News
CategoryNew “Thought Trust” to Continue Mission of Northern Institute of Philosophy
The mission of the Northern Institute of Philosophy, which was created in 2009 at the University of Aberdeen by Crispin Wright (NYU, Stirling) and which ceased operations there in January of 2015, will be continued by a new entity, the Thought Trust. (more…)
APA Election Results
The American Philosophical Association (APA) has announced the results of its recent election of divisional officers, an at-large member of the APA Board of Officers, and four members of the Graduate Student Council. (more…)
CEU Will Stay In Budapest Next Year
Central European University (CEU) announced today that it will continue its operations for the 2017-18 academic year, with hopes that current negotiations will lead to a longer-term solution (via Inside Higher Ed).
Philosophy at St. Thomas University (Houston) – an update
The Director of Communications at St. Thomas University in Houston, Sandra Soliz, today sent a press release regarding the possible threats to philosophers and philosophy programs there. She included a note that said that “all tenured philosophy professors will receive continuous contracts by today.” There do not appear to be any untenured tenure-track professors. T..
NEH’s Philosopher-Leader Steps Down / UPDATE: Trump Budget Released Today Proposes Closure of NEH
William “Bro” Adams, a philosopher who has taught at Santa Clara University, UNC Chapel Hill, and Stanford, and who has served as chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) since 2014, is stepping down from that position, effective today, according to Inside Higher Ed. (more…)
Kipnis and Publisher Sued
Laura Kipnis, a professor in the School of Communication at Northwestern University, and Harper Collins, the publisher of her recent book, Unwanted Advances: Sexual Paranoia Comes To Campus, are being sued by a Northwestern philosophy graduate student, “Jane Doe,” for public disclosure of private facts, false light invasion of privacy, defamation, and intentional in..
UC Berkeley Knew Of Prior Complaints About Searle
John Searle, emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, was the subject of at least three sexual misconduct claims filed by Berkeley students in recent years, prior to the filing of the current sexual harassment lawsuit against him and the Regents of the University of California, according to a report by Katie J.M. Baker at Buzzfeed…
Philosophy Instructor Reportedly Abducted
Önder Asan, a philosophy instructor from Ankara, Turkey, was reportedly abducted there on April 1st. Asan had worked at one of the educational institutions* closed down by the Turkish government following the attempted military coup there last July. (more…)
Did Gorsuch Plagiarize? Philosophers & Others Consulted (updated)
Politico has consulted several “experts on academic integrity” to assess whether Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch plagiariazed parts of his book, The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, which was a revised version of his D.Phil thesis, as well as an article in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, while the White House has produced statements from sev..
A Philosophy Paper’s Part In A Title IX Lawsuit
A former undergraduate who majored in philosophy at Yale has filed a Title IX lawsuit against the university. The student, a male referred to as “John” in the lawsuit, is suing on grounds of hostile educational environment, sexual harassment, discrimination, retaliation, erroneous outcome, selective enforcement, 14th Amendment due process, equal protection,and decla..
McMahan & Singer: Stubblefield Is A Victim Of Injustice (updated)
In an essay at The New York Times’ “The Stone,” two of the most prominent living moral philosophers—Jeff McMahan, White’s Professor of Moral Philosophy at Oxford University, and Peter Singer, Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University—argue that Anna Stubblefield, a former professor of philosophy at Rut..
“Fighting For Values”: A Message From The Head Of Philosophy at CEU (updated)
The following is a message from Professor Hanoch Ben-Yami, Head of the Department of Philosophy at Central European University (CEU), regarding recently proposed legislation threatening its continued existence in Hungary.
Central European University Under Threat From Hungarian Government
Central European University (CEU) is a private graduate-level university located in Budapest, and accredited both in the United States and in Hungary. Founded in 1991 by George Soros and currently headed by Michael Ignatieff, CEU has a variety of academic departments and research programs, including a sizable philosophy faculty. Now the university is finding its exi..
Sexual Harassment, Assault, and Retaliation Lawsuit Against John Searle
John Searle, the Willis S. and Marion Slusser Professor Emeritus of the Philosophy of Mind and Language at the University of California, Berkeley, is being sued for sexual harassment, assault, and retaliation by a former female Berkeley undergraduate who worked for him as an assistant at the John Searle Center for Social Ontology. (more…)
Philosophers Explain Gorsuch’s Philosophy
Judge for the Tenth Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals and Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch has a doctorate in philosophy from Oxford University, having written a thesis for his D. Phil under the supervision of John Finnis, known for his defense of “natural law” theory. (more…)
Bertrand Russell Society & Others Sign Onto Anti-Nuke Letter to Trump & Putin
In his capacity as president of the Bertrand Russell Society, philosopher Timothy Madigan (St. John Fisher College) has written to U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to encourage them to work together to eliminate nuclear weapons, expressing support for Nuclear Age Peace Foundation‘s recent open letter to the leaders. (more…)
Politically, What Should Philosophers, Qua Philosophers, Do?
A pair of philosophy graduate students write in with a topic for discussion:
Dear Philosophical Community,
Like many of our graduate student and faculty colleagues in philosophy, we are becoming increasingly alarmed by our political situation as the Trump administration has made good on reprehensible campaign promises. (more…)
“On The Brink of Collapse”: The Philosophical Society of South Africa
The Philosophical Society of South Africa (PSSA), a professional association of philosophers “representing the interests of the academic philosophical community in Southern Africa,” is “on the brink of collapse over allegations of racism,” according to the Mail & Guardian. At its annual meeting last month, the organization’s president, Vasti Roodt (Stellenbosch), an..
Clemson Philosophy Professor, Others, Fast To Pressure University To Condemn Immigration Order
Philosopher Todd May is one of three Clemson University professors who have begun a six-day fast to pressure their school’s administration into speaking out against the Trump administration’s January 27th Executive Order on immigration, according to reports at The Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed. (more…)
Protecting The Rule of Law Against Donald Trump
The rule of law is traditionally contrasted to “the rule of men.” The contrast captures the difference between societies in which the awesome power of governments to send men and women with weapons to order their people about is governed by general rules, laid down in advance, and enforceable against government officials who would abuse their power, and societies in..
US Philosophers Against Trump’s Policies Towards Mexico
Over 200 U.S. philosophers have added their names to a statement repudiating the Trump Administration’s intended policies towards Mexico, a longtime ally of the United States. The statement reads:
We, the undersigned philosophers working at universities in the U.S., acknowledging our different backgrounds, specializations, and political stances, hereby state our ..
The New Federal Task Force On Higher Education
The Trump administration is creating a new task force on higher education, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. It will be headed by outspoken Trump supporter Jerry Falwell, Jr., the current president of the Christian Liberty University, a school founded by his father and known for its teaching of “young earth creationism” in biology courses. (more…)
APA Issues Statement On Trump’s Immigration Order
The Board of Officers of the American Philosophical Association (APA) has unanimously approved and posted a statement on Donald Trump’s January 27th executive order on immigration. (more…)
Trump Is A Non-Partisan Problem
Yesterday, Donald Trump commanded:
whenever an executive department or agency (agency) publicly proposes for notice and comment or otherwise promulgates a new regulation, it shall identify at least two existing regulations to be repealed.
I predict that applied mereology will be the hot area to hire in philosophy next year. (more…)
On Reporting Green-Card Marriages
The latest edition of “The Ethicist,” the The New York Times‘ moral advice column (published last Wednesday), takes as its topic sham green-card marriages. The advice seeker asks current Times ethicist, Kwame Anthony Appiah (NYU), whether she should report that at a wedding of an acquaintance, the bride explained to her that the marriage “was a fraud, one she’d ent..
Trump’s Immigration Order (Updated)
NOTE (added 1/30/17): Please use the comments option here to share (a) relevant links, (b) accounts of those affected, (c) relevant updates about events and activities planned, (d) ideas about what to do, and the like. Thank you.
—
At the time of this post, over 4,700 academics have signed a petition opposing Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration. Yo..
A Tool To Track Trump’s Tampering With Public Information
With the inauguration of the reckless, narcissistic, thin-skinned, lying, authoritarian Donald Trump around the corner, reasonable people everywhere are asking “what should we do?” Here’s what law professor and political theorist Paul Gowder (Iowa) did: he created a tool for anyone to use that monitors public data and sends alerts and documentation of its change. He..
Nobel Peace Prize Winner Hopes To Study Philosophy at Oxford
Malala Yousafzai, a 19-year old human rights activist advocating for women in Pakistan and co-winner of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, who survived being shot in the face by the Taliban for her work, is “anxiously waiting” to hear whether she has been admitted to the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) program at Oxford University. (more…)