Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog

More bad press for Wiley

Wiley's reputation among philosophers (and other academics) has been in free-fall with the various journal disasters that we have noted here, and this latest development won't help: "Academic publisher Wiley has revealed it is set to make $44 million (£33 million) from Artificial Intelligence (AI) partnerships that it is not giving authors the opportunity to opt-out from." 

"Universality over diversity"

Philosopher David Lobina discusses.

"The Future of Free Speech"

A special issue of Daedalus:  Journal of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, with contributions by leading First Amendment scholars (e.g., Vincent Blasi, Robert Post), constitutional law scholars (e.g., Keith Whittington), philosophers (Robert Mark Simpson, yours truly), and non-academics from various professions (e.g., Nick Clegg).

"Philosophy Teaching Library"

Philosopher Wes Siscoe (Bowling Green) writes:

I wanted to reach out about a newly created philosophy teaching resource - The Philosophy Teaching Library. It is a peer-reviewed, open educational resource that introduces students to primary texts. It is a creation of Paul Blaschko and I, and we hope to grow the library through an open submission process moving forward (more on that process here).

Richard Wollheim, his life and philosophical work (including the influence of psychoanalysis)

A short film, marking the centennary of his birth.  (Wollheim’s Freud book is excellent in my opinion.)

The unusual case of Barrington Jones: from elite philosophy to plumbing

A scholar of ancient philosophy, Jones taught at Princeton in the 1970s, then at Oxford, and then according to various sources (for example), quit philosophy to become a plumber.   This seems a bit like the famous story about Tolstoy, who when asked what work he was most proud of, displayed a pair of shoes he had made himself.  Is the Jones story true?  Does anyone know?

In Memoriam: Robert J. McKim (1952-2024)

A longtime member of the Departments of Philosophy and Religion at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he was emeritus, Professor McKim wrote widely in philosophy of religion, applied ethics, and also in the history of modern philosophy.  The Illinois memorial notice is here.  Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor McKim or for those who wish to comment on the significance of his work.

(Thanks to Jeff McMahan for the pointer.)

"Marx" will be published on September 5

MOVING TO FRONT FROM AUGUST 14

UPDATE:  The book is out in the U.S.; I received my copies today, and I know a professor at Northwestern who also got his copy.  Thanks again to all those wh pre-ordered, I hope you will have your book in hand very soon.

=====August 14 post follows======

But I'm told it may ship even sooner, so order now.  Two of the referees for Routledge kindly identified themselves and agreed to blurb the book.  Allen Buchanan (emeritus Duke; Laureate Professor, U Arizona), author of Marx and Justice:  The Radical Critique of Liberalism (1982), said:

"A tour de force. Not only the best available introduction to Marx’s thought and to post-Marx Marxist theories, but also of interest to specialists. The organization is excellent, and the writing is always clear and jargon-free. It covers all the main topics that a book on Marx should address. It is remarkably fair and balanced, sympathetic to Marx’s ideas, but also appropriately critical of them." 

David Leopold (Oxford), author of The Young Karl Marx (2007), said:

"A philosophical introduction to Marx which manages to be genuinely accessible without avoiding controversy or consigning its subject to history. Edwards and Leiter bring Marx into a productive conversation with current work in the social sciences in order to develop and defend distinctive accounts of his views on history, ideology, and capitalism. A very welcome addition to the literature." 

I want to share a further set of comments from another referee report (whose author we do not know), not only because it is laudatory, but because it gives a really good sense of the book:

Reality is paradoxical

An interview with Graham Priest.

More tenured faculty get the axe in Wisconsin, thanks to the awful former Governor Scott Walker

This time it's faculty at two branch campuses of the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee:

The board overseeing Wisconsin public universities voted to lay off 32 tenured University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee professors, marking the first large-scale application of a Republican policy put in place nearly a decade ago.

UW-Milwaukee closed its Washington County campus at the end of the 2023-24 school year, and its Waukesha campus will shutter after the spring 2025 semester. Faculty at the two campuses worked in an academic unit called the College of General Studies. The UW Board of Regents on Thursday eliminated the college, and with it, the professors' jobs.

"It's always the people who make the least who get cut first, right?" asked Tait Szabo, an associate professor of philosophy for the branch campuses, at a rally held before the vote. He said he had given 17 years to the UW System and ended his academic career earning about $56,000. Milwaukee isn't brimming with other philosophy faculty jobs for him to apply for, but his family has established roots in the area, leaving Szabo in limbo.

"That's just my story," he said. "Now multiply it by about 30, plus all the staff ... already laid off"....

2024 Lakatos Award in philosophy of science goes to Barcelona's Carl Hoefer

Announcement here.

Let me add a word about the announcement of awards and prizes.  There are a lot of them now in philosophy (which is great for those recognized), but it is not my policy or practice to announce all of them.  I do try to take note of those that seem particularly important and well-established:  the Lakatos Award is a case in point, since it has a distinguished track record.  I don't have, off the top of my head, a full list of such awards/prizes, but they include, e.g., NEH Fellowships, Guggenheim Fellowships, some article and book prizes (e.g., Journal of the History of Philosophy), and major academic honor society memberships.  Please feel free to send me prize/award announcements, even if you're unsure whether it's the kind the blog usually covers.  Thank you.

In Memoriam: George M. Wilson (1942-2024)

Professor Wilson, who was emeritus at the University of Southern California (and taught for many years before that at Johns Hopkins University and the University of California, Davis), was well-known for work in philosophy of action, philosophy of language, and philosophy of film.  Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Wilson or for those who wish to comment on the significance of his work.  Please feel free to post links to obituaries and memorial notices as well.

(Thanks to his brother, the philosopher Mark Wilson, for the information.)

In Memoriam: Robert Stern (1962-2024)

Professor Stern, well-known for his work on Kant and Hegel, died yesterday of the terminal illness he discussed in this interview we noted last fall.  Professor Stern spent his academic career at the University of Sheffield.   Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Stern or for those who wish to comment on the significance of his work.  Please feel free to post links to obituaries or memorial notices as well.

(Thanks to Matt Kramer for the pointer.)  

In Memoriam: Alvin I. Goldman (1938-2024)

MOVING TO FRONT FROM AUGUST 9--UPDATED

For a long time the most important and influential epistemologist in the Anglophone world, Professor Goldman was emeritus at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, but during his long career also taught at the Universities of Arizona, Illinois/Chicago, and Michigan/Ann Arbor.  He died on August 4.  He also made important contributions to the philosophy of mind and action.  Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Goldman, or for those who wish to comment on the significance of his work.

UPDATE:  The Rutgers memorial notice.

Philosopher's Annual, ten top papers from 2023

Philosopher Patrick Grim shared this year's selections announcement:

The Philosopher’s Annual volume 43

from the literature of 2023

Mark Alznauer, “Untrue Concepts in Hegel’s Logic,” from the Journal of the History of Philosophy

Bradford Cokelet, “Competitive Virtue Ethics and Narrow Morality,” from Philosophical Studies

Kevin Dorst, “Rational Polarization,” from the Philosophical Review

Melissa Fusco, “Absolution of a Causal Decision Theorist,” from Noûs

Tyler Knowlton, Paul Pietroski, Alexander Williams, Justin Haberda, and Jeffrey Lidz, “Psycholinguistic Evidence for Restricted Quantification,” from Natural Language Semantics

Berislav Marušić and Stephen J. White, “Disagreement and Alienation,” from Philosophical Perspectives

Joshua Mendelsohn, “Aristotle’s Argument for the Necessity of What We Understand,” from Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy

Jacob M. Nebel, “Ethics without Numbers,” from Philosophy and Phenomenological Research

Jeffrey Sanford Russell, “On Two Arguments for Fanaticism,” from Noûs

Vida Yao, “Eros and Anxiety,” from Synthese

"Methods of Philosophy"

Ten lectures (in China) by Timothy Williamson.

Philosophy podcasts

Courtesy of Jason Chen, a full list here, and new ones each week here.

Jeff McMahan talks about "The Ethics of Killing"...

...at The Dissenter.

Resources in philosophy of work and labor and related areas?

A young philosopher, teaching at a rural two-year college campus, writes:

I have taught retired police officers, future truck drivers, berry farmers, Wal-Mart employees — largely working-class folk. (They were, on the whole, wonderful students. It was a pleasure to be their teacher.) Perhaps unsurprisingly, discussion often turned to issues in, or about, the workplace. I was, and I remain, woefully unfamiliar with this area of philosophy. 

I am hoping you and your readers might have some suggestions for resources in: the philosophy of work and labor, the philosophy of bureaucracy, alienation, the philosophy of the corporation and its nature, Taylorism, Fordism, etc.

I am familiar with Marx's early political writings, especially his anthropology and its role in his arguments about alienation, and with Elizabeth Anderson's book, Private Government. I am mostly looking for resources I could use for teaching, such as readers, collections of essays, or stray essays. But suggestions for my own edification would be welcome, too.

Comments are open for reader suggestions.

In Memoriam: John Woods (1937-2024)

Professor Woods, who died on August 15, was an expert in logic (esp. informal logic) and metaphysics, taught philosophy and also held administrative posts at many universities in Canada, including the University of Toronto, the University of Victoria (where he was Head of Department), the University of Calgary (where he was Dean of Humanities), and the University of Lethbridge (where he was President).  After his retirement, he taught philosophy regularly at the University of British Columbia.   Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Woods, or for those who wish to comment on the significance of his work.

 (Thanks to Mohan Matthen and Dom Lopes for the information).

Thank you

I appreciate the generous response to the post the other day about the Marx book.  Yesterday, the book was in the top 15,000 on Amazon, and briefly in the top five "philosophy" books (which is dominated by classic works by Plato, Aristotle etc.). Thanks to those who bought a copy and to all those who shared the post on Twitter.

I hope readers will write with their reactions.  Many books in the Routledge Philosophers series are already in second editions, so reader feedback will be helpful if and when we get to the point of updating the volume.  (For those curious, I explained how we ended up writing the volume here.)

Talking about Nietzsche (and ethics and other topics) at "Philosophy Now"...

...with a very thoughtful Canadian high school student, Angela Tan.

"Free & Equal: A Journal of Ethics and Public Affairs"

UPDATED BELOW, COMMENTS NOW OPEN

The former editor of Philosophy & Public Affairs (which imploded in May) shared the following announcement:

On behalf of the former Editors of Philosophy and Public Affairs, I am pleased to announce the name of our newly founded journal, Free & Equal: A Journal of Ethics and Public Affairs, slated to launch for submissions in September 2024.

I am also excited to announce that I will serve as Free & Equal’s Editor-in-Chief. I look forward with enthusiasm to working once again with my distinguished Co-Editors, and to leading our diamond open-access journal. Hence the masthead of Free & Equal (listed below) is exactly same as the old masthead for Philosophy and Public Affairs prior to our resignation. Please note that no one on this masthead has any further involvement with Philosophy and Public Affairs, which is now entirely run by Wiley. 

The name Free & Equal symbolizes our new journal’s aspiration to be free and equally accessible to all.  Our ongoing mission remains the same: to publish work of the highest caliber that provides philosophical reflections on issues of public concern. I encourage everyone in the philosophy, law, and political theory communities to send us your best work, which we look forward to receiving.

Anna Stilz

Kernan Robson Professor of Political Science

University of California, Berkeley

Free & Equal Editorial Board (below the fold)

The 376 most cited philosophers in the Stanford Encyclopedia that were born since 1900

Courtesy of Professor Schwitzgebel.  The list says a lot about Anglophone philosophy (and SEP), perhaps a bit less about philosophy. 

(Yours truly is tied at #377 according to the Schwitzgebel method.  So close to greatness, but, alas, no cigar.   No cigar, either, for Alexander Nehamas, Jonathan Lear, John Gardner, Leslie Green, Seana Shiffrin, Imra Lakatos, Gilles Deleuze, Robert Pippin, Frederick Neuhouser, and Mark Wilson, among other surprising absences.)   

ADDENDUM:  A reader sends this Google N-Gram (based on searching all books in google) for the period 2000-2020, using philosophers from the top, middle, and bottom of the SEP list, plus some of the "no cigar" folks.  Of course, this would not distinguish between authored and edited works, and it would also pick up "impact" outside philosophy.

NBA star Jaylen Brown talks about Foucault (esp. Discipline & Punish)...

...and its relevance to his life as a professional athlete!

(Thanks to Cheyney Ryan for the pointer.)

What is it like to be a philosopher? Russ Shafer-Landau edition

Here.  This part of the interview made me laugh out loud:

Job market horror stories?

No horror stories, unless you count being yelled at for the stupidity of my ideas by one interviewer, having another fall into my lap, asleep, and having yet another progressively incline in his chair until he, too, fell asleep—and in his case, he was the only interviewer in the room. So no, definitely no horror stories.

A "philosophical eulogy" for Daniel Dennett...

...by David Chalmers:

 

Valparaiso University in Indiana axes philosophy program, major and minor,...

...and several other programs.  The lone tenured philosopher remaining, Aaron Preston, will lose his job at the end of 2024-25, so will be in the market for new positions.

Remembering Gareth Evans

i came across this interesting essay from a couple of years ago about Evans.  Philosopher Ian Phillips at Johns Hopkins is currently working on an intellectual biography of Evans.

UPDATE:   Professor Phillips writes:

That's a fun piece by Lincoln Allison, with some lovely anecdotes. For what it's worth, it contains quite a few errors. For instance: Evans died in 1980 not 1982, Evans was shot but not himself kidnapped in Mexico, and he married Antonia Phillips two months not two weeks before he died (on June 11; he died on August 10). I also don't think Gwynfor Evans was his uncle (though perhaps they were more distantly related). Lastly, though many obviously thought extremely highly of it, it's not true that reviewers of Varieties were unanimous that it was an important book. Notoriously, Putnam wrote a very unsympathetic review in the LRB (19 May 1983) leading to a fiery exchange with John McDowell (as well as letters from Francois Recanati and Julie Jack).

If you think it's worthwhile, feel free to post this. I'd of course be delighted to hear from any readers who knew Evans and haven't already been contacted by me.

In Memoriam: E. Jennifer Ashworth (1939-2024)

Professor Ashworth, a Distinguished Professor Emerita at the University of Waterloo, was a renowned expert on medieval logic and philosophy of language.  The Waterloo page has more about her work, and there is a brief memorial notice at the Medieval Logic Facebook group.   Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Ashworth or for those who wish to comment on the significance of her work.

(Thanks to Jack Zupko for the pointer.)

$2.5 million from Templeton for PPE at Buffalo

Press release here.

Six philosophers elected to the British Academy

They are:  Adrian Moore (Oxford), Lucy O'Brien (UCL), and Lea Ypi (LSE) as UK Fellows; and Anthony Appiah (NYU), Joseph Chan (Academia Sinica), and David Chalmers (NYU) as International Fellows.

Philosopher (and PGR co-editor) Christopher Pynes on the Monty Hall Puzzle...

...in Scientific American.

"Marx" (Routledge Philosophers) coming September 4

The production editor at Taylor & Francis has confiremd that it will be published on September 4, and one can order it via Routledge at a discount currently.  In addtion, via Rob Sica on Twitter, I learn that anyone with access to a library that subscribes to ebooks from Taylor & Francis (the Routledge parent company) can read the book now:

 

"Foucault as a Kind of Realist: Genealogical Critique and the Debunking of the Human Sciences"

This paper is now out in a special issue of Inquiry on "Genealogy and Political Philosophy" edited by Janosch Prinz (Maastricht) and Paul Raekstad (Amsterdam).  There are also contributions by Bernard Reginster, Daniele Lorinzini, and others.

In Memoriam: Chung-Ying Cheng (1935-2024)

Professor Cheng, who spent most of his career in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Hawaii, was well-known for his many contributions to the study of Confucian and Neo-Confucian philosophy.  Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Cheng or from those who wish to comment on the significance of his work.

(Thanks to Michael Forster for alerting me to his death.)

An interview with Neuhouser on Rousseau and amour-propre

Another interview by Johnathan Bi, as part of his series on great books and ideas we noted previously.  Mr. Bi has a nice way of connecting the philosophical ideas to meaningful events in his own life, in a way that I imagine will resonate with other young people.   The interview is worth watching, and is a good introduction to Rousseau.

Another ACU philosopher gets the axe

The ACU disaster isn't over, it appears.   Stephen Finlay's employment at ACU has reportedly been terminated effective June 14th, and he is now unexpectedly unemployed for the 2024-25 academic year. He has put out an announcement on Facebook saying that he is looking for emergency stop-gap employment, including temporary and part-time roles.  You can contact him via the email address here.

Proof, yet again, that tenure does not exist at the Australian Catholic University.

 

Glasgow's Alan Weir: from the brink of death to a festschrift nearly a decade later!

One of my oldest philosophy friends, Alex Miller (University of Otago), shared this remarkable story:

I was wondering if you would be able to note on your blog a Festschrift celebration of the work of my great friend Alan Weir that has just come out. Alan had to retire early from his post at Glasgow because of a near-fatal lung illness he contracted in 2013. The only "cure" for pulmonary fibrosis is a double lung transplant, and in the UK at least you can only get on the list for one of those if (a) you are about to die within weeks, but (b) are strong enough to survive the surgery (so a narrow window). When I saw Alan in the summer of 2016 he had only weeks to live, but luckily got the call saying there was a potential donor: and 8 years later he's still doing well (the average life expectancy after one of these transplants is 5 years). He's a much-admired and much-loved figure on the Scottish philosophy scene, and the fact that the Festschrift contains papers by the likes of Timothy. Williamson, Neil Tennant, Stewart Shapiro and Graham Priest attests to that. The Festschrift also starts with a long and very funny memoir by Alan that readers of your blog with an interest in the "sociology" of academic philosophy in the UK will find interesting. I know you don't normally plug Festschrifts on your blog, but in the light of Alan's remarkable story of recovery, I'm hoping you'll be able to do this. A brief pointer to the Festschrift's online page would be much appreciated by me and I'm sure by many of your readers (of whom Alan is a regular). It's at (which has a full list of contents):

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-54557-3

Hacking/cyber attacks at Cambridge University have now spread to Cambridge University Press (UPDATED)

Earlier news reports noted the earlier attacks on units of Cambridge University, but apparently it has spread to Cambridge University Press, bringing editorial and production activities to a halt.  I have not seen a news report about the latter, but CUP has told some authors about the problems, which have affected thousands of CUP computers and laptops.  Authors should expect delays.  Email me if you see any news reports or if CUP issues a statement.

ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE:  CUP has now posted a statement, although it's not highly informative.  (Thanks to Matt Kramer for the pointer.)

ANOTHER:  Volker Halbach (Oxford) writes:

The cyberattack is not the only problem with CUP. Graham Leigh and I decided to publish a jointly written book with CUP, because they did an excellent job with my monograph in 2011. Also this time their philosophy editor, Hilary Gaskin, proved to be highly competent, responsive, and helpful. Problems started when the project was handed over to the production team. We submitted a proofread and typeset pdf file, ready for printing, in March 2023. We are still waiting for publication. The cyberattack is the first time we have been given a reason for the delays.

STILL MORE:  Linguist Geoffrey Pullum (Edinburgh) writes:

The trouble at Cambridge University Press is much worse than reported by Volker Halbach, and not related to the cyberattack. The production of a linguistics book that I worked on in 2021-22 was a nightmare battle against incompetence (a completely incapable typesetting firm in the south of India mangled the submitted file, and CUP personnel did not know how to deal with the resultant mess); and now I find that CUP cannot even arrange for adequate book manufacture. My copy of [name omitted's] new book (free of any Indian typesetting botches because [the author] typeset it himself with LaTeX) was literally falling apart fresh out of the delivery envelope: multiple pages, starting with the title page and the preface, are simply not attached to the binding at all, and just drop out on the floor. CUP was once an operation to be admired, but it seems to me that in recent years it has been losing its expertise at producing academic books.

Philosopher and logician Warren Goldfarb makes TMZ celebrity gossip site...

...for the strangest reason.  He's certainly taking it in good humor:   "I'm delighted to see that logic, so often derided as a dry subject, has finally been recognized for its romantic potential!"

Scopus's list of top philosophy journals includes in the top ten...

...three fake journals--which matters since many international ranking metrics use the Scopus list.  Remarkable!  Scopus Pocus!  If only all rankings were as honest and transparent as the PGR!

(Thanks to Bennett Gilbert for flagging this catastrophe for me.)

Philosophy (and other humanities fields) under threat at UNC-Asheville

There is a letter-writing campaign in support of the program here.

UPDATE:  My friend and colleague Martha Nussbaum kindly gave permission to share the letter she sent to UNC-Asheville:  Download Nussbaum letter to UNC-Asheville (003)

Metablog redux

The last of the "metablogs”—Internet fora for anonymous discussion--ended in 2018, after its creator was exposed.  It's now come to my attention that rumors are circulating about current members of the profession as responsible for it. In fact, the creator of the metablog left the academy entirely.  I recently corresponded with this person, who reached out after hearing that others were being blamed for his creation.

In Memoriam: Robert Bolton (1940-2024)

A longtime member of the Department of Philosophy at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, where he was emeritus, Professor Bolton was a specialist in ancient philosophy, particularly known for his writings on issues about metaphysics and science.  Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Bolton or for those who wish to comment on the significance of his work.

In Memoriam: Nuel Belnap, Jr. (1930-2024)

Professor Belnap, a leading figure in logic and philosophical logic who spent most of his career at the University of Pittsburgh, where he was emeritus, died yesterday.  His former student and colleague, Anil Gupta, kindly shared the obituary, posted below the fold:

Anna Stilz resigns as EIC of Philosophy & Public Affairs

Following on this, Professor Stilz asked me to share the following:

I have resigned as Editor-in-Chief of Philosophy and Public Affairs and Wiley has now accepted my resignation.  I will continue to serve as Editor in a limited, transitional capacity, only to process papers that have been previously accepted by the journal, and reviews on revised papers that were submitted to the journal before May 22, 2024.  Authors whose papers were conditionally accepted by the journal prior to May 22 must resubmit by June 25 if they wish their paper to be published in Philosophy and Public Affairs under the current masthead.  We hope to issue final decisions on these papers by June 30.  Please direct inquiries regarding all other recently submitted manuscripts to Wiley’s manager for the journal, Hannah Reed, at [email protected]. 

A long interview about Nietzsche and free will

Johnathan Bi, a graduate of Columbia University who loves philosophy and 'great books,' has put together a very professionally done set of videos about "the Western Canon" (here's his introuction to the series).   Here's the first of two long interviews Mr. Bi did with me, this one on Nietzsche and free will.  I was impressed by the care with Mr. Bi had read my books, and enjoyed the conversation with him, and I hope others will too.  (Mr. Bi has also recorded a lecture on the Genealogy, which draws in part on my reading of Nietzsche.  I haven't watched all of this one, however.)  Among other interviews coming in this series will be conversations with Frederick Neuhosuer on Rousseau, Katharina Volk on Roman philosophy and politics in the age of Caesar and Cicero, and Stephen Greenblatt on Shakespeare, among others.

In Memoriam: Kathleen Okruhlik (1951-2024)

A longtime member of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Western Ontario (now known as "Western University"), Professr Okruhlik wrote widely in the history and philosophy of science and in feminist philosophy, including their intersections.  Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Okruhlik or for those who wish to comment on the significance of her work.

In Memoriam: Michael Stocker (1940-2024)

A longtime member of the Department of Philosophy at Syracuse University, where he was emeritus, Professor Stocker started his teaching career at the University of Chicago and Cornell University, and then taught for more than twenty years in Australia at several different universities, including (for the longest period) LaTrobe University.  He made important and influential contributions to ethics and moral psychology during his long career.  Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Stocker or for those who wish to comment on the significance of his work.

(Thanks to David Gordon and Eric Schliesser for calling this to my attention.)