Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog

2015 year in review: second quarter, April, May, June

MA programs, with or without a thesis? (April)

"fatuous sub-Marxist horseshit" (April) 

The rise of adjuncts a "toxic force" in higher education (April)

The effect of social media use on job candidates (April)

The surprising positives & negatives of becoming a professional philosopher (April)

"Absolute Traffic" and other memorable abstracts (May)

University of Colorado behaves disgracefully in the Barnett case (May) 

Most cited living philosophers with public google scholar pages (May)

The Kipnis case at Northwestern (May) (and see this from June)

The Republican war on public higher education, Wisconsin edition (June)

New Infantilism watch: changing campus climate? A discussion (June)

 

2015 in review, first quarter: January, February, March

Top philosophy journals explained (January)

University of Chicago statement on freedom of expression (January)

Mitchell Aboulafia, caveat emptor (January)

The Most Important Anglophone Philosophers, 1945-2000, poll results and discussion (January)

Marquette's attack on lawful speech and academic freedom (February)

Pedigree matters (February)

Who is reading this blog? (And also.) (February)

Editorial practices at Philosophy & Public Affairs (March)

The first five laws of cyber-dynamics (March)

Brogaard on group polarization and the Internet (March)

The most important issues facing the profession (March)

Philosopher Andrew Pessin (Connecticut College) smears Palestinians (March) 

The left and "appropriate concern" (March)

Is philosophy in the doldrums?  Poll results and discussion (March)

2014: Philosophers who passed away

The passing of the following philosophers was noted on the blog during 2014:  David Armstrong, Scott W. Austin, John Bennett Bacon, Judith Baker, Anthony Brueckner, Ted Cohen, Joyce Mitchell Cook, Joseph Flay, Laurence Goldstein, A. Phillips Griffiths, James Higginbotham, Dudley Knowles, Brian Loar, E.J. Lowe, Bernd Magnus, Dennis McKerlie, Grigori Mints, David Fate Norton, Gerhard Øverland, Stanley Rosen, Israel Scheffler, Fred Sommers, Patrick Suppes.  Click on "Philosophy Updates" and scroll down for more information on these philosophers, including links to memorial notices.

You can see last year's list here.

2014 in review (December): PGR, REF, Marquette, infantilism, and the September Statement "bombshell"

Can we really review a month that isn't even over?  Well, it's a blog, so of course we can!  The PGR appeared and so did the REF.  A right-wing Marquette professor of poli-sci behaved badly, but so did the philosophers and others who responded, giving us some striking evidence of the New Infantilism in academic philosophy.  Finally, the purportedly factual basis of the "September Statement" imploded when challenged.

2014 in review (November): indemnification, more Colorado, reactions to September

An idea from Jennifer Lackey gains traction, Colorado's Barnett fights back, and philosophers weigh in on the September smear campaign, including John Deigh and a philosopher in the UK.

2014 in review (October): PGR goes forward, "Generation Wuss," Salaita comes to Chicago

The PGR, briefly derailed, returns to life with the help of Brit Brogaard and the Advisory Board.  In the wake of the smear campaign, a reader alerts me to the amusing "Generation Wuss" phenomenon.  And still more Salaita.

2014 in review (September): more Salaita, the "cosmopolitan ideal," the "September Smear" campaign, Scotland

I continued coverage of the Salaita travesty at Illinois, including here and here; this piece about ignorance of philosophy and the cosmopolitan ideal provoked a lot of discussion (falling into by now predictable patterns); with less than a week to go before the start of the PGR surveys, the smear campaign launched on September 23 with Sally Haslanger and longtime PGR hater David Velleman posting, without context and without warning, private e-mails sent many months earlier to Carrie Jenkins and Noelle McAfee, stripped of all context in order to maximize the damage.  This was followed on September 24 by the boycott statement on behalf of Jenkins (but not McAfee!), signed by Haslanger and other friends/colleagues of Jenkins.  Meanwhile, and far more importantly, philosophers advised Scotland what to do, successfully apparently!

2014 in review (August): the Salaita scandal at Illinois, McGinn and East Carolina, JAPA

I blogged a lot about Illinois's disgraceful treatment of Steven Salaita this month, including here, here, and here, and even appeared on TV to discuss it.  The decision by the Administration at East Carolina University to block a visiting appointment for Colin McGinn generated a lively debate about punishment, justice and proportionality (see also).  Feminist philosophy was better liked by readers than  X-Phil and almost as disliked as metaphysics!  Sally Haslanger sent me some annoyed e-mails about this poll.  Later, I disagreed with her about what would make JAPA a success.  Little did I know, Haslanger would soon exact her vengeance.

2014 in review (July): reader polls, honoraria, job placement

A summary of polls seeking reader opinion about different areas of philosophy, a discussion of honoraria, and different ways of looking at job placement.

2014 in review (June): legal discussions, Searle, hiring

I discussed the Supreme Court's controversial Hobby Lobby decision and legal issues surrounding Peter Ludlow's lawsuits; John Searle provoked (as always); and the tenure-track and post-doc hiring thread came to a close.

2014 in review (May): "Break the silence," and philosophers demand footnotes, not endnotes

A fundraising campaign for a victim, and a poll and discussion about footnotes.

2014 in review (April): philosophers with a "pernicious influence," and more sexual misconduct allegations,

A poll, and another sordid story,

2014 in review (March/April): the harassment of RIT philosopher Larry Torcello

We ran several posts, including here, here, and here (the last being the happy ending, as it were).

2014 in review (March): the first indications that the cyber-culture of "professional" philosophy was becoming toxic

First this, then this.  "Due process" was now a "dirty word" in certain circles, a tragic and short-sighted turn of events.  (By early April, this had become amusing, with the first appearance of the New Infantilism.)

2014 in review (February): Criticisms of the Site Committee Report on Colorado

We hosted, to the unhappiness of some, a discussion of the controversial Report.  Shortly after the discussion began, I received several e-mails from Sally Haslanger who reported that she and others were unable to identify one of the participants, "Jane Brownstein," despite sleuthing to identify "her".  In fact, it turned out that name was a pseudonym, though the eagerness of some (which astonished me) to find out who would say such heterodox things makes the use of a pseudonym more understandable in retrospect.

2014 in review (January): Colorado department put into a kind of "receivership"

January 31, 2014.

End of the year blogging

Sorry for the relative paucity of new postings, between Xmas and other holiday activites, plus the fact that classes resume January 5, and several paper deadlines, I've been mostly off-line, as I know many others are at this time of year.  I may have some new items over the next week, but I have mostly scheduled some "year in review" posts covering highlights of topics covered on the blog in 2014.