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Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog
Sun Apr 24 04:32:11 EDT 2011
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With friends like this who needs enemies? "Synthese boycotts stop" enters the fray! - A number of philosophers, some of whom forwarded it to me, received the following e-mail from "Synthese boycotts stop" (not kidding, that was the name): Dear colleagues and friends, Brian Leiter has publicly requested that the philosophic journal Synthese be...

Branch and Fetzer Reply to the EICs of Synthese - The Guest Editors of the Synthese issue on "Evolution and Its Rivals" have asked me to post the following open letter in reply to the 'non-response' of the Synthese Editors-in-Chief: RE: "Evolution and Its Rivals", SYNTHESE 178:2 (January 2011) Dear...

A poll about the Synthese Affair - Please take a moment to review the record of what has transpired, especially here, here, and here. Given the evidence now available, please take this poll [POLL CLOSED] to record your opinion of the conduct of the Editors-in-Chief of Synthese....

Todd Gitlin on the Synthese Scandal in CHE - Here. It is, perhaps, instructive to see how these matters look to scholars in other fields. A brief excerpt: The guest editors say they’re “shocked and chagrined” at the editors-in-chiefs’ “insults.” Reasonably so. Having read the article in question [Barbara...

"Humanities at Risk in Britain" - A THES/IHE report.

Schwitzgebel from UC Riverside to ANU - Eric Schwitzgebel (philosophy of mind and cognitive science, experimental philosophy, Chinese philosophy), Professor of Philosophy at the University of California at Riverside, has accepted a senior offer from the Department of Philosophy at the Australian National University.

The Non-Response of the Synthese Editors - COMMENTS NOW OPEN, SINCE I HAVE TIME TO MODERATE Philosopher of science Eric Schliesser (Ghent) also offered to post a response by the Synthese editors to the earlier item here, and they have now sent him one (on which he...

A Hopeful Sign: Even Paul Ryan's Constituents Don't Buy His Nonsense - Story here.

PGR Faculty Lists for Fall 2011 Surveys: *2nd* Draft - I believe I've incorporated all corrections to the first draft of the faculty lists for the fall 2011 surveys. To that end, here is the second draft: Download PGR Faculty Lists 2011-12. If I failed to incorporate a previously posted...

SSHRC Funds Major International Project on Philosophy of Perception - Details here.

Two Philosophy PhD Students Win NSF Fellowship Support - They are: Shay A. Logan (Minnesota) and Emily Carter Parke (Penn).

Three Philosophy PhD Students Win Newcombe Fellowships in 2011 Competition - They are: Marcus Hedahl (Georgetown), Caroline Lundquist (Oregon), and Stephen White (UCLA).

In Memoriam: Gareth Matthews (1929-2011) - A specialist in the history of philosophy (especially ancient, medieval, and early modern), Professor Matthews, a longtime faculty member at the University of Massachussetts at Amherst, was also a major innovator in introducing philosophy to children. There is more information...

New Philosophy Fellows of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences Announced - Here. Elected in the philosophy section: Daniel Garber (Princeton), James Higginbotham (Southern California), Frances Myrna Kamm (Harvard), and Beatrice Longuenesse (NYU). I'm pleased to see that someone at the AAAS is paying attention! Congratulations to all! ADDENDUM: Confirming once again...

Synthese Boycott Update - Many readers have expressed concern about the events described in Monday's post, but are withholding final judgment until the editors respond to the allegations. I have invited them to do so--indeed, invited them to do so last week, before my...

Dartmouth's Roskies wins 2011 Stanton Prize from Society for Philosophy and Psychology - Adina Roskies, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Dartmouth College (who holds PhDs in both Philosophy and in Neurosciences & Cognitive Sciences), is this year's winner of the Stanton Prize from the Society for Philosophy and Psychology. The prize "was established...

Facebook for Scientists - Maybe philosophers need one too? Of course, there are already on-line resources for philosophers, like PhilPapers, that perform some of these functions. (Thanks to Christopher Paone for the pointer.)

Humanities (including Philosophy) Under Threat at London Metropolitan University - More information here. (Thanks to George Allen for the pointer.)

PGR Faculty Lists: "Cognate Faculty and Philosophers in Other Units" - Many thanks for all the excellent feedback so far on the first iteration of the draft faculty lists for the next PGR survey--I should have a second draft by Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. I want to address a...

Synthese Editors Cave in to Pressure from the Intelligent Design Lobby: Philosophers Should Boycott Synthese - It's more than a bit depressing to report that Synthese, a journal that has published classic papers by Carnap and Quine, among many others, and has been a major scholarly forum for philosophy informed by the sciences, should now have...

How to live with a philosopher - Everything you need to know. (Thanks to Michael Deem for the pointer.)

Atlas Flopped - So it appears to be as bad as the book. (Thanks to John Casey for the pointer.)

Ayn Rand's Early Inspiration: A Child Killer - This certainly belongs in the "you can't make this stuff up" category. As J. Brendan Ritchie, who flagged it for me, wrote: "Apparently Ayn Rand was heavily inspired by (and admired) a psychopath. Incidently, objectivism now makes a lot more...

PGR Draft Faculty Lists for fall 2011 Surveys - I'm now beginning the process of gearing up for a new set of PGR surveys in fall 2011. To that end, the draft faculty lists are here: Download PGR Faculty Lists 2011-12. The benchmark for the faculty list is fall...

By what time on April 15 must students decide about admissions offers? - We all know the APA rule is that students can not be asked to decide until April 15 on admissions and financial aid offers. But does that mean they can't be asked to decide before 5 pm? Is there an...

Open Letter in Support of Wisconsin Faculty, Staff, and Students - Please consider signing. It's a good letter.

"Early modern experimental philosophy" - Not as anachronistic as it sounds!

U.S. PhD Programs with the Most Tenure-Track Faculty at Top 20 US Departments - This is based on our earlier listing; the ten U.S. PhD programs with the most graduates in (untenured) tenure-track positions (as of 2010-11) in top 20 U.S. departments are: 1. New York University (13) 2. Rutgers University, New Brunswick (8)...

Every philosopher's favorite malevolent bean-brain is in the news again - Ayn Rand, of course.

Paul Ryan's Plan to Abolish Medicaire and Enrich the Rich - Here's a quick-and-handy summary.

How to Weigh Overall and Specialty Rankings in the PGR in Choosing a Program - A prospective PhD student writes: As April 15th approaches, I think it would be very helpful for many of us making final decisions on offers to have a thread on your blog that discusses whether it is a wise decision...

If you want to succeed in business... - ...study philosophy. (Thanks to David de Bruijn for the pointer.)

Grayling on CNN with his new secular "bible" - Story here. I haven't yet seen this book, though the description does call to mind Nietzsche's quip that, "It is the church, and not its poison, that repels us.--Apart from the church, we, too, love the poison" (GM I:9).

Lapointe from Kansas State to McMaster - Sandra Lapointe (history of analytic philosophy), Associate Professor of Philosophy at Kansas State University, has accepted a senior offer from the Department of Philosophy at McMaster University in Canada, where she will join, among others, Nick Griffin, a leading expert...

AHRC and the "Big Society" Nonsense, Once Again - Thom Brooks (Newcastle), who organized the earlier petition, writes with two requests connected to the effort to get the AHRC to drop the political sloganeering: FIRST, I ask that you contact all learned societies and associations you are working with...

Latest AAUP Report on Average Faculty Salaries - IHE has an overview; unsurprisingly, the news is not good, and the private-public gap continues to grow. Note the strong average salaries among public universities offered by Rutgers, which has a unionized faculty. Among the private universities, the high average...

Update on the Situation for Philosophy at the University of Nevada Campuses - MOVING TO FRONT FROM YESTERDAY, TO MAKE SURE READERS ARE UP TO DATE ON THIS SITUATION Philosopher Paul Schollmeier (UNLV) writes: I join my colleagues in thanking Brian Leiter and his readers for their postings on this blog and for...

A favor - Dear Readers with Blogs, Please be so kind as to link my name to www.brianleiter.net, so: Brian Leiter. This is my new homepage, which I'd like to raise in the various search engines, and your link will help. Thanks.

Graduates by School at the Top 20 U.S. Departments, 2010-11 - MOVING TO FRONT FROM APRIL 7: I believe all the typos and errors of omission have been fixed. Thanks to many readers for all the help. I've listed below graduates of leading American PhD programs who are now teaching at...

Why support Obama in 2012? - Robert Paul Wolff, stalwart Marxist and anarchist, sums it up.

Paul Ryan's Budget: "Ludicrous and Cruel" - That seems awfully gentle.

Guggenheim Fellowship Winners for 2011 - Three philosophers are winners, two with philosophy-related projects: Brian P. Copenhaver (History & Philosophy, UCLA) for 'Explaining by picturing in Early Modern Europe' and Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski (Oklahoma) for ‘Epistemic authority: an investigation of trust, authority, and autonomy in belief.'...

"How can you have a university without a philosophy department?" - Good question! The answer: you can't. (Thanks to Andrew Cling for the pointer.)

Pitt's McDowell Only Philosopher to Receive a Mellon Distinguished Achievement Award in the Humanities for 2010 - John McDowell at the University of Pittsburgh--whose work ranges widely across philosophy of language and mind, ethics, epistemology, and the history of ancient philosophy--is one of just three winners for 2010.

Tenure-Track and Postdoc Hiring by Philosophy Departments, 2010-11 - MOVING TO FRONT (for the last time this season) FROM MARCH 30 (originally posted February 18) It's that time of year again...I am opening comments on this thread for people to post news about junior, tenure-track hires in philosophy departments,...

The biggest philosophy of law conference ever? - Quite possibly, at least hosted by a single institution. Should be a very good opportunity for students interested in legal philosophy.

That Muslim propensity towards violence... - ...or maybe not.

An important court decision on the free speech rights of public university professors - IHE has a good report. Note, however, that the 4th Circuit's opinion is not at present the clear majority view nationwide.

Another Excoriation of the "Flimflam" Man's Plan to Abolish Medicare - Here.

Philosophically tone-deaf economists - Eric Schliesser beats them up!