Brian Leiter's Blog, page 12

A new philosophy journal? "Germ"

Philosopher Bryan Frances writes: Here���s an idea for a new philosophy journal, called ���Germ���. All it publishes are the germs of ideas. No development, no stage-setting, no detailed arguments, no treatment or even mention of the relevant literature, and so...

Great moments in rock 'n' roll memorials: Sly Stone and Brian Wilson edition

Two major figures of 1960s and 1970s rock music, Sly Stone ("Sly & the Family Stone") and Brian Wilson (primary songwriter and arranger for "The Beach Boys") both died this week. I confess to not having been a big Beach...

More signs of the times: Northwestern announces hiring freeze, other cuts

Northwestern University has announced a faculty and staff hiring freeze, as well as (so far unspecified) cuts to employee tuition benefits and healthcare. (The latter is a bit shocking, frankly.) Northwestern is on the "hit list" for the fake anti-semitism...

Connell from Birkbeck to Notre Dame

Sophia Connell (ancient philosophy, history of analytic philosophy), Reader in Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London, has accepted a tenured appointment as Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, effective January 1, 2026.

Quantum mechanics, realism, and idealism

This essay in Nature by philosopher Alyssa Ney is quite informative and lucid (especially for those, like me, with a limited understanding of the physics), but you will have to register (for free) to read the whole thing.

We are heading into an even more dangerous moment under the tyrant Trump

Protests against ICE, against the persecution of immigrants, and against the military invasion of Los Angeles are spreading--including to Chicago--and this is likely to increase exponentially with each Trump provocation. Trump would love nothing better than to send the national...

RFK Jr's plan to kill us all: vaccine approval edition

The dangerous imbecile strikes again: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. health secretary, on Monday fired all 17 members of the advisory committee on immunization to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, saying that the move would restore the...

On the shameless lies undergirding the military invasion of Los Angeles

This is right: Administration officials like Stephen Miller are pushing the idea that Los Angeles is ���occupied territory,��� as evidenced by the foreign flags some protesters are carrying. Americans who still have hope for democracy should be saying, as loudly...

A serious, rather than rhetorical, Trump-Hitler comparison...

...from law professor Matthew Finkin, who examines the legal mechanisms by which the Nazis consolidated power, with comparisons to Trump (as well as noting some importance differences). Before Orban, there was Hitler, and it's worth paying attention to some of...

The shift away from humanities towards STEM in graduate education at UChicago

This data, compiled by the UChicago AAUP chapter, is pretty alarming. The last President was a mathematician (Bob Zimmer, whose gross mismanagement of the finances has left the university in a vulnerable position); the current one a chemist. Is that...