Philosophers Anonymous

Brooks Blog Posse

2012-01-24T21:06:00.002-05:00

Brooks Blog has a posse...

Hopefully the promised new blog will show up soon. And hopefully it will be more frequently devoted to DOOM and crankiness.

Joy Division, Disney-fied

2012-01-23T15:34:00.001-05:00

Always hated both, so I don't give a crap. But I suspect some will be horrified by this.
I can feel your doom....

New Van Halen

2012-01-21T23:22:00.000-05:00

New Van Halen. Worse than Rod Stewart.

Worse than Billy Joel?

2012-01-20T11:27:00.001-05:00

I have to admit it, this might be worse than Billy Joel. Someone please make it stop.

Progress at the APA?

2012-01-19T20:17:00.001-05:00

From the Eastern APA:

The Eastern Division Executive Committee has reviewed the results of the fall 2011 survey on meeting dates. In light of these results, the Committee has decided to change the dates of future Eastern Division meetings to early January: specifically, the end of the first full week in January (counting Monday as the first day of the week). These new meeting dates will take effect in the 2015/16 academic year.

Rec Letters for the UK

2012-01-19T13:17:00.003-05:00

We all know the story about how people in the US ought to read recommendation letters from people in the UK. The UK norms for recommendation letters tend towards understatement, and so US readers should not read UK recommendations as lukewarm.

But what would you suggest to someone in the US writing a recommendation letter for a UK audience? Should one adopt the UK norms (thereby making the recommendation letter more in line with the UK standard), or should one write as if one were writing for a US audience? Do UK readers of US recommendation letters expect the bloated praise, and so would read a more tempered letter as lukewarm? Please advise.

Wig Out!

2012-01-17T19:31:00.002-05:00

This still sounds awesome to me.

(And Happy Birthday. Just sayin')

Is This a Joke?

2012-01-12T21:24:00.001-05:00

Is this a joke?

Note the comments.

Guarded Optimism

2012-01-11T22:41:00.003-05:00

Professor Leiter reports that "the APA has appointed four different task forces made up of a lot of senior philosophers who are quite aware of the very real problems and who want to do something about them," and then claims to be "guardedly optimistic" about this development.

I'm pleased to see that the APA at least recognizes that it has several serious problems. I'm also pleased that there's an effort to do something about them. So maybe I'm guardedly optimistic as well. But I'd be a whole lot more optimistic if the APA had also had the insight to seek help from people working in other disciplines that have better-run (albeit not perfect) national organizations, such as APSA. "A lot of senior philosophers" may be able to tell where the shoes pinch, but maybe it's a good idea to look to those who have built a non-dysfunctional national organization when trying to solve the problems.

Dear APA

2012-01-05T09:57:00.002-05:00

Dear APA,

The main programs at the conferences have been getting pretty weak. The JFP is a clunky artifact. The "placement service" is a useless complication. The smoker plays an inappropriate role in the hiring process. The interview room is a terrible place to conduct an interview. Your website sucks. You need to rethink the conference calendar and the internal structure of the organization as a whole. And so on.

Everything you do with respect to the job market - from advertising the openings to organizing the interviews - can be done better and more efficiently via online channels. Concentrate simply on organizing good conferences. Please remove yourself from the job market process altogether.

Sincerely,
Spiros

Receipts

2012-01-04T17:47:00.003-05:00

I was just getting my APA receipts organized. I'll submit them next week to my University, and in due course I'll get reimbursed for nearly every dollar I spent on the APA Eastern. But I have to say that the grand sum is pretty staggering, considering what one gets in return.

Unless one happens to live close enough to DC to not need to fly, the cost for most of getting to the conference and staying in the conference hotel has to be roughly $1000. How do graduate students and non-TT slave-wage earners who don't live on the East Coast afford it?

Old Man v. Dopey Boys

2012-01-02T12:53:00.003-05:00

Early on the first day of the APA, I was in an elevator in the conference hotel that was headed down to the lobby. As the elevator came to a stop, an older man addressed two young guys in sport-coats; he gestured towards the right and asked "Is the philosophy conference that way?" It was clear the the man was asking whether the registration for the APA was off in the rightward direction. But here are the replies he got:

Guy in sport-coat #1: "Sounds like a category mistake."
Guy in sport-coat #2: "Uh... Philosophy is everywhere."

Old man in reply: "Good luck with the interviews, boys. You'll need it."

Old Man, 1; Dopey Boys, 0

New Year's Eve

2011-12-31T13:11:00.000-05:00

Here.

Empty APA.....

2011-12-28T15:47:00.003-05:00

Probably Quiet till Mid-January

2011-12-25T14:29:00.003-05:00

I might try some drunk blogging from that thing in DC, but maybe not. Most likely, I'll be pretty quiet until the middle of January.

Annual Phil Anon Christmas Message

2011-12-23T09:06:00.004-05:00

Here. This year it's not Fuck Christmas.

Holy Crap!

2011-12-21T19:15:00.003-05:00

A commenter on the previous post (apparently a search committee member) reveals this bit of staggering fuckedupness:

We've been trying to contact 3 candidates for 4 days now. Guess some of them don't even want interviews.

Amazing.

Abandon All Hope Now?

2011-12-21T15:08:00.000-05:00

It's Wednesday at 3:00. Time to abandon all hope, right?

That some departments apparently wait this long to contact APA interviewees is appalling to me.

Leiter Nails It

2011-12-19T12:21:00.000-05:00

"There are real dividing lines in the history of philosophy, but the one between the “analytic” and the “Continental” isn’t one of them, though it’s interesting today from a sociological point of view, since it allows graduate programs in philosophy to define spheres of permissible ignorance for their students."

More here.

Kim Jong Il Posse

2011-12-18T22:15:00.001-05:00

Possepalooza!

Kim Jong Il has a posse.

Here.

Vaclav Havel Posse

2011-12-18T11:30:00.002-05:00

Vaclav Havel has a posse.

Here.

For the Articles, I'm sure...

2011-12-17T22:20:00.002-05:00

This evening, I was in a bookstore and watched from afar as a colleague purchased the latest issue of Playboy. I thought I'd walk up and say hi, but then reconsidered. I'm sure those articles are great.

Philosophers Anonymous Annual Reception

2011-12-16T15:32:00.002-05:00

Although we be missing at least one gregarious ex-pat pond-crosser this year, the annual PA spirited summit at the Eastern APA is on.

Those in the know already know what there is to know. Others will have to keep an eye out for the usual signals on the message board and elsewhere. If you're in the dark about all of this, try following some cool people around the book display. It worked last year...

Christopher Hitchens Posse

2011-12-16T00:56:00.001-05:00

Christopher Hitchens has a posse.

Here.

Abandon All Hope

2011-12-15T23:54:00.002-05:00

At what point would you say job applicants should abandon hope for an APA interview? I suppose there still are departments screwed up enough to try scheduling interviews next week (and note that Tuesday is the beginning of Hanukkah), but my sense is that after tomorrow applicants should take any department that has not contacted them to be not interested.

Why the Internet Exists

2011-12-12T22:42:00.002-05:00

Here.

Free drinks at the APA for the first person who can name the Bad Brains tune that's used in this.

Brooks Enters the DOOM Game...

2011-12-12T09:23:00.001-05:00

Welcome, Dr. Brooks, to the world of cranky blogging!

(It's about time.)

APA Interview Tips

2011-12-09T12:11:00.002-05:00

It's high time for job applicants to begin hearing from interviewing schools about scheduling an APA interview. So here are a few tips for those being interviewed at the APA.

1. Be yourself. Your task is not simply to get the job you’re interviewing for, it’s to find a suitable place to begin your career. So give the search committee an accurate sense of who they’d be hiring (or declining to hire). Attempts to chisel yourself into what you think the committee wants almost always backfire. Why would you want to be hired by a department that thinks you're something you're not?

2. If you haven’t read it, don’t say you have. The surest way to undermine your chances at getting an on campus is to be caught in a lie about scholarship. I’ve seen this happen dozens of times: A colleague asks a candidate if he or she has read some new book or article that’s loosely (not centrally) on the topic of the candidate’s dissertation. The candidate says that he/she has. The colleague asks a pointed question about the book or article. The candidate backtracks, saying that he or she hadn’t read it “carefully” or “only quickly” read the piece. The colleague then asks a more general question about the book or article. The candidate backtracks again. And so it goes…

3. Do your homework. You’ll almost certainly be asked whether you have any questions about the institution or department with which you’re interviewing. Have some. The internet makes it unbelievably easy to find out about the department or institution. Do it. But, more importantly, knowing about the department you’re interviewing with can help you to give better answers to other questions you’re asked. For example, knowing that the department offers three different Ethics courses at the undergrad level can be beneficial when you're asked a question about how you'd teach Ethics.

4. Don’t gossip. As amazing as it sounds, I’ve seen lots of candidates include in their answer to some philosophical question some off handed comment or other about the personal lives of well-know people in the profession, or the prevailing rumors about someone or other’s relationship with the other people in his or her home department, and so on. Perhaps candidates think that this kind of thing makes them look like they're in the know or some such. But it really just makes them look unprofessional and petty. Don’t do it.

5. No matter what, DO NOT get drunk at the Smoker. Even if you have no intention of visiting the interviewing department's table, even if the interviewing department has no table to visit, even if all the members of the interviewing department have told you they're all leaving the conference directly after your interview, DO NOT be at the Smoker under any kind of impairment.

ED and the APA

2011-12-08T10:56:00.000-05:00

The APA is looking to do something about its ED problem....

APA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ADVERTISEMENT

The American Philosophical Association (APA) is searching for a new Executive Director (ED). The ED is Chief Administrative Officer of the APA and represents the APA to learned societies, foundations, and other national and international groups. The ED also serves as the head of the APA's National Office, which is located at the University of Delaware, and manages its day-to-day operations. The ED is responsible for APA publications and its website and supports the national committees of the APA, the three Divisions of the APA (each of which is responsible for hosting an annual convention), and the Board of Officers of the APA (including preparing its meeting agendas in consultation with its Chair). The ED works with the Finance Coordinator and the APA Treasurer to prepare draft budgets for approval by the Board and to oversee APA investments, and reports regularly to the Treasurer and the Board Chair on ongoing financial operations and budget compliance. The ED reports to the Chair of the Board of Officers and keeps the Board Chair informed about the execution of routine business and proposes and discusses new initiatives for the APA. The ED will work with the Board and its Chair in considering and, if appropriate, implementing changes in the organization, activities and responsibilities of the Board of Officers and of the National Office.

The ED plays a leading role in development activities of the APA and the efforts of the APA toward increasing inclusiveness and diversity in the profession. The ED must have the experience and skills needed to manage the complex operations of a major non-profit organization and should also have some background in or familiarity with the philosophy profession, though an advanced degree in philosophy is not required. We are aiming at an appointment that begins August 1, 2012. Salary and term commensurate with experience.

Other Additional

2011-12-05T22:51:00.002-05:00

"Welcome to Member Resources! APA members will find Proceedings & Addresses, Jobs for Philosophers, and other additional resources in this section of the website."

Smoker

2011-12-02T20:55:00.002-05:00

This has been linked to and discussed a good deal. As I've claimed several times before, the Eastern APA "smoker" is just one more element in the morally horrific way the profession handles searching/interviewing/hiring. Seriously, one would be hard pressed to design a process that's more torturous for the candidates. In a process that's already seemingly designed to produce maximum anxiety in the most vulnerable in the profession, the way in which the "smoker" is incorporated into the interview process is morally appalling. It needs to stop.

Can we at least agree that the "visit us at our table tonight at the smoker" bit should not be a standard part of the interviewing process? Can we call a moratorium on the idea that job candidates should be invited to make such a visit? Can we affirm that the "smoker" is not part of the job interview (and thus that candidates that do not vist at the smoker do not thereby hurt their chances of getting the job)?

Patrice O'Neal Posse

2011-11-29T14:00:00.000-05:00

Patrice O'Neal has a posse.

Here.

Reposting: A Note to Spouses

2011-11-25T08:25:00.001-05:00

A few people have requested that I re-post this....

Saturday, November 27, 2010

A Note to Spouses

Dear Spouse of an Unemployed Philosopher,

As you are no doubt well-aware, we're now creeping into the all-important ten-day period during which hiring departments will be contacting job applicants in order to schedule APA interviews. The whole process is, indeed, every bit as awful as your spouse says it is. In fact it's probably much worse that your spouse realizes. In any case, expect your spouse to begin behaving strangely.

Over the next several days, your spouse will begin incessantly checking his or her voice-mail and email for any signs of hope. Information about which schools have contacted interviewees, some of questionable reliability, will be posted on various blogs and wikis. Rumors about canceled searches, insider candidates, and "courtesy interviews" will abound. Given the horrendous job market, even under the best circumstances, things will look excessively bleak. And they are.

Should your spouse get no invitations to interview, do whatever you can to help soften the blow. You spouse worked extremely hard on his or her PhD. Spending another year adjuncting for slave-wages, or worse, is a terrifying prospect for your spouse. And, indeed, that your spouse has not gotten any interviews does not entail that your spouse is not a highly qualified, well-trained, and promising academic. Most job ads yield hundreds of applications, and departments interview only twelve or so at the APA. The search process at many institutions is nearly blind to all the things that matter in selecting a new faculty member.

Those who get interviews will have but a few hours to feel affirmed and accomplished. Enjoy this all too brief period of satisfaction. Celebrate. The joy will soon give way to a morass of anxiety and self-doubt as your spouse begins to prepare for the interview. Of course, it will quickly dawn on your spouse that the only way to prepare is to practice running a gauntlet of the cruel, the ignorant, the hostile, the maniacal, the stupid, and the clueless. Chances are the some such assemblage will be deciding your spouse's fate. This only compounds the anxiety and self-doubt.

Perhaps your spouse will be among the three or four who survive the APA interview. If so, she or he will be invited to an on campus interview. In some ways, the anxieties of the job-seeking process lift at this point. But they're quickly replaced by a different set of anxieties: what to wear, what paper to give, how to deal with off-the-rails questions at the Q&A, how to interact with the faculty member who behaved like a jerk at the APA interview, and so on. Of course, if your spouse has reached this stage, he or she has already accomplished a great deal. But that makes the prospect of not getting the job all the more depressing. And so it goes.

In short, the next month will be unbelievably trying for your spouse. Resign yourself now to the fact that the entire holiday season will be a drag. Devise ways to cope with the fact that your spouse will be psychologically compromised for several weeks. And, if you can, cut him or her some slack.

Sincerely,
Spiros

Out

2011-11-22T12:33:00.003-05:00

I'll be away for the next week or so. Probably no blogging until December.

Have a happy Thanksgiving-- it will go some small way towards compensating for the crummy X-mas you're going to have.

When You're Right...

2011-11-21T10:06:00.001-05:00

"He is a stupid man's idea of what a smart person sounds like."

Krugman on Gingrich. Classic.

Best JFP line

2011-11-12T13:03:00.002-05:00

Best JFP line:

Through introspection, reading, and discussions with domain experts, you will codify and formalize important, general pieces of knowledge about the world, and you will test the growing AI system’s understanding of what you’ve taught it.

Pretty much what we do in our classes anyway...

Nigel Tufnel Day

2011-11-11T07:58:00.001-05:00

Happy Nigel Tufnel Day to all.

JFP 192

2011-11-09T11:56:00.002-05:00

The November JFP is out. 99 US jobs. More details of DOOM coming soon.

DOOM: I count roughly 45 TT Assistant Prof jobs in the US.

Happy Mondays

2011-11-07T13:46:00.002-05:00

The air you're breathing is toxic.

Doom.

Andy Rooney Posse

2011-11-05T08:34:00.000-04:00

Andy Rooney has a posse.

Here.

Cory Smoot Posse

2011-11-04T14:43:00.000-04:00

Cory Smoot (guitarist for GWAR) has a posse.

Here.

Eastern APA Survey

2011-11-01T21:30:00.003-04:00

The Eastern APA is now conducting a survey about meeting dates. I am confident that if Philosophy wants to have three national meetings a year, one of them will have to be between Christmas and New Year's. So the survey is in my view useless.

The issue that to my knowledge has not been explored is why the late-December meeting has to be held in the East. Since the December meeting is (for natural reasons) the big job-market meeting, shouldn't it be held in a (geographically) central location? I think so. I also think it should be held someplace that's not so prone to December blizzards as, say, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, D.C., and Baltimore.

Back in the old days, a main reason for holding the big December meeting in the East was that only big cities in the East had hotels large enough for the crowd. But this is no longer the case.

In short, the Eastern APA is wasting time with this survey. What is needed is a change in the location of the late-December meeting, not a change in the date of the Eastern meeting.

Against Stupid SPEP Resolutions

2011-10-31T16:39:00.003-04:00

There is an online petition for SPEP members who want to separate themselves from the hypocritical and stupid resolution adopted by the organization in support of ego-stroking and immoral nonsense parading as information.

Given the hierarchical order and conformist norms that prevail within the organization, I strongly suspect that very few of those who see the stupidity of the resolution will be able to muster the fortitude to resist the pressure from above to remain silent.

Anyway, it seems worth a plug.

Happy Mondays: Halloween Edition

2011-10-31T08:30:00.002-04:00

Early snowstorm in the Northeast destroys trick-or-treating plans for masses of kids.

Bad As Me

2011-10-29T11:41:00.002-04:00

The new Tom Waits album just arrived.

Light blogging for the next few weeks.

Phony Searches

2011-10-26T21:11:00.004-04:00

What percentage of open rank positions in a given JFP are phony searches (viz. searches in which the hiring department has already decided who to hire and is just going through the motions of a search for legal purposes)? We all know that this is common. Anyone care to speculate?

Schrader Retiring

2011-10-23T09:58:00.010-04:00

News from the APA crap site:

APA Executive Director, David Schrader, has informed the Board of Officers that he will retire from the Executive Director position effective October 2, 2012, the day after his 65th birthday. He will give a more detailed statement in his “Letter from the Editor” in the November issue of the Proceedings. The Board of Officers will be developing a search process in the very near future. Thanks!
They have to "develop a search process"!

SPEP does not endorse any of them

2011-10-22T12:18:00.001-04:00

SPEP remains independent of all rankings and does not endorse any of them. (August 2011)

Losers.

What Nietzsche was Saying

2011-10-21T19:12:00.003-04:00

The closing line of a recent NDPR review:

Readers approaching Mellamphy's book from this [Anglo-American] tradition will find her style frustrating. What frustrated this reader the most, however, is that she doesn't appear to be interested in what Nietzsche was saying.

I like it! I've long wondered why certain philosophers who are in themselves pretty good tend to attract so much bad scholarship. Nietzsche is a good example; in my view, he's not half as bad as many of his more enthusiastic defenders make him out to be. The same goes, I'd say, for the later Wittgenstein. What gives? Is there something in the work of these philosophers that draws so many hacks to them?

Gaddafi has a posse

2011-10-20T11:01:00.000-04:00

Muammar Gaddafi has a posse. Here.

News Flash: Lakoff is still a Dope

2011-10-19T16:45:00.003-04:00

The Lakoff "framing" line is either trivial (don't let your opponents straw man you!) or self-undermining (it's all just a competition among frames-- a classic case of a thesis denying the conditions for its own truth). Either way, that anyone takes this guy seriously is amazing to me. And that some progressive circles see him as some kind of guru is enough to make me puke.

What could be more destructive than the views that no one really has any reason to defend progressive causes, and that the explanation of why people hold progressive views is simply that they find certain concepts attractive? In fact, its hard to imagine anything worse for progressive causes than the view that progressivism (like conservatism) is simply an affliction.

Anyway, the Lakoff view was discredited decades ago. But that doesn't stop him from simply repeating himself whenever anyone asks (or pays). In case you need to remind yourself of what a dope he is, check here.

Kukla: Must Read

2011-10-18T16:55:00.001-04:00

Rebecca Kukla just took a major step toward undoing the harm wrought by the fake pluralists to serious examination of issues concerning women in the profession.

Re-applying

2011-10-15T17:25:00.003-04:00

I was asked the other day whether a student who applied for University X's job last year (and did not get an APA interview) should apply this year for the identical job advertised this year by University X.

This struck me as an easy case: obviously no. But then I learned that a colleague encouraged the student who asked to re-apply, apparently on the principle of "you never know." I guess that it's harmless (minus the mailing expenses), but it still seems to me a clear-cut no.

Macy's Punk (DOOM #1977)

2011-10-13T21:34:00.004-04:00

I was just walking through a Macy's, and the in-store music in the cosmetics department was The Buzzcocks, "Ever Fallen in Love?"

Related: Would the person who stole my CD copy of The Cramps' Bad Music for Bad People please give it back?

82

2011-10-12T08:46:00.002-04:00

By my quick count, the October JFP has a total of 82 ads for tenure-track assistant professor jobs in the US.

JFP Eve Advice Sought

2011-10-11T08:30:00.004-04:00

A reader writes:

I am a graduate student at a decent but not Leiterrific department. I am in the early stages of a dissertation on a topic that is really important to me, but the AOS that the dissertation places me in is not one of those popular ones that gets high representation among the job openings even under the best circumstances. Last year there were maybe five job ads that mentioned my area. I am worried that this year there will be fewer, maybe zero. I have ways of packaging myself which place me in a more popular AOS, but it's obvious that this is a slight stretch, and thus I take myself to be uncompetitive for the best jobs in that other AOS.

Here's my question. Is it wise to change my dissertation topic (and AOS) in light of what is in the JFP? I think I can formulate another dissertation project in one of the more popular AOS's. It would require me to assemble a new committee with a new director, and that would certainly be awkward but not impossible. The new project would be on something I'm far less invested in personally, and it would require me to start basically from scratch so far as research goes, but I am certain I could follow through with it.

Others I have discussed this with claimed that it's unwise to switch projects on the basis of JFP trends. They say that the job market changes from year to year, and that my current AOS could become more popular. (It would be great if it did, but I just don't see it happening.) Others tell me that my dissertation should represent what's most important to me, and that changing projects is some kind of "sell out" or failure of "integrity", but I don't know about this. Any advice?

Happy Mondays

2011-10-10T08:06:00.001-04:00

From the NYT:

In a grim sign of the enduring nature of the economic slump, household income declined more in the two years after the recession ended than it did during the recession itself...

Law of the Academy #23

2011-10-09T17:44:00.001-04:00

The most hostile, incompetent, unfriendly, socially awkward, and dim staff at your university are employed in the Human Resources office.

JFP 191 "Web Only" Ads are Down!

2011-10-08T10:57:00.002-04:00

By design, or sign of impending webshite DOOM? Nobody knows.

Total APA website crash coming in 4 days...

JFP 191 "Web-Only" Ads are up

2011-10-07T14:08:00.002-04:00

Here.

(h/t to Zarathustra.)

Steve Jobs has a posse

2011-10-05T21:28:00.002-04:00

Steve Jobs has a posse.

Here.

Billy Joel is still alive.

Six Days Later

2011-10-05T13:38:00.002-04:00

At least six days ago, the "pay my dues" function on the APA website went down. It's still down.

This should be no big deal, because I'd venture to guess that even the most out-of-touch philosophers would know enough to see that there's no way that website is secure enough to entrust with personal and credit card information. (If you've already used the function, beware and alert your credit card company.)

In any case, the October JFP is supposed to go online in one week. I have my doubts. Anyone care to venture a guess about the number of TT entry-level jobs in the US that will be advertised? Fewer than 80?

The one who comes closest without going over wins First Prize: a 90-minute guitar lesson with The Edge, and your name will be entered into a contest to select the assassin of Billy Joel.

The one who comes second-closest without going over wins Second Prize: two 90-minute guitar lessons with The Edge (face it: he really needs the lessons).

Happy Mondays

2011-10-03T09:20:00.001-04:00

The October JFP is roughly a week away.

Best Text Message Ever

2011-09-30T21:50:00.001-04:00

"Exene just asked me if I have any pot"

More Sincere Apologies...

2011-09-30T09:06:00.002-04:00

The "Pay My Dues" feature is currently unavailable due to technical difficulties. The National Office sincerely apologizes for the inconvenience this has caused.

Seriously. What the fuck are they doing??

"I Am the Table!"

2011-09-28T09:38:00.000-04:00

Far worse than you thought it could be....

Here.

Sincere Apologies....

2011-09-26T20:50:00.002-04:00

"APA member login functionality has been restored to the website. The National Office sincerely apologizes for the inconvenience this has caused."

The APA isn't even incompetent anymore.

Happy Mondays

2011-09-26T12:26:00.001-04:00

Sly Stone is homeless.

Enjoy your day.

More APA DOOM

2011-09-25T11:19:00.003-04:00

I know there are some who hold that this isn't a big deal. And I know that in this already thin market, the Post-Eastern job market will be negligible anyway. But nonetheless I think it's stupid that the APA does not coordinate its JFP publish dates with its meeting dates.

The Central Division meets February 15-18, and the third JFP publishes on Feb 22. So: no interviews at the Central.

R.E.M. Posse

2011-09-22T08:44:00.003-04:00

R. E. M. has a posse.

Thank goodness. It's about two decades too late. 1988 was pretty much the end, in my view.

Let's hope that the breakup gives Michael Stipe the time to finally learn how to go away. (And Maybe Peter Buck can get some guitar lessons.)

Tom Wilson Posse

2011-09-19T20:28:00.002-04:00

Tom Wilson, the creator of Ziggy, has a posse.

Here.

Alternative to the JFP

2011-09-19T09:31:00.003-04:00

David Morrow writes:

Chris Sula and I have revamped the Phylo site to create a new, publicly available jobs board to (ahem) supplement the JFP. The URL is http://phylo.info/jobs. As of today, we'll start accepting job postings from departments at no charge. Following Harry Brighouse's suggestion on Leiter's blog, though, we're requiring a link to an external site (e.g., an announcement on the department's web site) to verify each post's authenticity.

Anyone with questions or concerns about the jobs board is welcome to email us at jobs@phylo.info.

Now all we need is an alternative to the APA...

JFP: A Serious Suggestion

2011-09-11T15:22:00.003-04:00

That the APA can't seem to get a minimally decent website is perhaps to be expected give the organization's long track record for clueless bumble-fuckwittery. But the truly unbelievable part is that the new webshite sucks so bad that departments still cannot place JFP ads online.

Let me venture a bleak, but I think sound, prediction: The APA webshite will crash within hours of the October JFP going online (if indeed it ever does go online....). And no one at the APA will know what to do about it.

So here's a rare serious suggestion. Why doesn't someone with a sufficiently respectable (hence not me) and visible online presence set up an ad hoc blog where departments can post their job ads? This would not seek to undermine the JFP, but rather ensure that job ads get out to those who need them. A simple post on Leiter or New APPS inviting departments to post their job ads would probably suffice to get most of what's to be in the JFP out there and in view of job seekers. The hosting blog could use the norm of "no anonymous posts" to help ensure that the information is valid. This would be roughly equivalent to what departments do when they post their job ads to the various philosophy listservs. The main (and crucial) difference would be that the blog posts would be all in one place and searchable.

Ours is a profession which endorses a job seeking process that even under the best conditions is nothing short of sadistic. Given the fragility and stupidity of the APA site, and the general disorder that prevails in everything the APA does, this market season is likely to be even more taxing on the already rattled psyches of the talented and unemployed. Maybe implementing the suggestion above would help make this year's job market a little less insane? Any takers?

APA Gripes

2011-09-07T08:32:00.004-04:00

I'm back from travels, and think it might be fun to have a thread documenting some of the worst experiences with (and biggest gripes against) the APA. Bring it.

An anonymous commenter on the previous thread reminds us of this unbelievable episode:

For me, the all-time classic APA moment came a couple of years ago when they held the Pacific in Vancouver. The idiots came all the way from Delaware to collect their fees (well, some of them actually came from Delaware), but they neglected to work out a way to accept Canadian money. Even though it was, you know, in Canada and all that. [....]

So, since understanding the details of an exchange rate -- or having someone else determine what the three fees would come to in Canadian dollars and writing them up for the fucktards behind the desk -- was too much for them, they just straight-up demanded that anyone paying cash go out and find US currency somewhere (at the dismal rates of exchange one finds at currency exchanges for tourists) so that we could attend the APA in our own city.

Beyond the stupidity of the whole thing, I was particularly impressed by the stubborn-headedness exhibited by those behind the desk who just calmly repeated to the throngs of people who threatened the APA with legal action, etc. that it's an American organization so it makes sense that it should only accept American currency from Canadians while it does business in Canada.

One Month Later....

2011-09-02T06:45:00.005-04:00

It has been more than a full month since the APA began rolling out its new webpage. And guess what? It's still not fully functional. And it still is embarrassingly clunky and disordered.

Who takes more than a month to update a webpage? Who takes down the old webpage before the new one is ready to go? What the hell are they doing?

I love how proud they are of the fact that it's now possible to pay dues online (welcome to the 1990s, guys!). You can't stop progress.

DOOM!!!

2011-08-26T18:20:00.001-04:00

Do not click here unless you are ready to discover a whole new justification for extinguishing all life from the universe.

Lulu. We're fucking doomed. Please, someone, make it stop.....

Lawsuit over Fake Pluralism?

2011-08-15T21:12:00.003-04:00

Professor Leiter beat me to this, so there's no need to chime in about the self-declared pluralists' latest attempt to deflect legitimate criticism of the "climate for women" debacle.

A serious question for those who know about such matters: Is there a point at which the "needs improvement" departments get to take legal action of some kind?

Jani Lane Posse

2011-08-12T10:55:00.000-04:00

Not that you'd know who he is, but Jani Lane has a posse.

Here.

Juggalos: Striking when the Iron is Dead Cold....

2011-08-11T16:49:00.001-04:00

"Charlie Sheen right now is under a microscope, he’s under scrutiny. Everything he says is debated, picked apart – much like everything we do."

--Shaggy2Dope

More Here.

DOOM: Fake Pluralist Losers Edition

2011-08-11T10:03:00.004-04:00

In my time away, I had somehow formed the impression (false, I have learned) that the geniuses behind the disastrous "pluralist's guide" had done the minimally un-dumb thing and simply removed the "climate" section altogether, perhaps replacing it with a sensible and forceful statement about the serious gender issues that remain unresolved (and widely unacknowledged) in the profession, links to the discussion threads on various blogs, and so on. They might even have asked some of their best critics (Professor Kukla especially) to contribute to such a statement.

But, alas, they have not. What a bunch of losers.

Law of the Academy #10

2011-08-09T16:14:00.001-04:00

No one really knows how to work the Fax machine.

So Much Fuckedupness, So Little Time

2011-08-07T17:01:00.002-04:00

I've been away for roughly a week, and everything's going to hell. I unfortunately do not have time to comment on the idiotic department that touts its ranking in that utterly fraudulent and incompetent "pluralist" guide to philosophy. Nor can I remark at length on the blinding lack of foresight that the APA has exhibited in conducting its "back to 1992" retro-"renovation" of its already dysfunctional webpage. Nice job with the submission deadlines, jackasses!! One must wonder: Why take the old site down before the new one is ready?

I did just come across a curiosity. I was just reviewing a paper for a journal, and was surprised to find the author thanking in the footnotes anonymous reviews for another journal. I'd never seen that before. I suppose its a nice gesture of giving credit where it's due, but it does have the consequence of revealing that the paper was rejected by at least one other journal... When it gets rejected from the journal that is currently reviewing it, perhaps I'll get thanked too.

Same as it Ever Was

2011-07-30T13:03:00.006-04:00

I'm on my way out the door, but I couldn't help but post about the new APA website.

It's not fully up yet, but what is up does not look particularly promising. It appears we're still stuck in the early 90s, technology-wise. Your dues at work....

August

2011-07-28T19:13:00.003-04:00

Various commitments have me traveling from one coast to the other for much of the coming month. I may see fit to post from the road, but I may not. In any case, things should be relatively quiet around here for a bit. Good thing I managed to settle major issues in the profession earlier this week.

I'll be back to regular posting in September, just in time for the beginning of classes. Til then, try to behave.

Law of the Academy #440

2011-07-27T12:21:00.002-04:00

Anything said after the first 10 minutes of the department meeting will not be heard by at least 60% of those attendance. And of the remaining 40%, half of them will forget what they heard within two days.

The REAL Pluralist Guide

2011-07-25T09:25:00.007-04:00

I've taken the liberty of conducting my own survey: The REAL Pluralist Guide to Graduate Programs in Philosophy (RPG). What follows are the results.

First, some important details. You're on a need-to-know basis regarding procedures and methodology and other crucial features of the survey (and I'm making it all up as I go along). By my lights, you don't need to know anything, so don't bother asking. If need be, I'll write a few non-responsive blog posts in reaction to your questions. The identities, response-rates, qualifications, and such of my experts is also none of your concern. But let me emphasize once again that they're experts. For reals.

THE RANKINGS

American Philosophy: Pittsburgh; Columbia; Rutgers; Miami

Continental Philosophy: Chicago; Northwestern; NYU; Brown

Philosophy of Race: Princeton; Harvard; Michigan (Ann Arbor); Chicago

Feminist Philosophy: MIT; Stanford; Colorado (Boulder)

GLBT Studies: At present, there is no especially good Philosophy department in this area.

Climate for Women: Actually consult persons with actual experience of the program; that anyone from outside a department would take himself or herself to be in a position to comment on this is completely absurd.

FAQs

What's this pluralism all about, then? If you're interested in specializing in an area of Philosophy that is (for better or worse) considered outside of the mainstream of the discipline, you would do well to study at a program that is very strong overall in the mainstream areas while also being (1) welcoming of your interests, and (2) home to someone who does excellent work in the area of your interest. Providing students with a strong foundation in the state of the art in mainstream Philosophy while also welcoming excellent work in other areas-- that's pluralism. Departments that focus lopsidedly on any area, even self-appointed "pluralist" areas like American and Continental, are not pluralistic. Good pluralist departments do not advertise themselves as such. Beware.

I'm interested in one of the areas ranked above, but didn't get into any of the programs the Guide identifies as best. What should I do? Naturally, the best places to study topics like the ones ranked above are also places that are very strong overall, and so admission to these programs is highly competitive. If you don't get into one of these schools, consider your priorities and your career goals. Ask yourself some questions: Do you want a job after working extremely hard for 6 or 7 years on a PhD? What kind of job do you want? Does it make sense to work on your application and reapply next year? What's so great about getting a PhD in Philosophy, anyway? Can you stomach working on (writing a dissertation on) some more mainstream topic, while cultivating your expertise in other areas on your own? But the bottom line is this: If you decide to go to any other program to work on the topic you're most interested in, gather as much information as possible, visit the department, and ask a lot of questions.

What about the Leiter Report (PGR) and that other "Pluralist's Guide"? When used according to the guidelines provided again and again on its webpage, the PGR is an excellent source of information about the reputation of the faculty at various departments. It's also a good way to get a sense of which philosophers are at which departments, and of what the strengths of various departments are. It is by itself not a good instrument for making final decisions about what department is best for you. But you're smart enough to know that (despite what opponents of the PGR say about you). As for that other "pluralist guide," it is pretty much useless and in many respects an embarrassment. In fact, I'd take a high ranking on that guide to be a compelling (though not necessarily conclusive) reason to avoid the department in question.

IMPORTANT NOTE

These rankings are subject to change, revision, and alteration, without notice, explanation, or rationale, at any moment. Hope you find the Guide helpful.

Amy Winehouse

2011-07-23T14:54:00.001-04:00

Amy Winehouse has a posse.

Here.

Not That You Need a Reminder....

2011-07-23T11:35:00.001-04:00

Shark Week is coming.

Pluralist's Guide Objections?

2011-07-22T15:56:00.003-04:00

I've been working through the online responses to the Pluralist's Guide, a lot of which is boring, and some of which is shockingly silly.

My biggest surprise, though, is the relative silence of some of the more vocal opponents of the Leiter Report. The Pluralist's Guide actually and overtly manifests all of the methodological flaws that critics of the PGR typically (though mistakenly) claim undermine the PGR and render it pernicious. So anyone who (misguidedly) objects to the PGR on methodological grounds has especially strong reason to object to the Pluralist's Guide-- the Pluralist's Guide really is what Leiter's ignorant critics say the PGR is.

Someone care to explain?

The Pluralist Guide Rulz!

2011-07-22T10:34:00.003-04:00

I take it from the final sentence that the following comment was intended to be ironic. If so, well done!

That the Rutgers women are so content, even happy, shows only how deep their oppression goes. They've been fully acclimatized to male hegemony, and so now see their subjugation as not only "normal", but healthy. Classic false consciousness.

The pluralist guide rulz!

Kudos to Rutgers Women Grad Students!

2011-07-20T10:54:00.002-04:00

I've not yet had the time to wade through all the relevant material and commentary concerning the prima facie useless, irresponsible, and pernicious "pluralist guide to philosophy," but I'll try to make time to do so in the coming days. Depending on how much I can stomach, I might even post about it.

But in the meantime, I wanted to express deep appreciation for the women graduate students at Rutgers who saw fit to write this excellent open letter.

Law of the Academy #1234

2011-07-18T15:37:00.003-04:00

The highest paid members of your department are also the poorest tippers in restaurants, and they never leave a tip for housekeeping at the APA meetings.

Law of the Academy #8675310

2011-07-15T14:52:00.003-04:00

Were it not for faculty repeating what they have already said, and affirming what has already been widely agreed to, department meetings would take no more than 25 minutes.

Law of the Academy #25

2011-07-15T10:38:00.002-04:00

For every reason there is for the department to take some proposed action, there is at least one reason, equal or better in force, which favors doing absolutely nothing.

(aka Cornford's Law)

Law of the Academy #8675309

2011-07-11T13:31:00.000-04:00

For any meeting agenda (no matter how short), A, and any period of time allotted for the department meeting (no matter how long), T, the time it takes to reach the end of A will be T+ 40 minutes.

From our UK Correspondent ....

2011-07-10T16:22:00.002-04:00

Relevant, and still awesome.

(Thanks to SpirosUK for sending this along.)

Law of the Academy # 33.3333...

2011-07-10T13:21:00.002-04:00

After tenure, the only place for incompetent academics to go is university administration.

Frampton Comes Alive?

2011-07-10T11:39:00.002-04:00

Reunion tours in which the artist performs some glory-day album in its entirety are annoying. But Peter Frampton is touring for the 35th anniversary of Frampton Comes Alive! Again, it's annoying. But does anyone else see something odd in the idea of "performing" a live album?

Here.

Betty Ford Posse

2011-07-09T02:08:00.001-04:00

Betty Ford has a posse.

Here.

Law of the Academy #139

2011-07-07T21:26:00.001-04:00

Every member of your department thinks he or she can teach Critical Thinking.