Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog

Two philosophers among winners of 1.5 million Euro/5-year research grants from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research

They are:   Erik Rietveld and Floris Roelofsen, both at the University of Amsterdam.

Richard Marshall interviews Amy Kind (Claremont-McKenna)...

...at 3:16 AM.

Connie Rosati (Texas) interviews Stephen Darwall (Yale)...

...about his career and work.  (Darwall was one of Rosati's teachers at Michigan in the 1980s.)

In Memoriam: Ed Gettier (1927-2021)

Professor Gettier was responsible for what was no doubt the most famous paper in epistemology--and the most famous short paper in Anglophone philosophy--of the past sixty years, "Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?"  David Lewis, as I recall, once said that no one had ever "proved" anything in philosophy, except Gettier (readers can correct me in the comments, or supply the reference to where Lewis said this). 

Gettier was of a generation when philosophers could make careers in the academy based on high regard from their colleagues without many publications (think Rogers Albritton [Harvard, then UCLA] or Thompson Clarke [Berkeley]).   He taught at Wayne State during its own "golden era" as a center for analytic philosophy in the 1950s and 1960s, but spent most of his career at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (which he helped establish as a leading center for analytic philosophy), where he was emeritus.   Philosopher Hilary Kornblith tells me a memorial is forthcoming, which I'll add when it appears.

A curious, passing remark about Bernard Williams

Shirley Williams (the philosopher's first wife) was a major figure in British politics for many decades; her passing has led to many obituaries, including this one which included the following striking brief comment:

Her marriage to Bernard Williams was happy enough, but suffered from the inevitable difficulties of two ambitious people pursuing different careers. Life was never easygoing with her first husband, a restless, witty, attractive, sometimes cruel intellectual.

"Sometimes cruel intellectual"?  Does anyone have an idea what this is supposed to mean?

The bloodbath at Laurentian University in Ontario

It essentially eviscerates the university (including philosophy):

The pace of change at Laurentian University, which is in the midst of insolvency negotiations, is speeding up as termination notices for faculty and staff at the Sudbury, Ont., school started to roll out Monday morning.

A total of 100 Laurentian University professors were dismissed during meetings organized by the human resources department.

The latest news from Laurentian administration said 58 undergraduate programs will be closed (107 will remain open) and 11 graduate programs will be shut (33 to remain open).

Philosopher Byron Williston (Wilfrid Laurier) writes that Laurentian,

basically declared bankruptcy at the beginning of the year after the Conservative Provincial government refused to extend them a financial lifeline. They’ve been under protection from creditors ever since. Today’s actions are part of the ‘restructuring’ process. This is a big deal because nothing like it has, to my knowledge, ever happened  before to a public university in Canada, even under the most socially regressive and anti-intellectual Provincial governments [the Harris government in Ontario 1995-2002].

Comments are open for additional details and information. 

(Thanks to Joshua Mugg for the pointerto the CBC article.)

The recent, sensational allegations about Foucault's pedophilia

MOVING TO FRONT FROM YESTERDAY--UPDATED

Philosopher Hans Sluga (Berkeley) comments.

UPDATE:  More (in French) on "Le Bullshit de Guy Sorman."  (Thanks to Edouard Machery for the pointer.)

Another university kills philosophy and fires tenured faculty as well

Western Oregon University.  What a disgrace.

In Memoriam: J. Michael Dunn (1941-2021)

MOVING TO FRONT FROM APRIL 7--UPDATED

I was sorry to learn on Facebook that Mike Dunn has passed away.  He was emeritus at Indiana University, Bloomington, where he spent most of his career from 1969 onwards.  He was best-known internationally for his work in logic, in particular (and here I quote from something written on his FB page) "information based logics, particularly relevance logics and other so-called 'substructural' logics."   He even founded the School of Informatics at Indiana, in addition to chairing the philosophy department on two occasions.  (In the 1990s, he led an effort that brought Indiana to the cusp of the top ten programs in the U.S., recruiting, among others, Jon Barwise, Michael Friedman, and Anil Gupta to Bloomington.) 

I will add links to memorial notices as they appear.

UPDATE:    There is an obituary here, and the Indiana memorial notice is here.

Three philosophers win 2021 Guggenheim Fellowships

They are:  R. Lanier Anderson (Stanford), Jennifer Lackey (Northwestern), and Roselyn Weiss (Lehigh).

More on Macquarie's bad behavior

MOVING TO FRONT FROM YESTERDAY--IMPORTANT UPDATE

Philosopher Alexander Morgan (Rice) kindly shared this message he sent to administrators at Macquarie University, regarding the evisceration of cognitive science and the "voluntary" [sic] redundancy of Professor Sutton.  Professor Morgan wrote to the administrators as follows:

I was recently saddened to learn that the higher administration at Macquarie University is, in effect, breaking up the cognitive science department – partly in the name of removing 'silos' and increasing interdisciplinarity. This is absurd on its face, since the department has been one of the most vibrant and active hubs of interdisciplinary research in the mind & brain sciences in Australasia since its inception in the 1990s. There is really nothing else quite like it in the Southern Hemisphere. As an Antipodean who has ended up with a research career in empirically-informed philosophy of mind in North America, I have deeply cherished the opportunities I've had to return 'Down Under' to explore shared interests with other philosophers and cognitive scientists at various events at Macquarie over the years. I was especially saddened to learn that Professor John Sutton, a shining exemplar of what can be achieved though careful community-building and focussed research across disciplines, is being put in a position such that 'voluntary' redundancy is his only real option. This is shameful embarrassment to your institution. I have served as an external reviewer for Macquarie graduate theses in cognitive science in the past. I can no longer in good conscience do that, and I will no longer be participating in any professional activities associated with Macquarie going forward. I will be strongly encouraging my colleagues to do the same.

Shame on you.

Sincerely,
Alex Morgan.

UPDATE:  Professor Morgan writes with an important addendum:

After my initial wave of anger and frustration about the dismantling of the Macquarie cognitive science department passed, I realized that my email, which was intended for the administration at Macquarie, should be clarified for a wider audience. The situation is specific to the cognitive science department at Macquarie, and has little to do with the philosophy department, an entirely separate entity. By all accounts, philosophy at Macquarie is thriving. I'd still encourage colleagues to avoid cognitive science for now, in the hope of effecting change there (some of the changes remain at 'proposal' stage), but please don't let this bleed over to negatively impact the philosophy department.

Update on Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

Jc Beall (Notre Dame), the current editor, has shared the following statement with the Board, and kindly gave permission to share this more widely:

Prof. Gary Gutting and Dr. Stacie Gutting created NDPR around 20 years ago. They ran the entire journal as a true labor of love, with advice and help from the NDPR Board, and with help from a part-time editorial assistant.  Very much like the SEP, which was created and run by Dr. Ed Zalta, NDPR soon became a prominent part of the philosophical profession — a venue to which all  philosophers turn, and one to which many outside of philosophy turn for updates on philosophical work and debate. After Gary Gutting died, Stacie Gutting continued to run the journal with help from a part-time editorial assistant. Eventually, Stacie stepped down, and — after just landing at Notre Dame — I agreed to take on the editorship. I spent the first 6 months learning and, in significant part, making explicit the NDPR system, and then turned towards running the process — only to be hit by the heights of the pandemic, which brought incoming reviews to a standstill, and incoming books from publishers to a trickle, not to mention the havoc the pandemic played in other respects.

Richard Marshall interviews Alexander Klein (McMaster)...

...at 3:16 AM.

In Memoriam: Kai Nielsen (1926-2021)

Professor Nielsen wrote widely in social and political philosophy, ethics, philosophy of religion, and metaphilosophy over the course of his long career, which included teaching positions at Amherst College and New York University in the United  States and, then, for many years at the University of Calgary in Canada, where he was emeritus.  You can learn more about his work here.  I will add links to memorial notices as they appear.

(Thanks to Nick Sagos for the information.)

Why philosophy needs mathematics and vice versa

Mark Wilson (Pittsburgh) discusses at Scientific Sense.

2021 Lebowitz Prize awarded to Ned Block (NYU) and Ian Phillips (Johns Hopkins)

The APA announcement is here; from the announcement: 

Professors Block and Phillips’s topic for the 2021 Lebowitz Prize is “Perception, Consciousness and the Self.” The winners will present their work in February 2022 at the APA Central Division meeting in Chicago, IL.

"Rawls on Justice"

David Runciman (Cambridge) discusses at the Talking Politics podcast.

"Africana Marxism"

Philosopher Vanessa Wills (George Washington) discusses at the "History of Philosophy" podcast.

Graduate school applications way up this year, including in philosophy

IHE has a story, which includes some examples of philosophy departments with big increases.  It's also been a very tough year for law school applicants, probably the most competitive in more than a decade.

Bernard Williams on utilitarianism

A video of a 1986 lecture by Williams, prepared for the Open University.

(Thanks to Richard Marshall for the pointer.)

Sign of the times in academic philosophy

A senior philosopher elsewhere writes:  "It says something about the state of the academic world that I was taken in hook, line and sinker by your April Fool's gag and only realised when I clicked the link!"

R.M. Hare & Anthony Kenny discuss moral philosophy in 1973

Here.

(Thanks to Richard Marshall for the pointer.)

In Memoriam: Margaret Morrison (1954-2021)

MOVING TO FRONT FROM JANUARY 11--UPDATED

A leading philosopher of science, Professor Morrison was emerita in philosophy at the University of Toronto, where she had taught since 1989.   You can learn more about her work here.  I will add links to memorial notices as they appear.

(Thanks to Professor Stephan Hartmann [LMU Munich] for notifying me of her passing, and for the link, above.)

UPDATE:   A memorial notice from Toronto.

ANOTHER UPDATE:  An informative memorial notice about her life and work.

Christ is contradictory...

...but non-classical logic (with help from philosopher Jc Beall [Notre Dame]) comes to the rescue!

Finacial issues in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education

I asked philosopher Steven Hales (Bloomsburg) if he could share some of what he and colleagues in the Pa. State System are confronting.  His account is bracing, and no doubt not unfamiliar elsewhere:

Pennsylvania has a very strange public higher ed system. On the one hand are the state-related universities like Penn State, University of Pittsburgh, and Temple. They get about 5% of their funding from the state. Then there are the 14 state-owned universities that comprise the PA State System of Higher Education (PASSHE). My university, Bloomsburg, is one of these. We get about 25% of our budget from the state. According to the system chancellor, out of 50 states, PA is 47^th when it comes to funding public higher ed. The PASSHE schools are struggling due to a perfect storm of factors: years of underfunding, massive cuts after the 2009 fiscal crisis, declining numbers of high school graduates, and COVID. As a result, the majority of the 14 universities are insolvent, with cratering enrollments and debt they cannot escape.

The Chancellor has instructed that three universities in the western part of the State—California, Edinboro, and Clarion—merge. Also three in the mideastern part of the state are to combine. Bloomsburg is to merge with Lock Haven (70 miles away) and Mansfield (90 miles away). Bloomsburg is far and away the strongest and most solvent of the three, but this is like telling a struggling swimmer to save two drowning swimmers. We are advised that they are going to fire 2/3rds of the administrators, retrench some of the faculty, make us teach hybrid classes, and somehow everything is going to be OK. So my Dean or Provost could wind up being 90 miles away, and I never meet them except on Zoom. Oh, and all academic departments will be scattered objects. I will be the Chair of a philosophy department (assuming we survive) with members at three different constituent colleges.

The Chancellor has said that if this does not work, next year he will propose dissolving the state system altogether. Now, all of the PASSHE schools have proud histories going back to the 19^th century. We only became a unified system in 1982. If we dissolve the system and all the universities remain public but independent, it will stop the financial drain from the stronger to the weaker schools. The result will be a Darwinian one: the strong survive and the weak perish. I have no idea whether this is ultimately for the best or not, but I certainly feel for all those perfectly decent scholars and staff who will lose their jobs.

Of course there was no systematic study done of possible alternative plans to these mergers, and no real economic analysis. We will marry in haste and repent at leisure. And it is a shotgun wedding: everyone is somewhere on the scale of worried to panicked. The state legislature is packed with businesspeople who think the sole purpose of a university is to feed young citizens into the maw of capitalism, so I am in the position of once again having to defend the existence of philosophy. It is grindingly depressing.

Readers aware of similar issues elsewhere should add details or links in the comments.

"Rawls at 100"

Political philosopher Josh Cohen (Apple U & Berkeley) talks with economist Glenn Loury about Rawls on the centennary of his birth.

Richard Marshall interviews Zach Weber (Otago)...

...at 3:16 AM.

AI that can argue with humans?

Meet "Project Debater."

(Thanks to Jerry Dworkin for the pointer.  Jerry sent this to me with a subject line reading "machines that can argue with humans."  I replied:  "Aren't those called 'analytic philosophers'?"  Jerry retorted:  "No. Those are called machine guns. They fire rapidly mostly missing their target and often injuring innocent bystanders.")

In Memoriam: Andrew Levine (1944-2021)

Political philosopher turned social critic, Professor Levine taught for many years at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and wrote widely on political philosophy, Marxism, and radical social critique.  He also achieved brief popular fame (including an appearance on Johnny Carson) with his ability to speak backwards!  The Wisconsin memorial notice is here.   If anyone has a link to the Carson appearance, you may add a link in the comments.

In Memoriam: Stephen J. White (1983-2021)

I was very sorry to learn on Facebook of the untimely death of Professor White, a moral philosopher recently tenured at Northwestern University.   (He died of complications following heart surgery.)   Philosopher Jennifer Lackey at Northwestern is raising money to establish a scholarship or prize in his honor. 

I will add links to other memorial notices as they appear.

Editorial fiasco at Pacific Philosophical Quarterly (which hopefully won't happen again)

MOVING TO FRONT FROM MARCH 19--UPDATED

A philosopher in the UK asked me to share an anonymized version of their unhappy experience:

I originally submitted this paper on 27 January 2020, and on 29 January I was told that the internal review process would take around 10 weeks. That period having passed without me hearing anything - and with the REF deadline of 31 December 2020 looming - I sent emails to the journal’s managing editor on 6 May and again on 5 June, without response. I then emailed the publisher on 3 September and again on 28 September. Finally, on 10 October, I was contacted by the managing editor who told me that she was waiting for the second reviewer’s report. Nearly 5 months later I discover in fact the paper had not been sent out for review at all. In sum, 13 months’ wait for a desk rejection with no feedback.

I know it’s common for long delays in the review process, but to my mind this really takes the biscuit.

PPQ was appropriately apologetic about this:

Due to a recently discovered mistake in our records from the past year, the email you received concerning your submission having passed initial review was sent in error and your submission had not been previously submitted for an initial review. We regret to inform you that after having sent your submission through an initial review our editors have decided not to publish your manuscript. The journal policy is to provide comments only on articles that receive external review, and due to the fact that this records error affected several submissions we are unfortunately unable to make an exception in this case despite the long delay in our decision. 

We know this situation is unacceptable and we sincerely apologize for the unfair burden our error has imposed on you. We are making significant changes in the operations of the journal to ensure this does not happen in the future. 

UPDATE:  I've heard from others who had similar experiences.  One young philosopher in the U.S. writes:

I had the same unhappy experience at PPQ...I have to say, I don't find the "records error" excuse convincing.  That doesn't explain (1) why I never got a confirmation that they'd received my MS; (2) why my follow-up to the journal's e-mail was not replied to; (3) why the multiple e-mails I sent to the managing editor wer replied to; (4) why an e-mail to Janet Levin [a faculty editor of the journal] was not replied to; (5) why it took seven months to complete the intra-department review.  I have my suspicions about what happened, but I think they're best left unsaid.  I will note that they have a new managing editor (another USC grad student).

For me, this was merely irritating.  But I do feel bad for those, like your correspondent, who are under pressure to publish.

2021 Sanders Prize in Philosophy of Religion

Philosopher Dean Zimmerman (Rutgers), co-editor of Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion, kindly shared the following announcement:

The winners of the 2021 Sanders Prize in Philosophy of Religion are Charity Anderson (Baylor University) and Jeffrey Sanford Russell (University of Southern California). Their prize-winning essay, “Divine Hiddenness and Other Evidence,” will be published in Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion.

More information about the competition and the authors may be found here:  https://marcsandersfoundation.org/philosophy-of-religion/

On the revival of interest in Cassirer...

...in the New York Review of Books.   Samantha Matherne's book (see also the ad to the right) is going to play a key role in shaping the new philosophical reception of Cassirer in the years ahead.

Bullshitters more likely to fall for bullshit

Philosopher Christian Miller (Wake Forest) comments on some recent research.

Daniel Dennett talks about his life and work...

...at IAITV.

Southwest Baptist University in Missouri eliminates its philosophy program...

MOVING TO FRONT FROM OCTOBER 9, 2020--UPDATED

...and the job of its one tenured philosophy professor, who appears to be the real target.  Not a good look for SBU at all.

(Thanks to Rev. Beau Underwood for the pointer.)

UPDATE:  The AAUP enters the fray.

Richard Marshall interviews James O. Young (Victoria)...

...at 3:16 AM.

Live interview with John Martin Fischer (UC Riverside) this Wednesday

Philosopher Taylor Cyr (Samford) kindly shared this information:

This Wednesday, March 17, beginning at 7:30pm Eastern Time, John Martin Fischer is going to be interviewed about his recent work on God and free will. The interview will be live-streamed on YouTube, and there will be an opportunity to ask questions via the live chat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOFtj2nDoYs&feature=youtu.be

What is it like to be a philosopher? John Doris edition

Here.

Some further thoughts on Twitter

The first round of observations was so popular (especially on Twitter!), I thought I'd add a few more based on things I've learned and observed the last couple of months.

1.  I came across this interesting chart via Justin Weinberg's blog, which shows that the vast majority of U.S. adults do not use Twitter at all (thank God!), and that usage varies, unsurprisingly, by generation.  38% of those 18-29 use Twitter (the highest percentage), while only 7% of those over 65 use it.  I'm in the distinct minority in my age range (only 17% of those 50-64 use it), and I mostly use it to provide links to the blog for the benefit the readers who now follow the blog by Twitter. 

2.  This data is consistent with an e-mail shared on Twitter awhile back by the journalist Jesse Singal: 

"[T]he vast majority of both psychologically healthy and accomplished philosophers stay off twitter like their life depends on it. The vast majority of people I know in academic philosophy either ignore, mock, or disdain philosophy twitter." - professional philosopher in email

Although many Twitterati reacted with rage and denial to Mr. Singal's tweet, the claim about "the vast majority" is consistent with the data about usage by age alone.  (Are the non-users psychologically healthier and more accomplished?  Probably, but the preceding data are neutral on that.)   I strongly suspect that relatively few non-Twitter users "mock or disdain philosophy twitter" (although that would be a warranted response were they to look), and that most simply ignore it. 

Richard Marshall interviews Theodore Gracyk (Minnesota State)...

...at 3:16 AM.

Yesterday's discussion of Marx...

...noted earlier is now online.  Thanks to Dr. Donna Lyons (Law, Trinity College Dublin) and Prof. Brian O'Connor (Philosophy, University College Dublin) for their questions, as well as members of the audience.

 

Twitter as symptom of the end of writing (and thinking)

This little essay by philosopher Charlie Huenemann (Utah State University) is quite important, and everyone should read it and share it (longtime readers will know I don't say that very often!).  Some excerpts and some comments:

The internet broadens the public square, and allows many more people to participate in the exchange of ideas (or, failing that, memes). This is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, more participation means a more vibrant and eclectic breeding ground for culture: more diversity, more creativity, more involvement, and more communication, which are all good things. On the other hand, the “moremoremore” tends to drive shorter attention spans and shallower content.

It is simply false, as the whole Internet demonstrates, that "more participation means a more vibrant and eclectic breeding ground for culture":  all culture worth the time depends on exclusion, judgment, and screening.  Most people have nothing to say that is worth hearing (vide Twitter again!), which is why the Internet is an unmitigated disaster for culture, even if prior intermediaries were often deficient along many dimensions.  Despite that normative disagreement, I agree fully with Professor Huenemann's next observation:

A new webpage about the logician Richard Montague

Here.  He was murdered a half-century ago in Los Angeles.  Interestingly, he lived openly as a gay man and in an interracial relationship.

In Memoriam: Jude P. Dougherty (1930-2021)

The longtime editor of the Review of Metaphysics, Professor Dougherty spent most of his academic career at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he also took his Ph.D.  I will add links to memorial notices as they appear.

(Thanks to David Gordon for alerting me to Professor Dougherty's passing.)

"Hostage Chess"

MOVING TO FRONT FROM FRIDAY EVENING--FOR THOSE WHO MAY HAVE MISSED IT

Philosopher John Leslie (emeritus, Guelph) writes about a chess variant that he designed:

It tries to capture the spirit of Shogi, the great Japanese chess game in which men change sides when captured. Instead I make captives into “hostages” which are exchanged.   The variant is therefore called “Hostage Chess”. Larry Kaufman, a western-chess Grandmaster, and for decades the strongest western player of Shogi, judges it “the most interesting, exciting variant that can be played with a standard chess set”.

Enjoy your "Hostage Chess"!

Ludlow on Chomsky and philosophy of linguistics...

...at Dare to Know.

AI Ethics: Distinguishing the real issues from the sci-fi fantasies

Philosopher Tim Crane (CEU) comments.

Martha Nussbaum (Chicago) wins 2021 Holberg Prize

The Holberg announcement is here.  Past philosophy winners include Onora O'Neil, Jurgen Habermas, Ronald Dworkin, and Ian Hacking.

Social liberals need not be moral relativists

Philosopher Thomas Hurka (Toronto) comments.