the History of Philosophy 2021 Book Prize goes to Karen Ng (Vanderbilt) for her Hegel’s Concept of Life: Self-Consciousness, Freedom, Logic (Oxford University Press, 2020).   Congratulations to Professor Ng!

Fricker from CUNY to NYU

Miranda Fricker (ethics, epistemology, feminist philosophy), currently at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, has accepted a senior offer from the Department of Philosophy at New York University, to start next fall.   This is a significant move, especially for prospective students interested in Professor Fricker's work who will need to submit their applications soon!  It would surely affect the overall ranking of CUNY (which came in at #12 in the recent PGR surveys, but without Fricker, CUNY would almost certainly drop out of the tie with Columbia et al. at #12--although it should still remain solidly in the top 20), and will make NYU an attractive choice for students interested in feminist philosophy, as well as strengthening ethics and epistemology.  (CUNY will still be a viable choice for students interested in feminist philosophy.) 

So much for "artificial intelligence"

Philosopher Jeffrey Ketland (Warsaw) writes:

I made an account and had quick chat with the AI bot, GPT-3.

Here’s the output [below the fold] for the da Vinci engine, which is the smartest. Since it’s called da Vinci I asked a simple pendulum problem, which it got wrong.

It got all the answers wrong. Not very encouraging, in my opinion!

I repeated this chat one more time, getting different answers, but still basically wrong.

AI bot, GPT-3, now available for anyone to utilize

Philosopher Blake Myers (see earlier discussion) points out that the AI bot, GPT-3, is now available for anyone to use. Click on “GET STARTED” at the link, below, and quickly create an account:

https://openai.com/api/

Dr. Myers adds:  "Also, if people just want to quickly chat with GPT-3 once they make their account and sign in, they can just click on the reddish-pinkish box that says 'Examples,' then click on 'Chat,' and finally click on 'Open in Playground.' But there are also many other things people can explore that can be done now."

Dennett on Rorty's newly published "unpublished" papers

An appreciative (perhaps generous) review:

I’m also a bit chagrined to now acknowledge that the definition in my Philosophical Lexicon of ‘ a rortiori’ (adj. ‘for even more obscure and fashionable Continental reasons’) has probably contributed to a caricature of Rorty’s work that is all too convenient: an idea of the analytic philosopher turned Continental belle-lettrist. On the contrary, as this volume shows, Rorty was always keenly alert to the historically-blinkered vision of his fellow analytic philosophers, and after his ‘Continental turn’ he continued to compose masterful analyses of later stars of the analytic discipline – Kripke, McDowell, Mackie, Hacking, Kim, Brandom, Davidson, Searle, Nagel, Goldman and Fodor, to name a few highlights – well seasoned with his growing confidence about how they fit into the larger project of human inquiry. His 1994 paper, ‘The Current State of Philosophy in the United States’ should be required reading for every graduate or prospective graduate student in philosophy in the US (and elsewhere), since it’s full of observations that I believe are as true today as they were twenty-seven years ago: for instance, about the attempt by philosophers to escape the humanities and join forces with the sciences; about the gravitational attraction of problems that can be addressed with little or no historical understanding; and about the pinched perspective on the issues that has resulted from this trend.

Earlier posts on Rorty and his legacy.

APA Prizes announced...

...including the Book Prize, Gitler Prize, and the Dewey Lecturers.

"The Raven," an online magazine of philosophy...

...debuts.

New Yorker article on "mind-reading" technology

MOVING TO FRONT FROM DECEMBER 5--SEE ESP. INTERESTING COMMENTS FROM  NED BLOCK AND MOHAN MATTHEN; MORE COMMENTS WELCOME

An interesting read, but I'm curious what readers--especially, but not only, philosophers--make of this claim about the purported upshot of the new technologies for tracking meaning in the brain:

Now we know what [thoughts] really are: patterns of neural activation that correspond to points in meaning space. The mind—the only truly private place—has become inspectable from the outside. In the future, a therapist, wanting to understand how your relationships run awry, might examine the dimensions of the patterns your brain falls into. Some epileptic patients about to undergo surgery have intracranial probes put into their brains; researchers can now use these probes to help steer the patients’ neural patterns away from those associated with depression.

Philosopher Silvia de Toffoli receives grant for more than one million euros for project in philosophy of mathematics

Silvia de Toffoli, currently a postdoc at Princeton, has been named a Wallenberg Academy Fellow, which she will take up at the Department of Philosophy at Linköping University (Sweden).  Her project aims "to develop a theory of how mathematical knowledge is generated and shared in practice" and to show "how mathematical objectivity can be achieved by human, fallible subjects.”

(Thanks to András Szigeti for the pointer.)