New APPS: Art, Politics, Philosophy, Science

Leiter calls for boycotting Synthese - some discussion please?

His post is HERE.

I wish he'd allowed comments, because I would like to know how any of the principal people he talks about in the article feel about it. I don't think it would be possible for me to have higher intellectual and personal regard than I do for the current Synthese editors (Johan van Benthem, Vincent F. Hendricks, and John Symons), as well as the one of the guest editors of the volume in question (James H. Fetzer; I just don't know much about his co-editor Glenn Branch, though he strikes me as doing important work in a good cause).

Francis Beckwith has a public history of doing some very shady things, some of which have been exposed by Leiter (he provides additional links), and it is massively unfortunate if people of the moral and intellectual caliber of the current editors of Synthese allowed him and his political goons to bully them into placing a dishonest warning in the issue the way Leiter describes.

But is this enough for us to boycott the journal? When we're not already boycotting J. Phil for not being blind reviewed (and more particularly the editors' defense of the policy in the letter section of the APA Proceedings, whose response to claimed heuristic bias via specific examples (some of my best friends are black!) would rightfully receives an F in a FRESHMAN level informal logic course), or any number of other journals which are now effectively not blind reviewed because the editorial staff (two graduate students I know at one journal, which for their sake I won't name) reject over half the papers prior to any kind of review?

Maybe I'm missing something. I just don't see how bending to someone like Beckwith (and Leiter provides prima facie compelling evidence that he is morally and intellectually odious) rises to the level of necessitating a boycott. My null hypothesis is (1) that Hendricks, von Bentham, and Symons were trying to do the right thing, (2) we don't know the full story, but that (3) if it proves to have been a mistake, then it is all to the good that Leiter shined light on the issue.

But (4) a boycott of Synthese seems vastly disproportionate to me. From every relevant fact I can find, the editors are good people who work very hard to maintain a first-rate journal with an important history.  And, even if we can all agree that they got Beckwithed (Leiter documents a history of such bullying by the guy), it just seems disproportionate talk about a boycott.

Anyhow, if and when Leiter opens comments, we can go over there and discuss this (I'll provide an update link). But until then, I'm really interested in what people  over here think about this. Maybe my initial response is wrong? I don't know. And I publicly invite any of the people involved to respond to Leiter's post here. If any of the Synthese editors want to make an official response, we will move it to the top as a post in its own right.

Gender-in-the-profession and Marie-Claude Lorne (1969-2008)

We are deeply concerned with gender in the profession, and have mostly been discussing the United States. (A very detailed blogpost on the situation in France by Sophie Roux, w. various links is here.)

But a somewhat different - and tragic - story was that of the brilliant young philosopher Marie-Claude Lorne, who was also a dear friend. She committed suicide in 2008 after being denied tenure at the U. de Brest after she had already been hired as a 'maître de conférences' (tenure in these cases is almost always automatic in France after 1 year, the année de stage). She left behind a letter saying philosophy was her life and if she couldn't do philosophy...

It became glaringly obvious that the tenure meeting was conducted in all kinds of procedurally (and perhaps legally) wrong ways, not least that the chair, who had a history of being opposed to her, arranged to call the meeting when he knew most of the committee members would be out of town; so the quorum became 2 people, him and a 'friendly' colleague. You can find an elegant and informative obituary in English that appeared in Biology and Philosophy here and more info and homages at the Institut Jean Nicod's page here.

Anyway, now (April 2011) this has become an official affair, with a government inquiry into the circumstances of her non-renewal, how the chair of the department waited an additional 3 months to inform her (just before the next academic year would have started), and so on. The inquiry is expected to look further at the hiring process in the humanities overall in France. Here are stories from Le Monde and L'Express on the current state of the inquiry.

We can hope that Marie-Claude's story continues to have an impact (in addition to the posthumous publication of her excellent papers and perhaps her thesis on biological functions).

Update on the Hungarian philosophers

Stevan Harnad has provided us with this update. (See also Agnes Heller's column in Le Monde). 

Hungary: FUD Campaign and Constitutional Revision 

The harassment campaign against left-liberal philosophers in Hungary might be losing some of its momentum, thanks in part to international protests and scrutiny and in part to the integrity and independence of the Hungarian judiciary. See the ongoing postings on the American Association for the Advancement of Science's ScienceInsider website (following below the Feb 4 article): http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/02/hungarian-academicians-blast-government.html  

There is reason to believe that the open international scrutiny that the philosopher affair has drawn from the German and French press, the Open Letter from 67 external and honorary members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences', the American Philosophical Association's Eastern Division Open Letter, the AAAS Science/Insider and Chercheurs sans Frontières -- scrutiny that the anonymous poster(s) to ScienceInsider as well as Professor Palinkas (who is President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and former minister in the current ruling party's prior term of office) seem to see as interference in Hungarian internal affairs, if not outright obstruction of justice -- may be having a positive influence on the course of events in Hungary.

Victory for Joseph Weiler in libel case of an editor being sued for a critical review!

With a h/t to Jacob T Levy, Eric posted a link to the case of a journal editor being sued in French court (it was venue shopping) for publishing a review mildly critical of an author. We're both thrilled to relay this link describing the complete victory, including an award of 8000 euros, of the defendant. In Eric's words to me in an email, "this is really a great moment for the Liberal rule of law in Europe."

Pannapaker on "Perfect Storm" in Undergraduate Education

Very nice Chronicle article HERE. One of the interesting things about the book is it demonstrates just how incredibly destructive are the neo-liberal (in the United States that's "conservative") pressures on higher education. Pressures to measure success by graduation rates as well as greater support for degrees that are supposedly "relevant" (this means where universities have tried to make it that certain industries do not have to do on the job training) have been incredibly destructive to learning.

Unsurprisingly, Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses (University of Chicago Press, 2011), by Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa, reveals that at least 45 percent of undergraduates demonstrated "no improvement in critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing skills in the first two years of college, and 36 percent showed no progress in four years."

Appeal for help for Greek colleagues whose approved posts the government refuses to fund

We received this email from Stathis Psillos, Professor of Philosophy of Science and Metaphysics in the Department of Philosophy & History of Science in the University of Athens, as well as editor of the journal Metascience.

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Dear colleagues

Over 650 colleagues in various disciplines, who since 2009 have been elected by various departments of Greek Universities to take up university posts, have not been appointed because the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance in Greece refuse to release the relevant funds for their appointments. There are some vague promises made for appointments in instalments, but these colleagues (mostly young people appointed as Lecturers) have been left totally in the dark as to the prospects of their employment. This situation is unprecedented and if it persists it is likely to force most of these people to leave academia and, in practice, to cancel the decisions made by faculties around Greece to appoint them—after open calls and elections that involved hundreds of Greek academics.

There is a petition aiming to exert pressure on the Greek Government. For more info see http://www.gopetition.com/petition/42790.html

For those of you who do not know how appointments in Greek Universities work, here is a brief summary: there is an open call for a position and a subject, issued by the department (which has already been approved by the University authorities and the Ministry of Education and has been cleared financially by the Ministry of Finance); a committee of 15 academics (a third of which are outside the University for which the post is advertised) is appointed to elect a candidate; after a written report by a three-strong committee of experts in the field one candidate is elected; then, the Government has to release the funds for the actual appointment of the elected member of staff.

All good wishes

Stathis Psillos

APA Open Letter on the situation of philosophers in Hungary

Letter of Protest Concerning the Treatment of Hungarian Philosophers*

In the last six months a number of questionable actions have been taken against philosophers and other academics in Hungary. These actions include dismissals of philosophers from the Philosophy Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the rating of 15 of 23 colleagues affiliated with the Academy as “professionally unqualified.” This same designation has been extended to others who have earned the level of Habilitation. During the same period, charges have been brought against a number of philosophers -- including Agnes Heller, distinguished professor emerita from the New School for Social Research – regarding the alleged misuse of grant money: charges we find to be highly unlikely and regarding which much more detailed documentation is required. Another philosopher, Mihály Vajda, has been charged with the misallocation of grant money to his daughter – whereas in fact she employed this properly obtained money to pursue a significant study of public opinion concerning the Holocaust. We consider these various moves to be questionable in view of the likelihood of political motivation on the part of the ruling Fidesz party. They are in flagrant violation of the principle of academic freedom. Still more seriously, they reflect an unjustified persecution of philosophers and other scholars and teachers. We protest these actions and call upon the Republic of Hungary to live up to the standards of justice and equity to which its own constitution is committed.

Those who sign below include all current members of the Executive Committee of the American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division. Dated: February 1, 2011

• Susan Wolf, University of North Carolina, President, American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division
• Paul Guyer, University of Pittsburgh, President-Elect, American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division
• Edward Casey, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Immediate Past President, American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division
• Richard Bett, Johns Hopkins University, Secretary-Treasurer, American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division
• Katherine Elgin, Harvard University, Divisional Representative
• Robert Bernasconi, Pennsylvania State University
• Michael Della Rocca, Yale University
• Howard McGary, Rutgers University
• Ted Sider, New York University
• Tommie Shelby, Harvard University
• Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Duke University

*copies have been sent to the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán; the President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Jozsef Pálinkás; György Szapáry, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (Hungarian Embassy in Washington); and Révész Sándor at Nepszabadsag, the only remaining independent newspaper in Hungary.

Open letter on the situation of philosophers in Hungary

See this post for context. Here is a letter on the subject (in German) from Jürgen Habermas and Julian Nida-Rümelin. We will provide a translation if we can obtain permission.

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January 20, 2011

An Open Letter Regarding the Situation of Philosophy and Philosophers in Hungary *

By Professor Laszlo Tengelyi
Philosophical Seminar
University of Wuppertal

Dear Colleagues,

I would like to make you aware that in Hungary, very recently, a campaign has been initiated against philosophers such as Agnes Heller (Prof. em. at the New School for Social Research), Mihály Vajda, Sándor Randnóti and others.

As you probably know, the Hungarian parliament recently passed a law concerning the media, which is not compatible with European norms.This media law, however, is only the tip of the iceberg. One could cite a whole series of further measures from the last half-year, which add up to a dismantling of democratic institutions in Hungary. The Young Democrats (Fidesz), a party elected to parliament with a two-thirds majority, have already altered the constitution more than ten times. The constitutional court has been stripped of essential rights. The so-called “Budget Council”—a body which is independent of the ruling party, and which is composed of economic experts and tasked with overseeing the economic policy of the current administration—after the first critical positions it adopted, was dissolved and replaced with members of the Fidesz party. The post of the chief justice in Hungary was similarly filled by a well-known Fidesz party member.

The principle of the separation of powers in Hungary today is plainly at risk.

A politically motivated attack on philosophers in Hungary?

Very disturbing reports are coming from Hungary. This post provides an overview, with links to other posts. It seems the new right-of-center government is using its friendly newspaper to incite popular opinion against a number of prominent Hungarian philosophers, including Agnes Heller, who spent many years at the New School in New York. The linked post puts it like this: 

Magyar Nemzet (“Hungarian Nation”) claimed that those philosophers had missused funds on a large scale. All of them are considered “liberal”, i.e. skeptical about the present homeland politics of their country. It seems that after considerable philosophical infighting some insider has triggered a police investigation into the finances of six projects carefully selected to incite a maximum of populist indignation. Magyar Nemzet runs an almost daily campaign on behalf of the Orban government, insinuating that an elitist intellectual clique has taken control of Hungarian academic life. (Alas, still an effective type of accusation.)...

Laszlo Tengelyi, a native Hungarian, teaching philosophy in Germany, has addressed an open letter to the most important German philosophical associations in order to draw attention to what he calls revenge* against political opponents. It is a disturbing story.

Tengelyi's original letter is here. We will publish an English translation as soon as possible.

* UPDATE: "campaign" is a better term here for Tengelyi's word Hetzjadt.

UPDATE 2: a petition has been generated; it has a brief English summary of the issue.

Some resources on US media consolidation and media reform efforts

In light of the NBC - Comcast merger and the subsequent ending of Keith Olbermann's show on MSNBC, here are a few resources on media consolidation in the USA: 

• The FreePress.net interactive chart of the Big Six media firms: GE (though soon to replaced by Comcast after the purchase of NBC) / Disney / News Corp (Fox) / TimeWarner / Viacom / CBS.
• StopBigMedia.com, the activism site of FreePress.net.
• The Media Reform Research Center website, with lots of links to media reform groups.
• Columns by Nate Silver and by John Nicols and Robert McChesney on the NBC - Comcast merger. 
• The Fairness and Accuracy in Media (FAIR) blog. 
• Brian Leiter implicitly links the Glenn Beck attacks on Frances Fox Piven to the issue of academic freedom. AaronBa at Daily Kos excerpts a CUNY faculty union resolution in support of Piven.

The fascist aesthetic of this photo

Is really quite apparent, isn't it? The subservient subject gazing up at the protector of law and order, the rectangular windows indicating everything in its proper place, the upbeat slogan interpellating you to work with the police for a "safer London" ...

Source: this Daily Telegraph piece, headlined "Police may ban future marches to prevent disorder. Police may ban anti-Government marches through central London to prevent further disorder and strain on officer numbers." Please read the piece, and tell me if "fascist" is too strong. Maybe I have an impoverished vocabulary, and "securitarian" is better here. But read the article and the photo together.

Photo is credited to "Getty Images." IANAL, but I'm claiming fair use for political commentary purposes. 

Open letter from Middlesex students and staff on Alfie Meadows and police brutality

You can read the entire letter here. 

We, current and former students and staff of Middlesex University, wish to make plain our disgust at the behaviour of the Metropolitan police at the demonstration against tuition fee rises in London on 9th December. A Middlesex student, Alfie Meadows, sustained life-threatening injuries and underwent brain surgery as a result of an attack by the police. Protesters wishing to leave the demonstration had been told by police to exit via Whitehall, where many were then kettled and attacked. At around 6pm, the police launched a series of unprovoked charges, using horses, truncheons and shields on protesters trapped in Whitehall. Hundreds of peaceful protesters were lined up on the south side of Whitehall and witnessed these attacks.

Over the last month, we have been witness numerous times to police attacks on young protesters, many of school age, with nothing to defend themselves but their passion, anger and sense of injustice. The spectacle of brute, armed force marshalled against the young holds up an unflattering mirror to the society that condones it.

Middlesex philosophy student undergoes brain operation after being struck on head at fees protest

[UPDATE: Letters and cards of support can be sent to: Alfie Meadows, Neurosurgery 11th floor South, Charing Cross Hospital, Fulham Palace Road, London W6 8RF, England.]

Details here, with quotes from Nina Power. Nina's blog is a must-read.

Excerpts: 

Alfie Meadows, a philosophy student at Middlesex University, was struck as he tried to leave the area outside Westminster Abbey during last night's tuition fee protests, his mother said. After falling unconscious on the way to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Mr Meadows underwent a three-hour operation for bleeding on the brain.

His mother Susan, 55, an English literature lecturer at Roehampton University, said: "He was hit on the head by a police truncheon. "He said it was the hugest blow he ever felt in his life. The surface wound wasn't very big but, three hours after the blow, he suffered bleeding to the brain. He survived the operation and he's in the recovery room."

Ms Power, 32, a philosophy lecturer, said she was with Mr Meadows just minutes before the incident. She said: "The police had been very violent all day. Whoever was trying to get out, they weren't allowing them. We were standing quite far back. We were nowhere near the front line. We were just talking about getting out. I went one way and Alfie tried another. The police were getting very violent at that point. Where I tried to get out they were charging with horses. We had to run back. Alfie is not a violent person. He wouldn't have done anything silly. He's not the sort of person who would have been carrying weapons. He's very political, engaged and passionate, but he's not a violent person at all." 

A screaming comes across the sky

Guardian's live blog of anti-fees protests. 

This could have been an alternate title for the post.

[UPDATE: Fee bill passes; analysis at Lenin's Tomb.]

[UPDATE 2: Best comment ever on a photo: "...look at Camilla's face, hillarious! Charles just told her how much debt a student will graduate with"]

All funding sources and regimes are 'tainted' in some way, but

It's also a peculiar feature of dictatorships that they relentlessly accentuate the positive. Ever since Plato tried to get the ear of a tyrant, philosophers have been tempted by the lure of the Enlightenment despot.

I have been ruminating on these matters because a few weeks ago, I received a cfp for Transforming the Human. The main conference website happily features the glossy 'benefits' of military research and the word "eugenics" is conspicuously lacking in the list of "possible topics". Moreover, the website features not merely tourist but also political propaganda for Bahrain. This is not the place to explore the exact accuracy of all the claims (no doubt Bahrain is just about the best place to be a citizen in the Gulf, but migrant workers are still treated harshly). Just to reflect that there is a very thin line between gratitude and being bought. Caveat Emptor!

Disappearing Departments

A Professor of Biochemistry and Chemistry defends the Humanities brilliantly (and amusingly): "Young people haven't, for the most part, yet attained the wisdom to have that kind of freedom without making poor decisions. In fact, without wisdom, it's hard for most people. That idea is thrashed out better than anywhere else, I think, in Dostoyevsky's parable of the Grand Inquisitor, which is told in Chapter Five of his great novel, The Brothers Karamazov. In the parable, Christ comes back to earth in Seville at the time of the Spanish Inquisition. He performs several miracles but is arrested by Inquisition leaders and sentenced to be burned at the stake. The Grand Inquisitor visits Him in his cell to tell Him that the Church no longer needs Him. The main portion of the text is the Inquisitor explaining why. The Inquisitor says that Jesus rejected the three temptations of Satan in the desert in favor of freedom, but he believes that Jesus has misjudged human nature. The Inquisitor says that the vast majority of humanity cannot handle freedom. In giving humans the freedom to choose, Christ has doomed humanity to a life of suffering. That single chapter in a much longer book is one of the great works of modern literature. You would find a lot in it to think about. I'm sure your Russian faculty would love to talk with you about it - if only you had a Russian department, which now, of course, you don't."Read the whole piece here: http://genomebiology.com/2010/11/10/138

New Issue of Academe on "The Conflicted University"

The bi-monthly journal of the AAUP (you can become a member here), Academe, has devoted its November-December 2010 issue to "The Conflicted University." 

There look to be many interesting articles in the issue: 

"Kneecapping" Academic Freedom By Robert R. Kuehn and Peter A. Joy: Corporate attacks on law school clinics are escalating.

The Costs of a Climate of Fear By Michael Halpern: Ideological attacks on scientists undermine sound public policy.

BP, Corporate R&D, and the University By Russ Lea: New lessons for research universities, thanks to a catastrophe.