FOX News gets call wrong on NY-23
Details here.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Monday, November 02, 2009
Autonomy and Mental Health conference
Title: Autonomy and Mental Health
Dates: 7-8 January 2010
Location: CRASSH, 17 Mill Lane, Cambridge
The conference aims to identify and explore the underlying connections between the concepts of autonomy, decisional capacity, and mental disorder. It will provide a forum for philosophers, psychiatrists, legal experts, and other professionals whose work builds on these challenging concepts. The questions, we shall address include:" Does the notion of capacity necessarily involve some evaluative components? How does it relate to the notion of autonomy?" What are the defining features of mental disorder? Should they comprise distress and diminished control over one's actions?" Is the focus on patient autonomy helpful in the context of mental healthcare? Does it unwittingly undermine both considerations of privacy and the rationale for practical assistance?" Could philosophical conceptions of autonomy account for psychiatric cases, in which autonomy is deemed to be compromised? Would the standard distinction between moral and personal autonomy be applicable?
Speakers:"
Prof. Derek Bolton (Professor of Philosophy & Psychopathology, King's College London and Hon. Consultant Clinical Psychologist,& Associate Director, Clinical Governance, South London & Maudsley NHS Trust)"
Dr Lisa Bortolotti (Senior Lecturer, Department of Philosophy, University of Birmingham)"
Dr Elizabeth Fistein (Cambridge Intellectual & Development Disabilities Research Group, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge)"
Prof. Bill Fulford (Fellow of St Cross College, University of Oxford, and Professor of Philosophy and Mental Health, University of Warwick)"
Prof. Jane Heal (Professor in Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge) "
Dr Jules Holroyd (Lecturer, School of English, Communication & Philosophy, Cardiff University) "
Prof. Agnieszka Jaworska (Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of California Riverside)"
Dr Hallvard Lillehammer (Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge)"
Prof. Jennifer Radden (Professor and Chair, Philosophy Department, University of Massachusetts) "
Dr Lubomira Radoilska (Wellcome Trust Research Fellow, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge)"
Dr Jens Timmermann (Senior Lecturer in Moral Philosophy, University of St. Andrews)"
Prof. Guy Widdershoven (Professor of Medical Philosophy and Ethics and Chair, Department of Medical Humanities, University of Amsterdam)
The conference programme, online registration, and further details are available at: http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/1085/
If you have any queries about this event, please do not hesitate to contact the conference convenor, Dr. Lubomira Radoilska (lr271@cam.ac.uk).
JOB: Oslo
POSITION as Post Doctoral Research Fellow, (duration 2 years – SKO 1352)
Available at CSMN – Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature, Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas, University of Oslo.
CSMN is looking for a candidate to work within the Communication and Context component of the linguistic agency group. The focus of this part of CSMN is to understand the ways in which the context of an utterance influences the interpretation and communication of that utterance. The successful candidate will have done work in philosophy of language or linguistics that bears on these issues, broadly construed.
Full announcement:
http://www.admin.uio.no/opa/ledige-stillinger/vitenskapelige.html
CSMN’s homepage: http://www.csmn.uio.no .
Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas:
http://www.hf.uio.no/ifikk/english/
BBC - Democracy Live
A fantastic new resource on British politics can be found here. Very highly recommended!
A food labelling-style system for higher education?
This has what Lord Mandelson appears to be proposing. As noted here:
"[. . .] School leavers applying to English universities will get more data about courses under government plans to treat them more like consumers.
A food labelling-style system will flag up teaching hours, career prospects and seminar frequency, says the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills.
On Tuesday, it will announce a new framework for higher education.
The plan aims to set out priorities for universities ahead of a review of the way students fund their education.
Tuition fees were introduced in 1998 and Business Secretary Lord Mandelson believes this entitles students to act more like consumers. [. . .]"
How much evidence of impact does the UK government want to hear?
In the UK, it has been proposed that 25% of a department's research profile should centre on its "impact": the argument is that we should have evidence-based proof of the impact of research in order to continue justifying public expenditure on higher education.
Yet, the UK government has sacked its chief drugs advisor --- with two further advisors resigning within days in protest --- with allegations that government simply refused to heed scientific advice, a charge the government denies. (Details here.) Perhaps "impact" is not only in the eyes of the beholder, but of the Home Secretary . . .
Sunday, November 01, 2009
The nosedive of the Republican Party
From Frank Rich in the NY Times here. An excerpt:
"[. . .] BARACK OBAMA’S most devilish political move since the 2008 campaign was to appoint a Republican congressman from upstate New York as secretary of the Army. This week’s election to fill that vacant seat has set off nothing less than a riotous and bloody national G.O.P. civil war. No matter what the results in that race on Tuesday, the Republicans are the sure losers. This could be a gift that keeps on giving to the Democrats through 2010, and perhaps beyond.
The governors’ races in New Jersey and Virginia were once billed as the marquee events of Election Day 2009 — a referendum on the Obama presidency and a possible Republican “comeback.” But preposterous as it sounds, the real action migrated to New York’s 23rd, a rural Congressional district abutting Canada. That this pastoral setting could become a G.O.P. killing field, attracting an all-star cast of combatants led by Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, William Kristol and Newt Gingrich, is a premise out of a Depression-era screwball comedy. But such farces have become the norm for the conservative movement — whether the participants are dressing up in full “tea party” drag or not.
The battle for upstate New York confirms just how swiftly the right has devolved into a wacky, paranoid cult that is as eager to eat its own as it is to destroy Obama. The movement’s undisputed leaders, Palin and Beck, neither of whom has what Palin once called the “actual responsibilities” of public office, would gladly see the Republican Party die on the cross of right-wing ideological purity. Over the short term, at least, their wish could come true.
The New York fracas was ignited by the routine decision of 11 local Republican county chairmen to anoint an assemblywoman, Dede Scozzafava, as their party’s nominee for the vacant seat. The 23rd is in safe Republican territory that hasn’t sent a Democrat to Congress in decades. And Scozzafava is a mainstream conservative by New York standards; one statistical measure found her voting record slightly to the right of her fellow Republicans in the Assembly. But she has occasionally strayed from orthodoxy on social issues (abortion, same-sex marriage) and endorsed the Obama stimulus package. To the right’s Jacobins, that’s cause to send her to the guillotine.
Sure enough, bloggers trashed her as a radical leftist and ditched her for a third-party candidate they deem a “true” conservative, an accountant and businessman named Doug Hoffman. When Gingrich dared endorse Scozzafava anyway — as did other party potentates like John Boehner and Michael Steele — he too was slimed. Mocking Newt’s presumed 2012 presidential ambitions, Michelle Malkin imagined him appointing Al Sharpton as secretary of education and Al Gore as “global warming czar.” She’s quite the wit.
The wrecking crew of Kristol, Fred Thompson, Dick Armey, Michele Bachmann, The Wall Street Journal editorial page and the government-bashing Club for Growth all joined the Hoffman putsch. Then came the big enchilada: a Hoffman endorsement from Palin on her Facebook page. Such is Palin’s clout that Steve Forbes, Rick Santorum and Tim Pawlenty, the Minnesota governor (and presidential aspirant), promptly fell over one another in their Pavlovian rush to second her motion. They were joined by far-flung Republican congressmen from Kansas, Georgia, Oklahoma and California, not to mention a gaggle of state legislators from Colorado. On Fox News, Beck took up the charge, insinuating that Hoffman’s Republican opponent might be a fan of Karl Marx. Some $3 million has now been dumped into this race by outside groups.
Who exactly is the third-party maverick arousing such ardor? Hoffman doesn’t even live in the district. When he appeared before the editorial board of The Watertown Daily Times 10 days ago, he “showed no grasp” of local issues, as the subsequent editorial put it. Hoffman complained that he should have received the questions in advance — blissfully unaware that they had been asked by the paper in an editorial on the morning of his visit.
Last week it turned out that Hoffman’s prime attribute to the radical right — as a take-no-prisoners fiscal conservative — was bogus. In fact he’s on the finance committee of a hospital that happily helped itself to a $479,000 federal earmark. Then again, without the federal government largess that the tea party crowd so deplores, New York’s 23rd would be a Siberia of joblessness. The biggest local employer is the pork-dependent military base, Fort Drum.
The right’s embrace of Hoffman is a double-barreled suicide for the G.O.P. On Saturday, the battered Scozzafava suspended her campaign, further scrambling the race. It’s still conceivable that the Democratic candidate could capture a seat the Republicans should own. But it’s even better for Democrats if Hoffman wins. Punch-drunk with this triumph, the right will redouble its support of primary challengers to 2010 G.O.P. candidates they regard as impure. That’s bad news for even a Republican as conservative as Kay Bailey Hutchison, whose primary opponent in the Texas governor’s race, the incumbent Rick Perry, floated the possibility of secession at a teabagger rally in April and hastily endorsed Hoffman on Thursday.
The more rightists who win G.O.P. primaries, the greater the Democrats’ prospects next year. But the electoral math is less interesting than the pathology of this movement. Its antecedent can be found in the early 1960s, when radical-right hysteria carried some of the same traits we’re seeing now: seething rage, fear of minorities, maniacal contempt for government, and a Freudian tendency to mimic the excesses of political foes. Writing in 1964 of that era’s equivalent to today’s tea party cells, the historian Richard Hofstadter observed that the John Birch Society’s “ruthless prosecution” of its own ideological war often mimicked the tactics of its Communist enemies.
The same could be said of Beck, Palin and their acolytes. Though they constantly liken the president to various totalitarian dictators, it is they who are re-enacting Stalinism in full purge mode. They drove out Arlen Specter, and now want to “melt Snowe” (as the blog Red State put it). The same Republicans who once deplored Democrats for refusing to let an anti-abortion dissident, Gov. Robert Casey of Pennsylvania, speak at the 1992 Clinton convention now routinely banish any dissenters in their own camp.
These conservatives’ whiny cries of victimization also parrot a tic they once condemned in liberals. After Rush Limbaugh was booted from an ownership group bidding on the St. Louis Rams, he moaned about being done in by the “race card.” What actually did him in, of course, was the free-market American capitalism he claims to champion. Limbaugh didn’t understand that in an increasingly diverse nation, profit-seeking N.F.L. franchises actually want to court black ticket buyers, not drive them away.
This same note of self-martyrdom was sounded in a much-noticed recent column by the former Nixon hand Pat Buchanan. Ol’ Pat sounded like the dispossessed antebellum grandees in “Gone With the Wind” when lamenting the plight of white working-class voters. “America was once their country,” he wrote. “They sense they are losing it. And they are right.”
They are right. That America was lost years ago, and no national political party can thrive if it lives in denial of that truth. The right still may want to believe, as Palin said during the campaign, that Alaska, with its small black and Hispanic populations, is a “microcosm of America.” (New York’s 23rd also has few blacks or Hispanics.) But most Americans like their country’s 21st-century profile.
That changing complexion is part of why the McCain-Palin ticket lost every demographic group by large margins in 2008 except white senior citizens and the dwindling fifth of America that’s still rural. It’s also why the G.O.P. has been in a nosedive since the inauguration, whatever Obama’s ups and downs. In the latest Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll, only 17 percent of Americans identify themselves as Republicans (as opposed to 30 percent for the Democrats, and 44 for independents). [. . .]"
Friday, October 30, 2009
JOB: Newcastle
Lecturer
Politics
Newcastle University - School of Geography, Politics & Sociology
Ref B270A (GPS)
Faculty/Services Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences
Job Type Academic (non-clinical)
Hours of Work Full time
Salary: £31,513 - £35,469
Closing Date: 27 November 2009
Applications are invited for a Lectureship in Politics, based in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology. You will join a Politics unit that possesses a vibrant research culture and was a very strong performer in the 2008 RAE. Applications are welcome from candidates with an excellent record of published research or outstanding research potential in the politics of specific countries and regions. Applications are particularly welcome from specialists in the politics of Africa, Britain, Latin America, the Middle East, Russia or South Asia. You will be expected to contribute to the School's undergraduate and postgraduate teaching programmes; and will also participate in the supervision of the School's large body of research postgraduates.
Informal enquiries may be made to the Head of Politics, Prof. William Maloney, (tel: +44 (0)191 222 5289; email william.maloney@ncl.ac.uk. The School's web site can be viewed at http://www.ncl.ac.uk/gps/ and information on Politics can be found at http://www.ncl.ac.uk/gps/about/politics/.
To Apply please click here.
Needless to say, interested readers may contact me here if they have any questions.
Visiting Research Fellowships -- St Andrews
University of St Andrews
Centre For Ethics, Philosophy And Public Affairs
I. Visiting Research Fellowships 2010-11
Applications are invited for visiting research fellowships for the academic session 2010-11. The fellowship provides residential accommodation in St Andrews, an office in the University, and access to the usual facilities. Further details are available at http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/ceppa/research.html.
Fellows are also expected to participate in activities of the moral philosophy group. Where relevant applicants may propose to work on projects that they would wish to have considered for inclusion in the Centre's publication series (see below). Applications, including a c.v., a statement of research intentions, and an indication of the period during which the fellowship would be held, should be submitted no later than 30 November 2009 to:
Human Resources,University of St Andrews,College Gate,St Andrews,Fife, KY16 9ALScotland. UK.
II. St Andrews Studies in Philosophy and Public Affairs
The series includes monographs, collections of essays and occasional anthologies of source material representing study in those areas of philosophy most relevant to topics of public importance, with the aim of advancing the contribution of philosophy in the discussion of these topics.
For further information on the series see http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/ceppa/stastudies.html
Book proposals outlining the scope, prospective contents, intended readership and schedule of work should be sent to the General Editor: John Haldane at
Centre for Ethics, Philosophy and Public Affairs,
University of St Andrews
Fife KY16 9AL
Scotland
UK
or e-mailed to jjh1@st-and.ac.uk
JOB: Tufts
Tufts University welcomes applications for the position listed below. Please contact Nancy Bauer for more information.
Tenure-track position at rank of Assistant Professor, beginning Fall 2010. Four courses/year, beginning undergraduate to graduate level. Usual non-teaching duties. AOS: ancient philosophy or history of modern philosophy (any period from early modern through early twentieth century). AOC: Open.
The Department seeks a promising scholar and teacher who will contribute to its MA program and the active philosophical life of the Department and who will complement its existing teaching strengths. Ph.D. at time of appointment and teaching experience strongly preferred. Tufts is an EO/AAE employer and committed to increasing the diversity of its faculty; candidates from under-represented groups are encouraged to apply.
Applications must include a CV, three letters of recommendation, a writing sample, and an e-mail address and phone number at which the candidate may be reached in December. Review of applications will begin on November 2, 2009, and continue until the position is filled. Preliminary interviews will be conducted at the December 2009 Eastern APA meeting. To be assured of full consideration, applications must be complete by November 20, 2009.
Applications should be sent to: Assistant Professor Search, Department of Philosophy, 222 Miner Hall, Tufts University, Medford, MA, 02155.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
PhD Student Position on ARC-funded Project
PhD Student Position on ARC-funded Project
Applications are invited for a PhD scholarship to be funded as part of an ARC Discovery grant to begin in early/mid 2010. The scholarship is valued at $26,669 per annum (tax free and indexed annually) and may be renewed. The successful candidate will be based at the Australian National University in Canberra.The research undertaken will be part of a collaborative project to investigate the duties of people in wealthy countries to address global poverty. Two principles are commonly invoked in support of the view that the affluent in the developed world have weighty moral reasons (heretofore referred to as ‘responsibilities’) to address global poverty. The first is based on the idea that because the poor are in severe need and the affluent are in a position to alleviate such need at moderate cost, they have responsibilities to do so – the principle of assistance. The second is based on the idea that because the poor are in severe need and the affluent have contributed or are contributing to their need they have responsibilities to alleviate it – the principle of contribution. The aim of this project is to investigate the meaning, moral significance, and practical implications of these two principles, and to address some of the crucial and often underappreciated implications of the failures of affluent agents to act on their responsibilities to address global poverty. More specifically, the aims of the project are:
• To examine in detail the meaning as well as the ethical and practical significance of the two principles that have been most commonly invoked as grounds for holding affluent persons and other agents to have responsibilities to address global poverty.
• To investigate the common conviction that ethical reasons to help protect people in need are more stringent for those who have contributed to the need in question.
• To explore applications of the two principles in the real world, where there is often quite substantial empirical uncertainty about the contributions that different agents have made to poverty and about the capacities of various agents to address it effectively.
• To provide a clear account of just what ‘contributing’ to global poverty can plausibly be claimed to consist in.
• To examine the implications of these principles for some practical dilemmas arising in the context of international trade and environmental protection.
• To study the implications of non-compliance, in particular what means (legal or illegal) poor people may permissibly use to alleviate their need when such need is due to others’ failure to live up to their responsibilities.
The work will be led by the philosophers Christian Barry, Gerhard Øverland and Thomas Pogge.Applicants should have an appropriate Honours 1 or 2A (or equivalent) undergraduate degree or an MA in one of the main disciplines relevant to the project (philosophy, economics, or political science), together with a strong interest in the goals of the project.Further information can be obtained from Christian Barry (christian.barry@anu.edu.au) and Gerhard Øverland (gerhardo@unimelb.edu.au)
Please forward your CV and covering letter highlighting the area(s) you would be most interested in working on to Mr Ian Sharpe (isharpe@anu.edu.au), CAPPE Business Manager, LPO Box 8260, The Australian National University, ACT 0200 Australia by 15th November, 2009.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
CFP: Society for Applied Philosophy Conference
SOCIETY FOR APPLIED PHILOSOPHY
Annual Conference 2010
St Anne's College, Oxford, 2-4 July
CALL for PAPERS
The Society for Applied Philosophy (UK) was founded in 1982 with the aim of promoting philosophical study and research that has a direct bearing on areas of practical concern. It arose from an increasing awareness that many topics of public debate are capable of being illuminated by the critical, analytic approach characteristic of philosophy, and by direct consideration of questions of value. These topics come from a number of different areas of social life - law, politics, economics, science, technology, medicine and education are among the most obvious. The purpose of the SAP is to foster and promote philosophical work that is intended to make a constructive contribution to problems in these areas. It does so through events, conferences, and lecture programmes.
Open themed event
The Annual Conference 2010 will be an open themed applied philosophy conference (papers will be considered from the full range of topics in applied philosophy). Plenary speakers include Professor Thomas Pogge (Yale), Professor Judith Lichtenberg (Georgetown), Professor Catherine Lu (McGill), and Professor Ingmar Persson (Gothenburg).
The conference will also host a sub-theme on the methods of applied philosophy.
Sub-theme
Applied philosophy is now (roughly) 35 years old and it is appropriate to consider questions such as:
What is applied philosophy and how might it differ from other areas of philosophy?
What, if anything, might be distinctive about this area of inquiry?
Is it possible to discern distinctive forms of reasoning that are characteristic of applied philosophy?
Has applied philosophy made any real difference?
This sub-theme will address these questions by considering the methods and modes of argument used in applied philosophy. Relevant questions include:
Are there modes of argument specific to applied philosophy?
Does the practical importance of the issues that applied philosophers address make any difference to the forms of argument used? Should it do so?
Are there any grounds for thinking that the ‘applied turn’ was a mistake?
What influence has applied philosophy had on the development of philosophy?
How should empirical data be incorporated into the theoretical work of applied philosophers?
What role should appeal to general abstract principles perform in applied philosophy?
Should imaginary cases have a part to play in applied philosophy?
Does recent work in experimental philosophy have any implications for applied philosophy?
Is applied philosophy an historically distinct form of inquiry?
The sub-theme will include papers that explore questions such as these about the methods used by applied philosophers and the place of applied philosophy within philosophy as a whole.
The plenary speakers for the conference sub-theme will be Professor Hans-Johann Glock (University of Zurich) and Professor Shaun Nichols (University of Arizona).
The sub-theme will be partnered with a Special Issue of the Journal of Applied Philosophy.
Presenters to the conference sub-theme will be invited to submit their papers to the journal for consideration in the special issue.
SUBMIT your ABSTRACT submit abstract online at:
http://www.appliedphil.org/AnnualConference2010.shtml#subab
by the deadline, Friday 9 January 2010
POSTGRADUATE essay PRIZE
A prize will be awarded to the best postgraduate essay submission (awarded in advance of the conference on the basis of the full version of the paper after acceptance of the abstract). The winning student will receive free registration and accommodation at the conference as well as reimbursement for any travel expenses incurred within the United Kingdom. When you submit your abstract, please indicate whether you would like to be considered for this prize by checking the appropriate circle on the form.
KEYNOTE speakers
Thomas Pogge(Yale)
Judith Lichtenberg (Georgetown)
Catherine Lu (McGill)
Ingmar Persson (Gothenburg)Methods of Applied Philosophy (sub-theme)
Hans-Johann Glock (Reading)
Shaun Nichols (Arizona)
CONFERENCE website
http://www.appliedphil.org/AnnualConference2010.shtml
---------Society for Applied Philosophy
admin@appliedphil.org
JOB: Umea
Umeå University announces...
Umeå University - with its 33,000 students and over 4,000 employees - is an organisation in constant change and development. Umeå University conducts groundbreaking research within several areas - several in which we are among the best in the world - within others regarded as the leaders in Sweden. We are one of Sweden’s largest providers of education and offer a broad and attractive range of courses and programmes. Our campus constitutes an inspiring environment for everyone that studies and works here. We wish to co-operate with companies and organisations throughout the Umeå region and all over the world.
Professor of Philosophy
The Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, at Umeå University’s Faculty of Arts, conducts research and offers under- and postgraduate studies in Archaeology, Philosophy and Philosophy of Science, History, History of Science and Ideas, Religious Studies and Theology. Philosophy offers study programmes and degrees at first-cycle (undergraduate), second-cycle (Master’s) and third-cycle (doctoral) level.
We are looking for a skilled researcher and teacher, with a broad competence, who can lead and develop research and PhD education within the field of philosophy. Because a long-term strengthening of research is a high priority of the Faculty of Arts, it is essential that the applicant possesses academic competence and is keen and able to initiate research together with colleagues. The applicant’s research should also have a firm international grounding.
Special weight will be accorded to the applicant’s academic competence and teaching skills. When considering the balance between these bases of assessment, more weight will be accorded to academic competence.
In conjunction with the appointment, substantial weight will be accorded to the applicant’s ability to lead and develop research and PhD education within the field of philosophy. Substantial weight will also be accorded to the applicant’s ability to generate external research funding.
In addition, importance will be attached to the applicant’s administrative merits and other skills that are of importance in order to develop the subject field, including the ability to develop and manage members of staff. Importance will also be attached to the applicant’s ability to develop the potential of the subject Philosophy regarding cooperation with other subjects. Moreover importance will be attached to the applicant’s ability to interact with the surrounding community and to spread knowledge about research and development within the field of philosophy.
Academic competence refers primarily to the ability to conduct research, that is, the ability to make one’s own contributions to the development of knowledge within a particular field of research. But academic competence also includes being knowledgeable, having a comprehensive view of the field of philosophy and being able to weigh up questions in an appropriate way. Special weight will be accorded to research qualifications within the core areas of philosophy: ethics (normative ethics and meta-ethics), the history of philosophy, epistemology, logic, metaphysics (including philosophy of mind), political philosophy, philosophy of language, and philosophy of science.
Teaching skills means the ability to structure and organize a body of knowledge, to impart enthusiasm and interest in the subject and to activate students to take responsibility for their own learning, which implies a sound knowledge of the subject. Teaching skills also includes the ability to take a comprehensive view, to innovate one’s teaching and the ability to develop one’s own competence in a systematic and focused way. Special weight will be accorded to breadth in competence, in particular within the core areas of philosophy.
A person who has displayed both academic competence and teaching skills is qualified to be appointed as professor (HEO Chap 4 Sect 5). Academic competence must have been proven through independent research work which considerably exceeds what is required for appointment as docent.
Teaching skills refers to the ability to teach at first-cycle (undergraduate), second-cycle (Master’s) and third-cycle (doctoral) level. The applicant must have taken adequate teacher training courses unless there are special reasons why that is not the case. The assessment of teaching skills refers to the planning, execution and evaluation of teaching, as well as supervision and examination. Teaching skills must be well documented in such a way that their quality can be assessed.
The ability to teach in either Swedish or English is a requirement for the appointment. If the person offered the appointment does not have a good command of Swedish at the time of appointment, he/she must within a couple of years be prepared, if required to do so, to take on administrative and educational tasks that require the ability to communicate in Swedish.
The applicant must be able to cooperate with others and must be suitably qualified and skilled in other ways in order to perform the work tasks well.
The appointee’s tasks may include teaching, leading seminars and student supervision at first-cycle (undergraduate), second-cycle (Master’s) and third-cycle (doctoral) level, and also administrative work.
The appointment includes 75 % research for 3 years and then 50 % research for another three years. After that the same terms apply as for professors at the faculty who have been appointed through promotion. These terms are dependant on prevailing financial conditions and may be altered over time.
The place of work is Umeå and a high degree of attendance at the department is required. Uneven distribution between the sexes prevails within the subject Philosophy in Umeå, and among the faculty’s professors, and the faculty is especially happy to receive applications from females.
The application must be written in English. A complete application will consist of
application, CV including a list of publications and a compilation of the applicant’s teaching activities. Please highlight a maximum of ten publications that you consider to be your most important contributions. The university’s guidelines for the documentation of teaching skills must be followed and qualifications must be presented in accordance with the given headings and points.
an account of the applicant’s research experience, educational work, development and management of activities and staff, interaction with the surrounding community, education and outreach.
declaration of intent/statement of policy regarding scholarly activities,
attested copies of certificates,
copies of the scholarly and educational works (at most ten) that you consider to be your most important contributions (as marked in the list of publications).
Applications may be submitted either electronically or on paper. Documents that are sent electronically must be PDF files. Paper applications must be submitted in four copies. The presentation and documentation of qualifications must be structured in accordance with the university’s guidelines that are available at:
www8.umu.se/personal/umu_internt/anstallningsordning.htm
More information about the department and the subject Philosophy is available at www.idesam.umu.se.
For further information, contact Head of Department Lena Eskilsson, +46 (0)90-786 62 65, email: lena.eskilsson@idesam.umu.se.
Union information is available from SACO, +46-(0)90-786 53 65, SEKO, +46-(0)90-786 52 96 and ST, +46-(0)90-786 54 31.
Your complete application, marked with reference number 311-991-09, should be sent to jobb@umu.se or to the Registrar, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden to arrive December 18, 2009 at the latest.
Diploma advert ruled 'misleading'
From the BBC here, an excerpt:
"[. . .] A government advert which claimed the new Diploma would get teenagers into "any university" has been ruled misleading by the official watchdog.
The Advertising Standards Authority said the radio and press adverts were misleading because not all universities accepted all five Diploma courses.
It also noted that Cambridge only accepted the engineering Diploma if it was taken alongside A-level physics.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families disagreed with the ruling.
The Children's Secretary Ed Balls has said he hopes the Diploma, which combines theoretical and practical learning, will become the qualification of choice.
The government began a national media campaign to raise the profile of the qualification, which has to compete alongside the long-trusted A-levels.
The radio advert stated: "When you're thinking about what qualifications to take, have a look at the Diploma ... a qualification for 14-19-year-olds that's accepted by all universities.... The Diploma, opening the doors to university and work." [. . .]
[. . .] Shadow Children's Secretary Michael Gove said: "Ed Balls boasted that his new Diploma was on course to overtake the A-level and become the qualification of choice for young people.
"But universities aren't impressed, teachers are confused and students have shunned the course."
He added: "So, in desperation the government spent millions on an advertising campaign which has now been exposed as dishonest." [. . .]"
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
PhD opportunities in Sheffield
For postgraduate students starting PhD degree courses in autumn 2010, the University of Sheffield has 4 doctoral awards under the Arts and Humanities Research Block Grant Partnership Scheme in the subject area of Philosophy.
There are also a limited number of University and Faculty Scholarships for which beginning doctoral students in philosophy may apply.
THE DEADLINE FOR APPLYING FOR THESE AWARDS IS 15th JANUARY 2010. ALL APPLICATION MATERIALS MUST REACH US BY THIS DATE.
Information and an application form are here:
http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/postgraduate/research/scholarships/
Information about applying to for PhD courses in the Philosophy Department is here:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/philosophy/prospective/postgraduates/applying.html
The Philosophy Department at Sheffield is a thriving department with 21 members of academic staff and 62 postgraduate students. We are able to offer supervision in most of the main areas of philosophy.
In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise for which all our academic staff were submitted 35% of our submitted output was ranked world leading, 35% internationally excellent, 35% internationally recognized and 0% merely nationally recognized. Our grade point average was 3rd= (with Kings College London and Reading) highest in the UK after UCL and St Andrews. (Source Times Higher Education, 18th December, 2008).
Of our Research Environment the 2008 RAE Panel wrote: "Research structure and income, research strategy, staffing policy, research student numbers and the number of research studentships are all outstanding, as were contributions to the broader environment. The research training and career advice for research students, the number of conferences and workshops hosted, and the important contribution of the Hang Seng Centre for Cognitive Studies, are particularly impressive."
Inquiries about our courses and how to apply for them are welcome and should be addressed to the Director of Graduate Admissions in Philosophy, Professor Jimmy Lenman – j.lenman@sheffield.ac.uk.
Inquiries specifically about AHRC and other funding are also welcome and should be sent to Dominic Gregory – d.gregory@sheffield.ac.uk.
There will be an Open Day for Prospective Graduate Students at the University of Sheffield’s Faculty of Arts and Humanities on 27th November, 2009. For information and booking see here:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/faculty/arts-and-humanities/news/2009/pg-open-day.html
We are happy for prospective postgraduate students to visit the Department. Please contact Jimmy Lenman – j.lenman@sheffield.ac.uk – if you wish to do this.
CFP: Retributive Emotions
2nd Call for Papers: 'Retributive Emotions'
Special Issue of *Philosophical Papers*
Guest Editor: Lucy Allais (Witwatersrand and Sussex)
Reactive attitudes are affective ways of viewing agents in response to the good or bad will that they demonstrate in their actions; retributive reactive attitudes, such as resentment, indignation, guilt, and contempt, are the subset of reactive attitudes that involve seeing the agent to whom they are directed as having done wrong. Philosophers have both defended and criticised the moral value of retributive reactive attitudes. Defenders have explored their intimate connections with self-respect, resistance to injustice, accountability, agency, and personhood, and some philosophers argue we cannot understand responsibility without these emotions. At the same time, both in philosophy and in popular culture it is often thought that dissolving or overcoming retributive emotions is both healthy and virtuous. Both views raise complex questions about the nature of retributive reactive attitudes. The aim of this special issue of *Philosophical Papers* is to explore this area, and with it, the complex role that the moral emotions play in our understanding of wrongdoing.
Possible topics for discussion include:
- Analyses of particular retributive attitudes.
- The intentional content of the retributive emotions.
- The significance and role of the 'feeling' part of retributive attitudes.
- The relation between retributive emotions and moral judgments.
- The relation between, on the one hand, having a particular emotional response to wrongdoing and, on the other hand, 'properly' grasping the wrongness of the wrong and the perpetrator's culpability and 'properly'
condemning this wrong.
- The relationship between retributive emotions and responsibility.
- The relationship between retributive emotions and punishment.
- The relationship between retributive emotions and forgiveness.
- The rational or moral culpability, if any, in not having retributive emotional responses, and whether there are differences between self-directed and other-directed retributive responses.
- The extent to which the retributive emotions are optional or avoidable.
- The possibility of having 'positive' reactive attitudes (e.g., gratitude) without having retributive reactive attitudes.
The deadline for receipt of submission is 30 June 2010. This special edition of *Philosophical Papers*, which will contain both invited and submitted papers, will appear in November of 2010.
Authors are encouraged to submit manuscripts electronically, as a pdf or word-document attachment, prepared for blind review, emailed to
Further enquiries can be addressed to Lucy Allais (Lucy.Allais@Wits.ac.za) or Ward Jones, Editor, *Philosophical Papers* (w.jones@ru.ac.za).
JOB: Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen proposes to further enhance its substantial recent investment in Philosophy by appointing to up to four Professorial Fellowships in the newly founded Northern Institute of Philosophy http://www.abdn.ac.uk/philosophy/nip/
The Northern Institute, directed by Professor Crispin Wright, is a research centre within the School of Divinity, History and Philosophy. The foundation of the Institute represents the determination of the University of Aberdeen to match the very highest international standards of excellence in philosophical research and leadership in graduate education.
The present round of appointments are intended for philosophers working in any area within the broad remit of the Institute, although expertise suitable to support the work of one or more of the Institute's current or planned projects (Basic Knowledge, Formal Epistemology, Contextualism and Relativism, the First Person, and Truth and Paradox) will be advantageous. A whole-hearted commitment to an ethos of collaboration and mutual support is essential. Since Knowledge Transfer and communication with other disciplines are an important aspect of the Institute’s’ mission, excellent communication skills are also paramount.
For more information on these posts go to the University of Aberdeen’s webpage http://www.abdn.ac.uk/jobs/display.php?recordid=DIV022A
Monday, October 26, 2009
JOB: Otago
Applications are invited for the Chair in Philosophy at the University of Otago.
The University’s intention is to appoint an eminent scholar in Analytic Philosophy who will build on the Department’s research and teaching strengths. These include: Aesthetics, Ancient Philosophy, Epistemology, Ethics, History of Philosophy, Logic, Metaethics, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Biology, Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Mathematics, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Religion and Philosophy and History of Science.
As well as being actively engaged in research, the successful applicant will be expected to teach undergraduate courses, and to supervise research students at honours and postgraduate levels. Many current graduate students come from outside New Zealand and an appointment that will attract graduate students to Otago is valued. (The normal teaching expectation in the Department of Philosophy is between two and a half and three courses per year at various levels, together with the supervision of research for 400-level Honours dissertations and MA and PhD theses).
With each application, applicants must include an Application Form, an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Form, a covering letter addressed to the Recruitment Consultant and one copy of full Curriculum Vitae. The official advertisement along with application forms are available here: http://www.otago.ac.nz/vacancies/vacancy.php?vacancy=1115
Click here http://www.otago.ac.nz/philosophy/InformationForCandidates.pdf for further information about the position, the Department of Philosophy, the University of Otago and Dunedin.
Closing Date: Tuesday 15 December 2009
Further Enquiries: kathryn.watabe@academic-search.net
+64 9 379 6900
Informal enquiries may be addressed the the Head of Department(James.Maclaurin@otago.ac.nz)
Saturday, October 24, 2009
When will we see the New Framework for Higher Education in the UK?
This should have been published last week. I will discuss whenever it does appear. Details here.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Human Rights Conference - Newcastle University
Newcastle Human Rights Research Group Symposium Announcement: Human Rights – A Drop of Liberation or Fig Leaf of Legitimation?
Date: 23 January 2010, Newcastle Law School, Newcastle University, UK.
This symposium draws upon the proliferation of academic commentary asserting that the international human rights project is in a state of crisis in the first decade of the twenty-first century, requiring a re-evaluation of both its impact and its future direction. With papers from world-leading authorities on human rights, this symposium provides a forum for assessing the effectiveness of human rights as an element of international law and in the domestic context of the United Kingdom in the face of these renewed and novel challenges. Moreover, this symposium draws together human rights sceptics and supporters from across disparate strands of transatlantic human-rights scholarship.
Confirmed Speakers
Professor David Kennedy, Harvard University - ‘The International Human Rights Movement: Still Part of the Problem?’
Professor Keith Ewing, Kings College London - Title TBC
Professor David Bonner, University of Leicester - ‘If you cannot change the rules of the game, adapt to them: United Kingdom responses to the restrictions set by Article 3 ECHR on “national security” deportations’
Professor Christine Bell, University of Ulster - ‘Human rights activism, expertise and academic inquiry: beyond legitimation v emancipation - a self-critical reflection’
Mr. Steven Wheatley, Reader, University of Leeds - ‘The problematic authority of international human rights law.’
A limited number of places for delegates are available on a first-come-first-served basis, at a cost of £30 per head (or £10 per head for full-time postgraduates), inclusive of lunch and refreshments. Full details of the Conference Programme are available on the Newcastle Law School Website: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/nuls/research/groups/humanrightsgrp.htm
For further details regarding this symposium, please contact the Symposium Co-ordinators Dr Rob Dickinson (r.a.dickinson@ncl.ac.uk) or Dr Ole W. Pedersen (ole.pedersen@ncl.ac.uk). Payment at the event is possible provided you email to notify your attendance in advance. Please make all cheques for delegate fees payable to Newcastle University and send them to Dr Rob Dickinson, Symposium Co-ordinator, Newcastle Law School, 21-24 Windsor Terrace, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 7RU.
On measuring the "impact" of research
There have been various debates, such as here, and petitions, such as here, concerning the role of "impact" in the forthcoming Research Excellence Framework (REF) in the UK. British departments (or "units of assessment") are assessed every few years to measure their research quality. The better a department's score, the greater funding it would earn via funding councils. Thus, research excellence pays and highly respected work means ££ in UK higher education circles.
In the past, these evaluations have been somewhat different. For example, the last evaluation was a "Research Assessment Exercise" (RAE) that measured research quality from January 1, 2001 through December 31, 2007. Results were announced in 2008. Departments were measured by the quality of their publications, research environment, and "esteeem" --- and given g.p.a. out of a possible perfect 4.0. Before RAE 2008, departments were ranked in categories of "5" or less.
The current REF plans look likely to assess departments between January 1, 2008 - December 31, 2012 with the results announced in 2013. Publications and environment will remain as categories, but "esteem" will now be replaced by "impact" --- and impact will have a greater weight than esteem. The current proposal is publications 60%, impact 25%, environment 15%.
These plans may look far from unreasonable. After all, why shouldn't impact have some importance? There are several important concerns worth raising:
1. We don't know what "impact" is. What counts as "impact"? Is a popular blog impact? This has not yet been defined.
2. We don't know how "impact" will be measured. It is proposed that per every five-ish department members every unit will offer a "narrative" of "an impact case study": how do we know one narrative is better than another? This is left very unclear.
3. "Impact" in the short-term is bad for UK research in the long-term. The impact period is 2008-12. One problem with this is that departments will do what they can to demonstrate impact for this period because impact in this period will benefit scores. This may be counterproductive to producing long-term impact.
4. There are doubts this is genuinely about justifying higher education funding to the public. For one thing, we may doubt how a department's "impact case study" narrative submitted in REF 2013 will sway the public. One reason to have this doubt is information is readily provided concerning RAE2008 submissions, but most in the public I speak with don't know of the relevant sites, etc.
For another thing, the Times Higher reports today this story:
"[. . .] Academics have reacted angrily to an internal research council document that says that the Government - not the academic community or the public - is the "primary audience" for its campaign to improve the economic and social impact of the research it funds.
The document, leaked to Times Higher Education, outlines the contents of a presentation made to senior staff at the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. It says: "We need to show (the Government) the importance and relevance of the research we fund to current and future global challenges in order to secure future funding."
Academics are named a "secondary audience" with the public given third priority.
The document says that the campaign "is deliberately blatant in its attempt to address the immediate demand" from the Government to demonstrate impact.
Researchers said the leaked document showed that the research councils were playing politics instead of protecting the interests of scholarship. [. . .]"
5. The REF is already under way! Despite these major concerns, there is a pilot study know on impact . . . that may not be concluded until next year. Thus, it may not be until the REF2013 is halfway finished that we will have any knowledge about how we'll assessed up to 25% of our final scores . . . including the last few years! Thus, today what we do or do not do may or may not count as "impact": we'll be assessed all the same according to a criteria to be announced later that will be applied retrospectively to work that has already happened.
What is the solution? Well, one way forward would be to postpone the measurement of "impact" until post-REF2013. It does not make much sense using an indicator that is still not defined nor tested . . . and won't be so until literally a year or two before the end of the current assessment period. It's important to get these decisions correct. This will not happen by rushing through this proposal.
NOTE: There are echoes here of where the government previously pushed for bibliometric measures to assess all departments, only to withdraw these measures. I would not be surprised if "impact" had the same fate.
JOB: Cincinnati
UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI, Cincinnati, OH. Assistant Professor, tenure- track, to begin September 1, 2010, PhD in philosophy or history and philosophy of science must be in hand by time of appointment. AOS: History of Modern European Philosophy or Philosophy of Science, Special Sciences. AOC: Open. We seek a colleague prepared to develop an extensive and rich research program, including where appropriate, external research support, to excel in teaching, and to pursue university and professional service and professional development opportunities. For history candidates, we are most interested in a colleague who works on one or more of the major philosophical figures of the modern European historical period. For science candidates, we are most interested in someone who focuses on general philosophy of science and/or philosophy of the life or cognitive and neural sciences --the candidate must be able to work across the disciplines that constitute her/his AOS. Quarter system, 2-2-2 load; potential for teaching reduction, includes graduate, advanced undergraduate, and introductory undergraduate supervision/instruction. We are a PhD- granting department with strengths in philosophy of the life sciences, philosophy and cognitive science, and aesthetics. The University of Cincinnati is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer. Women, minorities, and disabled persons are encouraged to apply. All
candidates must apply online at www.jobsatuc.edu for position number 29UC5332. Recommendation letters must be sent by snail mail to: Search Committee Chair, Department of Philosophy, ML 0374, 206 McMicken Hall, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0374. Applications must include a cover letter, CV, writing sample(s), three letters of recommendation, and evidence of teaching qualifications. Deadline for dossiers is December 1, 2009. Initial interviews will take place at the APA Eastern Division meeting.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Thom Brooks on "Publishing Advice for Graduate Students"
A quick reminder that I have posted newly revised advice for graduate students on how to publish here. The paper addresses how to write articles, book proposals, replies/discussion pieces, review articles, conference papers, and book reviews. The paper's abstract is here:
"Graduate students often lack concrete advice on publishing. This essay is an attempt to fill this important gap. Advice is given on how to publish everything from book reviews to articles, replies to book chapters, and how to secure both edited book contracts and authored monograph contracts, along with plenty of helpful tips and advice on the publishing world (and how it works) along the way in what is meant to be a comprehensive, concrete guide to publishing that should be of tremendous value to graduate students working in any area of the humanities and social sciences. "
I have been delighted at the interest in the paper -- over 250 downloads since this past Monday -- and please share this link far and wide.
Enter the Philosophy Zone!
A great story here about a programme that -- hopefully -- might be rolled out elsewhere across the UK and beyond.
New Poll: 48% Of Republicans Say Obama Does Not Love America -- 27% Say He Does
Details are here. The Party of No is fast becoming the Party of Don't Take Us Seriously.
CFP: The Methods of Applied Philosophy
This is a call for papers for a special issue of the "Journal of Applied Philosophy" on the topic "The Methods of Applied Philosophy".
The Guest Editors for the special issue are Adrian Walsh (University of New England, Australia) and John McMillan (Flinders University, Australia).
Applied philosophy is now (roughly) 35 years old and it is appropriate to consider question such as:
What is applied philosophy and how might it differ from other areas of philosophy?
What, if anything, might be distinctive about this area of inquiry?
Is it possible to discern distinctive forms of reasoning that are characteristic of applied philosophy?
This special issue of the Journal will address these questions by considering the methods and modes of argument used in applied philosophy.
Relevant questions include:
• Are there modes of argument specific to applied philosophy?
• Does the practical importance of the issues that applied
philosophers address make any difference to the forms of argument used?
Should it do so?
• Are there any grounds for thinking that the ‘applied turn’ was a
mistake?
• What influence has applied philosophy have had on the development
of philosophy?
• How should empirical data be incorporated into the theoretical work
of applied philosophers?
• What role should appeal to general abstract principles play in
applied philosophy?
• Should imaginary cases have a part to play in applied philosophy?
• Does recent work in experimental philosophy have any implications
for applied philosophy?
• Is applied philosophy an historically distinct form of inquiry?
The special issue will include articles that explore questions such as these about the methods used by applied philosophers and the place of applied philosophy within philosophy as a whole.
The special issue will be partnered with a one-day sub-theme at the Society for Applied Philosophy Annual Conference in June 2010. Presenters to the conference sub-theme will be invited to submit their papers to the journal for consideration in the special issue. The plenary speakers for the conference sub-theme will be Professor Hans-Johann Glock (University of Zurich) and Professor Shaun Nichols (University of Arizona).
Submission
The Editors now invite submission of papers to be considered for the special issue. The deadline for submissions is 1 April 2010. Submitted papers must conform to the submission guidelines for the Journal of Applied Philosophy, which can be found at:
http://www.wiley.com/bw/submit.asp?ref=0264-3758&site=1
Papers that conform to these guidelines can be submitted electronically as email attachments to jap@hull.ac.uk. Please put 'Paper submission' in the subject box of your email when submitting your paper electronically and indicate clearly in the email that the paper is intended for consideration for the special issue on The Methods of Applied Philosophy.
Enquiries about the special issue can be directed to Adrian Walsh
awalsh@une.edu.au
Petition against "impact" in Research Excellence Framework
. . . can be found here. Please do sign it, if you have not done so already. In less than week, it has attracted over 1,500 signatures. Let us hope it will have an "impact" . . . .
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Mandelson expects students to adopt a more consumer-led approach to their university education
Details here. An excerpt:
"[. . .] Lord Mandelson told the CBI summit there needed to be "a greater degree of competition between institutions" so that courses would be improved and tailored. He said while the higher and further education sectors faced "increasingly tight fiscal constraint", standards should not fall.
He said: "Expanding investment means universities will have to deepen and diversify their sources of non-public income through commercialisation of their teaching or research expertise, through a more professional approach to endowments and through greater resource efficiency.
"We will also have to look at the contribution that individuals make to the cost of higher education, which we will do through the independent fees review."
The review is due to be launched later this year, but will not conclude until after the next general election. [. . .]
[. . .] "As students who go into higher education pay more, they will expect more and are entitled to receive more in terms, not just of the range of courses, but in the quality of experience they receive during their time in the higher education system.
"If there is a degree of passivity then, I hope, that without rejoining our student population to take to the barricades, that they become pickier, choosier and more demanding consumers of the higher education experience.
"Therefore teacher quality and the quality of the teaching experience is going to become more important." [. . .]"
Upshot? The government will continue to avoid investment in higher education on a par with other countries, not least the United States. British universities must then attract extra funds through alternative sources. In so doing, these universities must offer more than do at present. Perhaps this is the future. However, maintaining standards in this new environment may be more difficult than Mandelson thinks . . .
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Petition regarding REF "impact" category
. . . can be found here. It reads:
"We request the reversal of the Research Councils and HEFCE policy to direct funds to projects whose outcomes are determined to have a significant ‘impact’. The arts and humanities do have such an impact, but it is typically difficult if not impossible to judge this in the short-term. Academic excellence is the best predictor of impact in the longer term, and it is on academic excellence alone that research should be judged. ‘Users’ who are not academic experts are not fit to judge the academic excellence of research any more than employers are fit to mark student essays. The UK is renowned for its creative industries. But the roots of creativity in the intellectual life of the nation need sustained support and evaluations based on short-term impact will lead to less impact in the long-term. We also request the abandonment of plans to merge subject panels based on spurious claims of disciplinary and methodological similarities. Merging panels in most cases would undermine both methodological integrity and disciplinary identities and undermine the world class research that the UK currently produces."
This petition may only be signed by British citizens or residents in Britian. I have signed it now and recommend others to follow suit.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Publishing Advice for Graduate Students - revised
Readers may know of my "Publishing Advice for Graduate Students" (now downloaded over 4,300 times) which is a revised version of an earlier piece here (downloaded 2,855 times). Needless to say, I have been genuinely overwhelmed at the popularity of these papers. Over the past year or two, I have received much helpful feedback that I have used to revise the more recent paper.
You can find the newly revised "Publishing Advice for Graduate Students (Revised" here. The abstract remains:
"Graduate students often lack concrete advice on publishing. This essay is an attempt to fill this important gap. Advice is given on how to publish everything from book reviews to articles, replies to book chapters, and how to secure both edited book contracts and authored monograph contracts, along with plenty of helpful tips and advice on the publishing world (and how it works) along the way in what is meant to be a comprehensive, concrete guide to publishing that should be of tremendous value to graduate students working in any area of the humanities and social sciences."
Please feel free to distribute the new link widely --- this piece is available for free --- and please let me know how it might be further improved in future.
Paul Krugman on US health care reform
. . . can be found here. An excerpt:
"[. . .] For 2009, it turns out, is not 1993. Once again, Republicans have tried to kill reform with smears and scare stories. But all they seem to have killed with their cries of “socialism” and warnings about “death panels” is their own credibility. Some form of health-care reform is highly likely to pass. [. . .]
[. . .] As I said, the individual mandate probably should be stronger than it is in the Finance Committee’s bill. But there’s a reason the mandate was weakened: fear that too many people would balk at the cost of insurance, even with the subsidies provided to lower-income individuals and families. So why not address that cost?
Aside from making the subsidies larger, which they should be, there are at least two changes to the legislation that would help limit costs. First, health exchanges — special, regulated markets in which individuals and small businesses can buy insurance — can be made stronger, in effect giving small buyers a better bargaining position. Second, the public option — missing from the Finance Committee’s bill — can be brought back in, giving private insurers some real competition.
The insurance industry won’t like these changes, but that matters less than it did a week ago. [. . .]
[. . .] Even with stronger exchanges and a public option, health reform would probably increase, not reduce, insurance industry profits. But the insurers wanted it all. The good news is that by overreaching, they may have ensured that they won’t get it."
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Academy of Social Sciences announces new Academicians
. . . in today's Times Higher Education here. The full list:
John Allen, professor of economic geography, The Open University
Michael Anyadike-Danes, head of research, Economic Research Institute of Northern Ireland
Vernon Bogdanor, professor of government, University of Oxford
Martyn Bond, visiting professor of European politics and policy, Royal Holloway, University of London
Sophie Bowlby, senior lecturer in geography, University of Reading
Thom Brooks, reader in political and legal philosophy, Newcastle University
Jacquelin Burgess, professor of environmental risk, University of East Anglia
Tim Butler, professor of geography, King's College London
Timothy Clark, professor of organisational behaviour, Durham University
Alistair Cole, professor of European politics, Cardiff University
Diana Coole, professor of political and social theory, Birkbeck, University of London
Douglas Davies, professor in the study of religion, Durham University
Lorraine Dearden, professor of economics and social statistics, Institute of Education
John Dunn, emeritus professor of political theory, University of Cambridge
Lewis Elton, emeritus professor of higher education, University of Surrey
Anthony Forster, pro vice-chancellor for learning and teaching, Durham University
Keith Glaister, dean of the Management School, University of Sheffield
Keith Grint, professor of public leadership and management, University of Warwick
Alexander Haslam, professor of psychology, University of Exeter
Colin Hay, professor of political analysis, University of Sheffield
Robert Hetherington, chief economist, Devon County Council
Celia Hoyles, professor of mathematics education, Institute of Education
Janet Hunter, professor of economic history, London School of Economics
Chris Huxham, professor of management, University of Strathclyde
Ron Iphofen, retired director of postgraduate studies, Bangor University
Michael Keating, professor of politics, University of Aberdeen
Emil Kirchner, professor of European studies, University of Essex
Saville Kushner, professor of public evaluation, University of the West of England
John Leach, professor of science education and dean of education, University of Leeds
Kevin Lee, professor of economics and graduate dean, University of Leicester
Robert Leonardi, director-general of the Sicilian Regional Government's Brussels office
Peter Malpass, professor of housing and urban studies, University of the West of England
John Mingers, professor of operational research and information systems, University of Kent
Michael Moran, professor of government, University of Manchester
Elizabeth Murphy, professor of sociology and pro vice-chancellor, University of Leicester
Emma Murphy, professor of political economy, Durham University
David Nelken, distinguished research professor of law, Cardiff University
Frank Peck, professor of regional economic development, University of Cumbria
John Peterson, professor of international politics, University of Edinburgh
Judith Phillips, professor of gerontology, Swansea University
Bob Picciotto, visiting professor in the department of war studies, King's College London
Laurence Ray, professor of sociology, University of Kent
John Richardson, professor of student learning and assessment, The Open University
Anne Rogers, professor of the sociology of healthcare, University of Manchester
James Rollo, professor of European economic integration, University of Sussex
Thomas Scharf, professor of social gerontology, Keele University
Andrew Scott, professor of European Union studies, University of Edinburgh
Michael Shackleton, extraordinary professor of European institutions, Maastricht University
David Shanks, professor of psychology, University College London
Michael Sheppard, professor of social work, University of Plymouth
David Simon, professor in development geography, Royal Holloway, University of London
Iram Siraj-Blatchford, professor of early-childhood education, Institute of Education
Maria Slowey, vice-president for learning innovation, Dublin City University
Guy Standing, professor of social and economic security, University of Bath
John Stewart, professor of health history, Glasgow Caledonian University
Gerry Stoker, professor of politics and governance, University of Southampton
Michael Swan, freelance writer
Howard Thomas, dean and professor of strategic management, Warwick Business School
Claire Wallace, professor of sociology, University of Aberdeen
Paul Whiteley, professor of government, University of Essex
Allan Williams, emeritus professor in occupational psychology, City University London
David Wilson, deputy dean and professor of strategy at Warwick Business School
Fiona Wishlade, reader in the European Policies Research Centre, University of Strathclyde
Cecilia Wong, professor of spatial planning, University of Manchester.
Kiss are back!
Thirty five years on - details here. I first saw Kiss when I was either five or six and I've never been the same since --- they remain easily one of my favourite bands.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Newly revised publishing advice
. . . will be posted here tomorrow. There are a few changes I've made in response to helpful recommendations from readers. Watch this space!
October 14th is the best day of the year!
...because it is my birthday.
-----------------------------------------------
Many incredible events happened on this day (yes, even more incredible than me...) with some more memorable than others. For instance:
*1066 - William the Conqueror wins the Battle of Hastings
*1322 - Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeats King Edward II of England, forcing recognition of Scotland's independence
* 1582 - This day did not exist this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal, or Spain because of implementation of the Gregorian calendar
* 1789 - George Washington proclaims the first Thanksgiving Day(!)
* 1806 - The Battle of Jena: France defeats Prussia --- and an important event for young Hegel
*1843 - The British arrest Daniel O'Connell for conspiracy
*1912 - Teddy Roosevelt shot by an assassin while campaigning in Milwaukee. He continued to deliver his speech...with the bullet still lodged in him
*1926 - A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh is published for the first time
*1933 - Nazi Germany withdraws from the League of Nations
*1947 - Chuck Yeager is the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound
*1962 - the Cuban Missile Crisis begins
* 1963 - the first time a newspaper uses the term "Beatlemania"
* 1964 - Martin Luther King is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
* 1969 - Britain introduces the 50 pence coin, replacing the ten shilling note
* 1979 - the first Gay Rights March on Washington, DC
* 1982 - Ronald Reagan declares a 'War on Drugs'
* 1994 - Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, and Shimon Peres receive the Nobel Peace Prize
There are also several famous people who share my birthday, including:
James II of England and VII of Scotland (1633)
William Penn (1644)
Eamon de Valera (1882)
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890)
E. E. Cummings (1894)
Hannah Arendt (1906)
C. Everett Koop (1916)
Roger Moore (1927)
Ralph Lauren (1939)
Cliff Richard (1940)
Thomas Dolby (1958)
Steve Coogan (1965)
Famous deaths on this day include Harold Godwinson (1066, King of England), Errol Flynn(1959), Bing Crosby (1977) and the great Leonard Bernstein (1990).
October 14th is World Standards Day, World Organ Donation Day(?!), and National Education Day in Poland.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Rawlsian Liberalism in Context(s) conference
"Rawlsian Liberalism in Context(s)"
*Date: *February 26-27, 2010
*Place:*Toyota Auditorium, Baker Center for Public Policy, University of Tennessee
Over a period of fifty years, John Rawls developed and gave voice to the most powerful and systematic moral theory of constitutional liberal democracy since John Stuart Mill's work a century earlier. The recent publication of Rawls's undergraduate thesis, "A Brief Inquiry into the Meaning of Sin and Faith," has encouraged a profitable re-reading of his political philosophy in the context and light of his personal and scholarly engagement with theological ethics and political theology in general and Christianity in particular. Building on this development,"Rawlsian Liberalism in Context(s)" aims to shed further light on Rawls's work by situating it within multiple disciplinary contexts. Symposium speakers will address the relationships between Rawls's thought and 20th century developments in economics and political economy, in analytic philosophy, in American pragmatist thought, in normative theorizing of American foreign policy and international relations, and in theological ethics and political theology. Symposium speakers, each an expert on Rawls's work, include:
* Jerry Gaus, James E. Rogers Professor of Philosophy, University of
Arizona.
* Richard Miller, Professor of Philosophy, Cornell University.
* David Reidy, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of
Tennessee.
* Robert Talisse, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Political
Science, Vanderbilt University.
* Paul Weithman, Professor of Philosophy, Notre Dame University.
Sessions are free and open to the public. Schedule details will be available late fall 2009. For further information, please contact David Reidy, Philosophy, University of Tennessee, dreidy@utk.edu or 865.974.7210.
The symposium is sponsored by the Office of Research, the School of Law, the Baker Center for Public Policy, the departments of Philosophy and Political Science, and the American Studies progam, all at the University of Tennessee.
Newcastle Brown Ale is moving to Yorkshire
Details are here. An excerpt from the BBC:
"[. . .] Production of Newcastle Brown Ale is set to cease on Tyneside after its owners announced plans to close its brewery in Gateshead next year.
Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) wants to shut the Federation Brewery in Dunston and transfer operations to the John Smith's factory in Tadcaster.
The move, which would result in the loss of 63 jobs, is being blamed on falling beers sales in the UK.
Brewing of the ale moved across the River Tyne from Newcastle in 2005.
The beer has been brewed on Tyneside since 1927. [. . .]"
Monday, October 12, 2009
200,000 hits . . . and counting!
Today, the Brooks Blog reaches a special milestone: the blog now has over 200,000 hits since June 15, 2006. I have really been amazed at how the blog has taken off and become so popular. It's largely been a collection of any number of things from job and conference announcements to noting important papers and a place to note my own work, as well as various bits of humour and music. I remain eternally grateful to Brian Leiter for his warm encouragement over many years to start blogging and, most especially, to my readers. Thank you all!
JOB: Queen's (Canada)
DEMOCRACY AND DIVERSITY POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP, QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY
The Department of Philosophy at Queen’s University has a postdoctoral fellowship program in “Democracy and Diversity”, funded by the Canadian Institute For Advanced Research. Each year, one non-renewable 12-month fellowship is awarded. The successful applicant will have a demonstrated expertise in political philosophy/political theory, with a special interest in issues of the accommodation of diversity in democratic societies, show evidence of teaching potential, and be able to participate constructively in departmental and collegial activities. The Fellow will work under the supervision of Prof. Will Kymlicka. The 2010-11 fellowship will start on July 1, 2009. Applicants must have submitted their doctoral dissertation by that date, and must be within five years of having received their doctorate. The salary for the postdoctoral fellowship will be $34,000, which includes remuneration for teaching a half-course in political philosophy or a cognate subject. Queen’s University is a leading centre for the normative study of democracy and diversity, with active research programs located in both the Ethnicity and Democratic Governance project (EDG) and the Forum for Philosophy and Public Policy. The Fellow would be affiliated with these programs, and would participate in their activities. Each full application should include a curriculum vitae, together with a statement of research interests, a teaching dossier, and a writing sample. Applications should be mailed to the Department of Philosophy, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7L 3N6, to arrive by February 1, 2010. It is the responsibility of the applicants to have three letters of reference sent directly by their referees. References may be mailed to the postal address above, or sent by email to: kymlicka@queensu.ca. Further information is available on the Department's website: http://www.queensu.ca/philosophy/jobs.php
JOB: Kentucky
UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY, LEXINGTON, KY. Assistant or Associate Professor, tenure-track, beginning Fall semester, 2010. 4 courses/year (2/semester), undergraduate and graduate. Some thesis supervision.
Usual non-teaching duties. AOS: Epistemology, Philosophy of Science, or Philosophy of Language; AOC: Logic. Teaching duties will include a course on symbolic logic/metalogic that is required of students in the Ph.D. program. The University of Kentucky is an Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity University that values diversity and is located in an increasingly diverse geographical region. It is committed to becoming one of the top public institutions in the country. Women, persons with disabilities, and members of other underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply. Ph.D. required at time of appointment.
Send complete dossier, including at least three letters of recommendation, CV, writing sample, and evidence of teaching excellence, to: Prof. James Force, Search Committee, Dept. of Philosophy, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0027. Deadline for applications: November 23, 2009.
JOB: Oxford
College Stipendiary Lecturership
Philosophy
Final Honour School
St John's College, Oxford
http://jobs.ac.uk/job/AAD017/
JOB: Cambridge
Junior Research Fellowships
Clare College
University of Cambridge
http://jobs.ac.uk/job/AAC953/
JOB: Cambridge
Junior Research Fellowships, 2010-2013
Clare College
University of Cambridge
http://jobs.ac.uk/job/AAC876/
CFP: MPSA Political Science Conference (political philosophy)
Deadline for the MPSA Call for Papers is extended to Friday, October 16, 2009 http://www.mpsanet.org
The MPSA conference has several active conference sections that deal with Political Philosophy including: Foundations of Political Theory: Ancient; Foundations of Political Theory: Pre- and Early Modern; Liberalism and Democratic Theory; Contemporary Political Theory; Political Philosophy: Approaches and Themes.
The 68th Annual MPSA Political Science Conference will be held April 22-25, 2010, in Chicago. In 2009, more than 5,100 presenters from the United States and 55 countries throughout the world presented almost 4,000 research papers. The conference includes a large Exhibit Hall, featuring academic and textbook publishers and acquisition editors, and a Job Placement service provided for all registered attendees. Everything happens in the newly restored Palmer House Hilton in Downtown Chicago, a centrally located, accessible city for travelers.
Comments from Past Participants
"The MPSA is one of the largest and most diverse political science conferences; providing scholars with great opportunities to exchange ideas, network, and spend a few days in one of the most enjoyable cities anywhere."
-David F. Damore, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
"The substantial intrinsic pleasures of being in Chicago aside, the MPSA's tremendous variety of panels means ready opportunities for collegial interaction."
-Charles Rubin, Duquesne University
"High quality work without the frenzied feeling of a larger conference. It makes Midwest a lot more relaxed and fun than other conferences of similar quality."
-Ethan Scheiner, University of California, Davis
JOB: Melbourne
The Philosophy program at the University of Melbourne invites applications for a lectureship in philosophy.
AOS: Epistemology and Metaphysics (broadly construed).
AOC: Open.
The position is a continuing (permanent) appointment at the level of lecturer level B (salary: A$73,863-A$87,710).
Commencement date: 1 February 2010 or mutually agreed date thereafter.
Further details relating to the position, and information about the application procedure may be found on the University of Melbourne employment website: http://www.hr.unimelb.edu.au/careers/
Further information about the position may also be obtained from Associate Professor Greg Restall restall@unimelb.edu.au
Applications are to be submitted on-line by the deadline of 20 November 2009.
--
Furthermore, the Discipline of Philosophy at the University of Melbourne anticipates advertising a further lectureship, AOS in Political Philosophy, in the very near future. Details of this position will be sent to this list as soon as they are available.
Newcastle University's recycling rate doubles
Terrific news from my university, the University of Newcastle, on its recycling efforts. Details here.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Friday, October 09, 2009
Barack Obama wins 2009 Nobel Peace Prize
Details here. It will be interesting to see how Republicans will respond to this, as it will be difficult to say Obama is doing a bad job at representing the US abroad when he earns such a prestigious prize . . . and so quickly.
Publishing advice - revised
Many readers may already know my piece on publishing advice here (which has been downloaded over 4,200 times). I have made some revisions to this paper and will post it online very shortly. Watch this space . . .
Up to 175,000 students in the UK may still be waiting to receive their student loans and grants
. . . with term well under way across most of the UK. (We're in the second week of term at Newcastle.) Details here.
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Thom Brooks on "Killing in War" by Jeff McMahan
. . . is online here with the Times Higher Education. An excerpt:
"[. . .] It is commonly said that "all is fair in love and war": soldiers have the moral right to kill other soldiers in wartime whether or not their cause is just. One reason is that soldiers are permitted to act in self-defence. A second reason is that peacetime morality is suspended in wartime: war makes things different and what was once morally impermissible becomes permissible, even glorified. These and other widely held, venerable views are frankly exploded - please excuse the pun - in this book, with great clarity and tremendous persuasive force. [. . .]
[. . .] We may think that war simply makes things different: it may be true that we would be most morally upright doing one thing rather than another, but war significantly changes the scenario, such as suspending or altering our normal moral judgments.
However, McMahan convincingly argues this cannot be true. His example is an army lacking a just cause that brutalises and terrorises a community. Members of this community then band together to launch guerrilla counter-attacks on the invaders. The army may find itself under attack, but it would have no right to self-defence. This is because it had no right to launch an unjust aggression. This example highlights that our normal moral standards hold irrespective of wartime: it is a mistake to think otherwise. [. . .]
[. . .] Killing in War represents a tremendous achievement from one of today's leading moral philosophers. Never before has a book so swiftly challenged my own views and convinced me that I was in error. I cannot recommend it highly enough. [. . .]"
JOB: Johannesburg
Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Political Thought
A National Research Foundation (NRF) Postdoctoral Research Fellowship is on offer for one year (renewable for another) in the Department of Politics, University of Johannesburg (UJ), South Africa. It will be under the mentorship of Professor Lawrence Hamilton, who holds an NRF President's Award, and will be located within the Department and within the Centre of Political Thought at UJ. The fellowship can be taken up from 1 February or 1 July 2010, and is set at the UJ’s rate for postdoctoral fellowships, currently R160 000 per annum, sufficient to cover living expenses.
The Centre of Political Thought at UJ is a unique environment in South Africa for research in political thought and theory. Existing members of the Centre research on a variety of topics within the history of political thought and political philosophy, including human needs and rights; political judgement; freedom, constitutionalism, poverty and public debt in South Africa; German Idealist political thought; language and politics; 10th century Islamic political thought; the intellectual history of freedom in America; African political thought; and the thought of Rousseau, Sieyès and Marx.
Applicants should not feel, however, that they have to restrict their research proposals to these or cognate areas. The proposed postdoctoral research can be on any topic within the fields of history of political thought, political philosophy or political theory – including research that makes use of empirical analysis and case studies to further the understanding or applicability of a question within political theory. The final choice of candidate will not be influenced by their choice of research topic.
Candidates are only eligible if they have been awarded a doctoral degree within the last five years; and, if they have yet to receive the degree, they must have it in hand by the time they take up the position, or preferably by the end of 2009. Interested candidates should email their curriculum vitae, the names of three referees, an example of their written (preferably published) work of about 10 000 words, and a one-page summary of their proposed postdoctoral research to Professor Hamilton (lhamilton@uj.ac.za or lah1001@cam.ac.uk) by 30 November 2009. They can also post their applications to: Professor Lawrence Hamilton, Department of Politics, University of Johannesburg, P.O. Box 524, Auckland Park, 2006, South Africa, making sure they arrive by the deadline. The successful candidate will be informed by the 15 December 2009.
CFP: Problems of Democracy conference
1st Global Conference
Problems of Democracy
Friday 30th April – Sunday 2nd May 2010
Prague, Czech Republic
Call for Papers
The opening decade of the 21st century sees democracy entrenched as the ideal to which all should aspire who do not already enjoy the best of all possible political systems. But to assert that alternatives to democracy are (even) worse is hardly to give a positive argument in its
favour: Plato's objection, that the "ship of state" requires expertise to steer it that "the many" do not possess surely deserves a better answer. But what? And is an answer to be found in "democracy itself" (whatever that may be) or in what democracy makes possible?
And even once that's dealt with, what about "actually existing democracy"? If, as Zizek argues, 'Multi-party liberal democracy "represents" a precise vision of social life in which politics is organized so that parties compete in elections to exert control over the state legislative and executive apparatus', is that the best democracy can do? Indeed, just what is to count as democracy? And again, is an answer to this question to be sought in some substantial element of the very idea of democracy or in instrumental terms, such as the practical consequences of adopting this or that view?
This conference is intended as the launch of a continuing and explicitly
multi- and inter-disciplinary conversation that aims to bring together people from a wide range of disciplines, professions and ngo's to focus on what "democracy" might mean; on what – if anything – might justify democratic as against other social arrangements; and on visions of democratic practice that go beyond the pusillanimous, platitudinous and ultimately self-regarding charade that is the reality of western liberal democracy.
The 'problems of democracy' as outlined below deliberately seek to address large questions as a means of setting something of an agenda for such a project. We will of course be pleased to receive proposals that extend or complement these. We seek contributions from both practitioners and academics, and from the widest possible range of intellectual interests and commitment.
1. What Counts as Democracy?
~ What are the assumptions that lie behind democracy? Is democracy an end in itself, or does it serve other values and goals?
~ "Government by, for and of the people": what political, epistemic and/or other commitments might such an ideal entail?
~ Is 'What counts as democracy?' in any sense a moral question?
2. Is Democracy a Good Thing?
~ What exactly does democracy have to recommend it?
~ What are the connections between democracy and equality? And what does equality amount to? Is it self-evident that equality is an end to be pursued; or are there substantive arguments in its favour?
~ How does democracy understand freedom? And is freedom a self-evident good?
~ Alternatives to democracy
3. Forms of Democracy
~ Considerations of representative, delegated and discursive models of democracy ~ Is there a case for lotteries to replace – or supplement – elections?
~ The scope of democracy: state, nation, corporation, workplace, "community" and locality
The Steering Group particularly welcomes the submission of pre-formed panel proposals. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 27th November 2009. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by Friday 19th March 2010.
300 word abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to both Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats with the following information and in this order:
a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract.
Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.
Joint Organising Chairs:
Bob Brecher
Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics Faculty of Arts, Brighton University, United Kingdom
E-mail: R.Brecher@bton.ac.uk
Rob Fisher
Network Founder and Leader
Inter-Disciplinary.Net
Freeland, Oxfordshire,
United Kingdom
E-mail: pod@inter-disciplinary.net
The conference is part of the Probing the Boundaries programme of research projects. It aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting.
All papers accepted for and presented at the conference will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers may be developed for publication in a themed hard copy volume(s).
For further details about the project please visit:
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/probing-the-boundaries/hostility-and-violence/problems-of-democracy/
For further details about the conference please visit:
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/probing-the-boundaries/hostility-and-violence/problems-of-democracy/call-for-papers/
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Leif Wenar and Branko Milanovic on "Are Liberal Peoples Peaceful?"
. . . can be found here, in the current issue of Journal of Political Philosophy (subscription-only). An excerpt:
"Are liberal societies peaceful? Many liberals believe so, and John Rawls argues their case. Rawls holds that truly liberal societies are satisfied: they will not go to war for the sake of power, territory, riches, glory, or to spread their religion. “Their basic needs are met, and their fundamental interests are fully compatible with those of other democratic peoples . . . There is true peace among them because all societies are satisfied with the status quo for the right reasons” (LoP, p. 46). Rawls also offers a striking explanation for this thesis of liberal satisfaction: it is the internal political structures of liberal societies that make them externally non-aggressive.
We believe that there are serious difficulties both with Rawls’s thesis that liberal societies are peaceful and with his explanation for why they might be so. Rawls has not established that liberal societies “will have no reason to go to war with one another” or with other peaceful states (LoP, p. 19). Moreover we hold that there are good grounds—even within Rawls’s own view—for doubting this pacific element of the liberal self-image. [. . .]"
Boudewijn de Bruin on "Liberal and Republican Freedom"
. . . can be found here, in the current issue of Journal of Political Philosophy (subscription-only). An excerpt:
"[. . .] While close in spirit to critical evaluations of republicanism by authors such
as Ian Carter and Matthew Kramer, this essay is concerned with arguments
that differ from theirs in a variety of ways. Ignoring subtle yet significant
dissimilarities between their respective views, Carter and Kramer both present an
“equivalent-judgments thesis” to the effect that while republicans and liberals
disagree about the precise analysis of freedom, they give “very similar” answers
to questions about degrees and distributions of freedom. Liberals maintain that
in the few cases where there is disagreement, the republicans misuse the term
freedom. While there is much to recommend this line of argumentation, it might
lead some republicans to respond that it reduces the debate to one of terminology,
not substance. In contrast to Carter and Kramer, I accept the republican
terminology and develop an argument that cannot be countered by playing the
“terminology card.” [. . .]"
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
The Academy of Social Sciences and Me
Today, I have just received confirmation that I have been accepted into the Academy of Social Sciences. The announcement is here. The Academy's website notes here the following:
The Academy is delighted to announce the award of Academician status to 64 senior social scientists. The award is for making a significant contribution to the social sciences and is by nomination and peer group review. Speaking about the conferment, the Chair of Council, Professor Cary Cooper CBE AcSS, said:
“I am delighted that we are able to confer the award on such a significant number of distinguished new Academicians. The social sciences have a vital contribution to make towards some of the big issues facing society today, such as sustainability, crime, communities and individual fulfilment and well-being. Conferment of the award will give confidence that the contributions made by Academicians to knowledge production and transfer are well founded, because that are based on rigorous peer group review of the available evidence."
I was nominated by Political Studies Association. Those sharing the honour with me include Vernon Bogdanor CBE (Oxford), Diana Coole (Birkbeck), John Dunn (Cambridge), Colin Hay (Sheffield), Michael Moran (Manchester), Gerry Stoker (Southampton), and Paul Whiteley (Essex) amongst many others.
Should professors wear jeans?
The answer seems "obviously yes" to me, but not everyone shares my views. Today, the BBC reports the following story concerning Birmingham Metropolitan College here. An excerpt:
"[. . .] Lecturers have been told they will be sent home to change if they come to work in jeans or scruffy trousers. The UCU lecturers' union is protesting against Birmingham Metropolitan College acting like the "fashion police". The college rules call for tidy hair, business suits and skirts, no visible tattoos or "ostentatious ear-rings". The guidelines say it wants staff to dress in a way that upholds the image of a "professional and business-like organisation". Once stereotyped with an image of fading 1970s fashion, lecturers are now being told they could face disciplinary measures if they fail to comply with the dress code. [. . .]
[. . .] Lecturers are being told to wear a "business suit; smart jacket and co-ordinating trousers or skirt; smart shirt/blouse/top and trousers or skirt; smart dress". Hair must now be "neat, tidy and well groomed. Outrageous styles and colours are not acceptable". "Unconventional" jewellery is barred and earrings must "not be excessive, obtrusive or ostentatious" and any tattoos must be covered up. The ban on jeans also extends to "scruffy/torn trousers; shorts; sweatshirts or t-shirts with slogans".
The lecturers' union says that staff have been "astonished" by the dress code imposed by the college management - with claims that it reflects a "Victorian attitude" to staff. UCU representative Nick Varney says that it "undermines the professionalism of staff, they can determine for themselves what's suitable when they're teaching". [. . .]"
I find this almost difficult to believe. While there may always be some eccentrically dressed colleagues meandering about campus, what's so bad about that? The campus is a place to learn, not keep appearances.
What do readers make of this? Does this college have it right?
Brian Leiter on "Who is the 'Sovereign Individual'? Nietzsche on Freedom"
. . . can be found here. An abstract:
Who is the “sovereign individual” of GM II:2, and what does he have to do with Nietzsche’s conceptions of free will, freedom or the self? I shall argue for what would have been, at one time, a fairly unsurprising view, namely, that (1) Nietzsche denies that people ever act freely and that they are ever morally responsible for anything they do; (2) the figure of the “sovereign individual” in no way supports a denial of the first point; and (3) Nietzsche engages in what Charles Stevenson would have called a “persuasive definition” of the language of “freedom” and “free will,” radically revising the content of those concepts, but in a way that aims to capitalize on their positive emotive valence and authority for his readers. More precisely, I aim to show that the image of the “sovereign individual” is, in fact, consistent with the reading of Nietzsche as a kind of fatalist, which I have defended at length elsewhere. To show that the image of the “sovereign individual” squares with Nietzsche’s fatalism, I distinguish between two different “Deflationary Readings” of the passage. On one such reading, the figure of the “sovereign individual” is wholly ironic, a mocking of the petite bourgeois who thinks his petty commercial undertakings - his ability to make promises and remember his debts - are the highest fruit of creation. On another Deflationary Reading, the “sovereign individual” does indeed represent an ideal of the self, one marked by a kind of self-mastery foreign to less coherent selves (whose momentary impulses pull them this way and that), but such a self, and its self-mastery is, in Nietzschean terms, a fortuitous natural artifact (a bit of “fate”), not an autonomous achievement for which anyone could be responsible. To associate this ideal of the self with the language of “freedom” and “free will” is an exercise in “persuasive definition” by Nietzsche, a rhetorical skill of which he was often the master.
Monday, October 05, 2009
Saturday, October 03, 2009
Further evidence that Republicans -- the party of "no" -- care more for ideology than country
. . . with the recent evidence widespread delight at Chicago failing to host the 2016 Olympics, as reported here.
Friday, October 02, 2009
Smart drugs for students?
The BBC runs this curious story here about 'smart drugs' and students. An excerpt:
"[. . .] Students could one day face dope tests to prove they have not boosted their academic performance with so called "smart drugs", a psychologist suggests.
More students are turning to drugs in an attempt to boost their grades, writes Vince Cakic of Sydney University in the Journal of Medical Ethics.
Among drugs apparently being used are those designed to treat hyperactivity and dementia.
Some academics think their use can be a positive thing, if regulated.
There are calls for a debate.
They say that although much written about the extent of drug use in the UK is anecdotal, studies at American universities suggest as many as one in four students on some campuses are taking stimulants.
Mr Cakic said: "The possibility of purchasing 'smartness in a bottle' is likely to have broad appeal to students seeking to gain an advantage in an increasingly competitive world."
The drugs would be near impossible to ban, he said. [. . ]"
Thursday, October 01, 2009
UK universities have been warned against "complacency" over standards, in a review commissioned by the Higher Education Funding Council for England
Full details here. It will be interesting to see what reforms follow from this report.
Introducting the new UK Supreme Court!
Details here. The 11 judges were sworn in today. The story:
"[. . .] The Supreme Court, housed at Middlesex Guildhall, replaces the Law Lords as the last court of appeal in all matters other than criminal cases in Scotland.
The court is independent of Parliament and will hear the most important cases.
Lord Phillips, President of the Supreme Court, said the change in form was important for judicial openness.
The judicial function of the House of Lords, whose powers had evolved over centuries, ended with the swearing in of Lord Phillips.
The justices wore black robes threaded with gold, replacing the full-bottomed wigs, robes and breeches of the lords.
The £59m Supreme Court has opened six years after it was first announced. Its first members were - until last month - the Law Lords who would have otherwise heard the same cases in the House of Lords.
But the constitutional change that led to the Supreme Court's creation means that Parliament's lawmakers and the judges charged with overseeing legislation have been separated.
Scotland's supreme criminal court remains the High Court of Justiciary.
The swearing-in saw Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers become the first President of the Court.
He was joined by 10 other colleagues in taking an oath of allegiance to uphold the law. A final 12th member of the court will be appointed at a later date.
Lord Phillips said: "This is the last step in the separation of powers in this country. We have come to it fairly gently and gradually, but we have come to the point where the judges are completely separated from the legislature and executive.
"The change is one of transparency. It's going to be very much easier for the public to come to our hearings.
"I would hope that the court is still sitting in 100 years' time and that when people look back at this step that they see it as a very significant step in the constitution of this country."
While only the Law Lords' judgements were televised from Parliament, all of the Supreme Court's hearings will be open to the public.
Its building, in Westminster, includes a public cafe and education facilities. For the first time, television cameras have been fitted into the courtrooms meaning that many hearings will be available to broadcasters.
The Supreme Court sits for the first time later on Thursday to deal with a relatively minor issue relating to legal costs.
Its first major appeal hearing follows next week in a case concerning terrorist suspects whose assets have been frozen.
Although the actual business and workings of the justices will be essentially the same as those of the Law Lords, it will be watched closely to see if the move across Parliament Square will affect the way its decides cases.
One group of influential solicitors and barristers is launching a blog to monitor the Supreme Court's decision-making.
But others have criticised the change, arguing that it is largely a cosmetic exercise."
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
The most satisfied students in Philosophy (revised)
. . . as determined by the recent National Student Survey 2009 in the UK. Results can be searched here. The revised results (for those with enough data):
1. Stirling - 98%
2. Essex - 97%
2. Greenwich - 97%
4. Exeter - 96%
5. Glasgow - 95%
5. St Andrews - 95%
7. Aberdeen - 94%
7. Royal Holloway - 94%
7. Southampton - 94%
7. Sussex - 94%
11. Bath Spa - 93%
11. Glamorgan - 93%
11. KCL - 93%
11. Newcastle - 93%
15. Bristol - 92%
15. Cardiff - 92%
17. Dundee - 91%
17. Manchester Met - 91%
17. Ulster - 91%
20. Central Lancashire - 90%
20. Hull - 90%
20. Kent - 90%
20. UCL - 90%
20. Middlesex - 90%
20. Wales, Newport - 90%
20. UWE - 90%
27. Bradford - 89%
27. East Anglia - 89%
27. Lancaster - 89%
27. Sheffield - 89%
27. York - 89%
32. Cambridge - 88%
33. Roehampton - 88%
33. St Mary's UC - 88%
35. Durham - 87%
35. Hertfordshore - 87%
37. London Met - 86%
37. Reading - 86%
37. Wolverhampton - 86%
40. Staffordshire - 85%
40. Wales, Lampeter - 85%
42. Leeds - 84%
43. Birmingham - 83%
43. Oxford Brookes - 83%
45. Liverpool - 82%
46. Liverpool Hope - 81%
46. UC Plymouth St Mark & St John - 81%
46. Queen's University Belfast - 81%
49. Keele - 80%
50. Anglia Ruskin - 78%
50. Brighton - 78%
50. Cumbria - 78%
50. Warwick - 78%
54. Edinburgh - 77%
54. Northampton - 77%
56. Heythrop - 72%
57. Nottingham - 68%
58. LSE - 64%
59. Manchester - 54%
The most satisfied students in Politics
. . . as determined by the recent National Student Survey 2009 in the UK. Results can be searched here. The results (for those with enough data):
1. Leicester - 98%
2. Cambridge - 97%
3. SOAS - 96%
4. Aberdeen - 95%
5. Dundee - 94%
5. Southampton - 94%
5. Strathclyde - 94%
8. Glasgow - 93%
8. Robert Gordon - 93%
10. Birmingham - 92%
10. De Monfort - 92%
10. Exeter - 92%
10. Warwick - 92%
14. Essex - 91%
14. Hull - 91%
14. Loughborough - 91%
14. Newcastle - 91%
14. UWE - 91%
19. Aberystwyth - 90%
19. Bradford - 90%
19. East Anglia - 90%
19. Liverpool - 90%
19. Nottingham Trent - 90%
19. Sussex - 90%
19. York - 90%
26. Huddersfield - 89%
26. King's College London - 89%
26. Plymouth - 89%
26. Sheffield - 89%
30. Brunel - 88%
30. Lancaster - 88%
30. Northumbria - 88%
30. Portsmouth - 88%
30. Stirling - 88%
30. Swansea - 88%
36. Keele - 87%
36. Manchester Met - 87%
36. Queen Mary - 87%
36. St Andrews - 87%
40. Bath - 86%
40. Cardiff - 86%
40. Coventry - 86%
40. Westminster - 86%
44. Greenwich - 85%
44. UCL - 85%
44. Reading - 85%
44. Ulster - 85%
48. London Met - 84%
48. Nottingham - 84%
50. Birmingham City - 83%
50. Liverpool John Moores - 83%
50. Oxford Brookes - 83%
53. Aston - 82%
53. Durham - 82%
53. Kingston - 82%
53. Salford - 82%
57. Canterbury Christ Church - 81%
57. Kent - 81%
57. Leeds Metropolitan - 81%
60. LSE - 80%
60. Royal Holloway - 80%
62. Liverpool Hope - 79%
62. Queen's University Belfast - 79%
64. Lincoln - 78%
64. Middlesex - 78%
64. Northampton - 78%
64. Surrey - 78%
68. Leeds - 77%
Others: Edinburgh - 69%, Manchester - 66%
Rights and Recognition Conference
Conference: Rights and Recognition
Date: 19-20 November 2009
Location: Cardiff School of European Studies, 65-68 Park Place Cardiff CF10 3AS
A conference organised and supported by Cardiff School of European Studies and the British Idealism Specialist Group of the Political Studies Association
Speakers include:
Rex Martin (Kansas)
Derrick Darby (Kansas)
Thom Brooks (Newcastle)
Peter Jones (Newcastle)
Mark Evans (Swansea)
David Boucher (Cardiff)
Peri Roberts (Cardiff)
Maria Dimova Cookson (Durham)
James Connelly (Hull)
Tony Burns (Nottingham)
Conference fee:
£45 includes all refreshment breaks, conference dinner on Thursday 19th November and lunch on Friday 20th November.
Contact:
For further details please contact Gemma Broadhurst: BroadhurstG@cardiff.ac.uk Telephone: +44(0)29 2087 4885
The conference website is here.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Oxford Political Thought Conference 2010
The current website can be found here. Sarah Mortimer and I are organizing the conference, alongside Iain Hampsher-Monk. It should be quite a show and very strongly recommended to those interested in political philosophy in the UK and beyond.
Alisa Kessel on "Un-contented characters: an education in the shared practices of democratic engagement"
. . . can be found here (subscription-only). An abstract:
"How should children be educated for democratic politics in ways that do not undermine their diverse needs, ideas, and interests? The dual challenges for a democratic theory of education are, first, to protect the pluralism of the young from standardization or indoctrination by the old, and second, to protect the social cohesion of the political community from the disruptive radicalism of its youngest members. I argue that liberal theories address this challenge by imagining an education in shared values (or content) that, in the end, undermines democracy. Following Aristotle and John Dewey, I suggest that an education in shared practices of democratic engagement provides a source of commonality that also preserves plurality."
Monday, September 28, 2009
JOB: LSE (2)
Career- track Lectureships in Philosophy (two posts) Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method
London School of Economics and Political Science
http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/SP483/
JOB: Harvard
Post-Doctoral Fellowship
Harvard University Program in Ethics and Health
http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/QW634/
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
A list of philosophy journals
. . . can be found here. Would readers know of a more comprehensive list online?
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