Academe Attack of the Unlibrarian 15 Dec 201115 Dec 2011 I am generally fairly IT savvy (I even have an ancient IT degree), but at the same time I am rather unconvinced that the future is as digital as everyone says. In particular I have been appalled at the constant destruction of physical books by university libraries. Now I am… Continue Reading
Academe Jobs for philosophers 28 Sep 201128 Sep 2011 The incredibly baroque, elite and Nortamericano-centrist Jobs for Philosophers [accessible by members only here] is being replaced by a free, online and internationally available website: phylo: Job Openings in Philosophy. So far, there are 62 positions advertised in just a few weeks. The Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association has… Continue Reading
Academe Synthese News 16 Jul 201116 Jul 2011 This post will give updates of the boycott status and I will move it to the top when it is updated. Update: Mohan Matthen asks if we are increasingly finding legal intervention in academic publishing. PD Magnus withdraws a paper from a Synthese special issue. The Status Page is now… Continue Reading
Academe My article in Times Higher Education Magazine 16 Jun 2011 Is here (scroll down), based on a prior post on this blog. In it I make the somewhat radical suggestion that medial and legal degrees should be removed from universities also. One of the commentators there took issue: I worry about Wilkins’ views about medicine and law. As he rightly… Continue Reading
Academe Is reality liberal biased? Are liberals reality biased? 15 Jun 201118 Sep 2017 Josh Rosenau has a piece up on Chris Mooney’s latest article on the Republican war on science in the US. Conservative bodies around the western world seem to resist science when it conflicts with policy (usually driven by PR from large corporations), so the point is more than simply American… Continue Reading
Academe Time to re-evaluate higher education 2 May 201122 Jun 2018 When my grandfather was a boy of 14, he started a career as a fireman that led to him being the chief of the Melbourne Metropolitan Fire Brigade in the 1930s. While he did this he gained an engineer’s certificate, but he was working, earning and building a career. He… Continue Reading
Academe Open thread on Synthese 22 Apr 2011 This thread is for anyone to discuss the matter in anyway they like, so long as the Comment Rules (at left) are respected. I have closed comments on the other threads, but some think the issue needs more discussion. Also see the Status Page for links to other discussions ongoing…. Continue Reading
Academe Us, them and the real issue 21 Apr 2011 I think I need to clear the air a bit. In the Synthese posts I have been defending the authors of the special issue to which I contributed. Some may think this has to do with my agreeing with them. I happen to, in the main, but I do not… Continue Reading
Academe Did Synthese bow to Intelligent Design pressure? 14 Apr 20114 Oct 2017 A while back I published a paper in a special edition of Synthese on “Evolution and its rivals”. My paper was titled “Are Creationists Rational?” in which I argued that yes, in a bounded sense they are. I was very pleased to be invited to publish in this front rank… Continue Reading
Academe Why philosophers should publish in science journals 16 Feb 2011 Generally my papers cause a mild reaction – like a dose of poison ivy. But i just had a paper published in Zootaxa, a mild mannered systematics journal, and as well as a two week turnaround, unheard of in philosophy (my last big paper took a year and a half),… Continue Reading