Interviewees CVs

Via a comment on the Philosophy Smoker, I found that you can see the CVs for four interviewees for a tenure-track position in Ethics at University of Florida. Since those of us on the market often have only a vague idea of what we're up against, this kind of insight into who is competitive for such a hire is potentially very helpful. That said, however, three of them are ABD with no significant publications, so presumably being looked at more on grounds of potential and great letters of recommendation. Unfortunately, since I don't even know what my referees write, I can't know how I compare there...

How to Decide Who to Lay Off...

There's been a lot of discussion lately about King's College, London choosing to lay off several members of faculty (compulsory retirement/redundancy), for example on Leiter. In some cases, it appears that members of staff fall victim to 'restructuring' while others may lose their jobs due to lack of productivity (in practice, the difference can be hard to discern, since the former may be a mere cover for the latter).

It appears that Monty Python already discovered the best way to decide who to lay off in these difficult circumstances - namely, a fight to the death. Thanks to Chris for informing me of this sketch.

True or False?: Multiple Choice Can Test Understanding

I've always been rather sceptical of the idea of multiple choice tests, because they're often administered badly and so merely test factual recall - e.g. what year was Hobbes' Leviathan published?: a) 1641, b) 1646, c) 1651, d) 1656. That's no way to test university students, who should be developing understanding rather than merely the ability to cram many facts into their heads.

Doug Portmore interactive quiz on hedonistic act-utilitarianism, however, strikes me as a fine example of how such testing can be done well. Granted the fact that it's binary (necessarily true or not necessarily true, rather than true/false) means you'd expect someone to get 50% just by guessing randomly, and maybe notably higher with a bit of luck and knowledge. Nonetheless, to get all the answers right - as I did - suggests that one is either very lucky or has a pretty good understanding of the implications of the stated theory.

Maybe there is a place for multiple choice tests, given their advantages (ease of marking being one) and I might even send this one to my students over the Easter vac...

They Called the Titanic 'Unsinkable'...

...and they called this phone 'unbreakable' (video).

Dilbert does REF

The RAE and its planned successor the REF have been big talking points amongst academics for a while - already touched on on this blog.

While PHD comics already exposed problems with using 'impact factor' (citation counts) as a proxy for research quality, I was surprised to see that such concerns are not confined to academia (though, perhaps on reflection, it should have been obvious that 'value indicators' and such like are simply being imported from the business world). Here's what Dilbert has to say about quantifying research value.

I Wonder Whether They'll Introduce Birth Control...

China famously introduced a one-child policy to curb population growth. I wonder if similar might be heading for the UK. This BBC story seems to have been updated throughout the day, the focus shifting from numbers to Carey's views on assimilation to British (read: Christian?) values. Nonetheless, it seems that "He is among a group of MPs and peers warning that the population should not be allowed to go beyond 70 million."

If that's the concern then, logically, it is relevant not only to immigration but also 'natural' (indigenous) population growth. Maybe if we near 70M there will have to be strict birth controls - or perhaps he favours mandatory euthanasia programmes instead...

(I recognize that it's slightly unfair to foist this false dichotomy on him. There's at least one other option: (forced?) emigration...)

An Unelected PM?

BBC politics blogger Nick Robinson is babbling on about the prospect of Gordon Brown being replaced by an unelected leader. Now, I'm only a theorist of democracy, and not an expert on the British electoral system, but it seems to me that this is always the case. For all the talk of Blair's 'presidential' style, we don't (yet) elect the PM the way that Americans elect their President.

It seems that a couple of commentators get things right. Firstly, assuming Brown were to be replaced by an MP, then that person would have been elected by his or her constituency (just like Blair, Brown, Cameron and any other MP). Secondly, what we - the public at large - do is simply choose our local representatives. The party with the most of these, in the aggregate, get to form a government, and they get to choose their leader/Prime Minister.

We may not have elected Brown PM, but there's no straightforward sense in which we elected Blair PM in 1997 either...

Ballots for Blair Seats

Tony Blair's appearance before the Iraq Inquiry is public but has generated such interest that seats will have to be balloted. Sir John Chilcot, chairing the inquiry, says "We believe the fairest way to do this is to allocate seats by ballot. Note that, actually, certain places are reserved for priority groups (e.g. relatives of servicemen), but those places will also be subject to a ballot among members of the priority group.

On the subject of random selection, Michael Cholbi is contemplating the merits of random selection to assign student groups over at ISW.

Departmental Lecturer in Philosophy

Those who have recently experienced frustration at the APA may like to know that the deadline for a departmental lecturership in philosophy, to replace Timothy Williamson, has been extended to 25th January. Postdoctoral experience required and AOS: epistemology, metaphysics, philosophical logic, or philosophy of language.

Hard Times in Leeds?

Earlier this (academic) year, I applied for a lectureship in philosophy at Leeds (who'd actually advertised two positions). Some time after the closing date, I received an email informing me that, unfortunately, both positions had been cancelled pending a university-wide budgetary review. Always annoying, though not the first time this has happened to me.

This Times Higher article suggests the depth of the problems. It seems - from one of the comments - that the Faculties of Biological Sciences and Healthcare studies at Leeds seriously misjudged their RAE strategy, causing a significant budget shortfall. I'm not really privy to the necessary information to judge, but it seems like university-wide cuts are necessary to bail them out...

In A Different Voice...

Much has been made of differences between men and women, for instance the suggestion that women favour an 'ethic of care' as opposed to rational rules (a la Kant). Well now sources in China suggest that women have a "different sense of distance."

Hilary Term Lecture Lists

Call me sad for noticing, but lecture lists for next term are available here. My name is down on two of them...

Waldron to take Chichele Chair

I've just heard the confirmation, after months of rumours, via Leiter. More, presumably, to follow.

Now That's What I Call a Christmas Bonus...

Co-op worker paid £1.4m monthly salary - and is honest enough to pay it back (only to be rewarded with a crate of beer).

Civic Service

The Demos think-tank has just come out in support of a program of 'national civic service.' It's an idea that has enjoyed previous support.

I haven't, yet, had time to look at the details of their proposal, since it's admissions interview time (i.e. the busiest time of year for an Oxford tutor). I'm generally opposed to compulsion, but do think it sounds like it has many benefits for all involved, so much would depend on how it's implemented.

I dislike the idea of compulsory service or making students pay, but would cautiously welcome it if it was a way for the unemployed to gain skills/experience and do something useful in exchange for their benefits (i.e. if it was incentivized rather than strictly compulsory).

I note with interest that one of the authors is my former classmate Sonia Sodha, who has appeared on this blog before. She seems to be doing well in the policy world...

Tax Free Toll Bridge

I forget why, but this bridge came up in conversation last night. It recently changed hands for over £1m, but apparently the owner collects almost £200,000pa tax-free from the toll, thanks to an 18th century grant. Sounds like quite an investment.

The example seems relevant to a claim made by my friend Karl in his 2009 PPE paper: "Current titleholders do not hold full property rights, and they did not pay for full property rights when
they bought their rights from earlier holders. Those titleholders would have charged more for those titles if they constituted stronger rights of ownership, or perhaps they would have retained those incidents of ownership for themselves. That is, most current titleholders lose nothing to government taxation and regulation, because they never bought the right to be free of it" (p.58).

Ketchup Robbery

Beware ketchup-squirting thieves in Oxford...

Ethics of Eating Meat

I've always said that I think you could base a plausible (if not necessarily correct) argument for vegetarianism simply on our duties to fellow human beings, thus avoiding tricky questions about animal rights or suffering. In a world marked by over-crowding, food shortages, and global warming, it may be that the world's population could be better-supported if we were all (at least nearly) vegetarian.

It seems that Sir Paul McCartney is on board with the idea, suggesting that people give up meat on Mondays. (Though the cynic in me wonders whether he'd profit from increased sales of his ex-wife's vegetarian alternatives, I applaud the sentiment.)

Of course, though, another alternative would be if we could artificially grow our own substitutes, which might remove many of the ethical objections (though, as my girlfriend points out, artificial meat grown by cloning animal cells still wouldn't be vegan).

Theory/Philosophy Debate reaches Amazon

I've seen many a discussion get bogged down in the difference between 'political theory' and 'political philosophy' (most memorably here, though a moderator since seems to have deleted it all as unproductive). As far as I'm concerned, there's not really a difference, since what I do could be called either, though I accept that there are some - like the girlfriend - who would claim to do the first and not the second.

I raise this because it seems that the distinction has even reached Amazon shoppers, as seen from this forum thread. Since it concerns one of my supervisor's books, I felt compelled to weigh in (even though the issue seemed to have been resolved). I don't know why someone felt the need to try to distinguish political theory from political science, or why he chose to do so in such an inept way (not sure I should quote it here, since it wasn't put out in public, but it strikes me as quite funny).

Virtual Graduation

I finally graduated my D.Phil just over a month ago - after a wait of over a year (and my M.Phil at the same time, after somewhat longer). The University of Edinburgh, however, has come up with an interesting alternative: virtual graduations. I wonder what the photographs will be like...

Library Fines

An anonymous American (former) high school student returned two books that were 50 years overdue. The £600 doesn't really seem enough to cover realistic fines to me (whatever 4c/day was back then it isn't much now - and what about compound interest?), though I suppose in fairness the fine should probably have been capped at the replacement cost of the book.

Colleagues in the News

I've known about Toby's plans for a long time, but it's good to see it getting publicity - hopefully it will encourage others to do the same.
Eloise asks how long he's counting on living. He does hang out with the human enhancement crowd, so maybe to 150... (There's an interesting discussion with several philosophers on the issue in the latest Oxford Today.)

Problems of Impact

There's a nice piece here (via Leiter and Philos-L) on the REF which, among other things, nicely points to the important difference between 'impact' and 'benefit'.

A Monkey Could Do It

My old school economics teacher insisted that the average monkey ought to get 10/40 in the multiple choice part of our exam and a lucky monkey would probably get 17-18/40, in order to castigate anyone who scored less than this.

I was reminded of this on hearing that a South Korean woman passed her multiple choice driving theory test at the 950th attempt. I wonder what the odds are of a monkey passing in that many attempts? (Unfortunately, even if I knew how, I can't work this out as the article doesn't tell us how many options there are for each question.)

I wonder if the same monkey would go away and write some Shakespeare afterwards...

Are Train Fares Fair?

Apparently you can now pay over £1,000 for one train journey in the UK (albeit from Cornwall to Scotland).

What bothers me is not so much (or only) the extravagant cost, but the complexity of ticket selling. It's often seemed to me that what I've paid has depended on the seller in question. A couple of weeks ago my girlfriend and I got returns from Oxford to Coventry, which I was expecting to pay almost £50 for (with her railcard), for less than half that because the conductor sold us separate tickets from Oxford to Banbury and Banbury to Coventry. Where's the sense?

Will We Be Haunted?

Apparently the new Radcliffe Observatory Quarter (ROQ) - the new Humanities site, which will house Philosophy along with other disciplines - sits on a Bronze Age burial site... Details here.

Witch

I wonder if this is an example of academic impact?

Is It Really A Sale?

Where can you find a full price sofa these days?

Brand Awareness

Another post highlighting lack of common sense...

St George's Tower

Percy's taken a few photos of places around my house lately: now I know what this tower's called.

Common Sense?

I've been somewhat distracted today by looking through the examples of complete idiocy (mostly from shop customer) on this site.

Some personal favourites:
What's wrong with the music industry
Homophobia and lesbians
An Englishman in NZ
A second bite at the sandwich
Change channel

UPDATE: Some more...
Not suitable for nut allergies
One way to keep your PIN safe
How not to approach college
Emergency marshmallows
Free legal advice
Superior parenting
Expensive tantrum
Cheap computer
Foolish scammer
Directions
DIY repairs
Cable guy

Cash For Jabs

Another example of incentives/bribery here - patients being paid to take their medicine...

Stipendiary Lecturership

Finishing a PhD and looking for a job in Philosophy 1st January 2010-30th June 2010? Then check this out. Over £16,000 for the six month position! AOC: Ethics.

Language and Etymology

I was somewhat amused to see this post on the Liverpool FC messageboard, in a discussion that began on the meaning of homosexuality and in which someone had appealed to the Greek root:

The issue is usage, not etymology.

If we go round saying all words mean whatever there [sic] etymological root means, everything will actually mean something else, and language will be destabilised.

Is that what you want? Who the **** are you? Derrida?

Maybe there is a market for Soccer & Philosophy after all...

They're Talking 'Bout me Round the Smoker

This post got picked up on here, as a result of my comment.

The Accident of Birth

Those of us who've studied political theory will be used to some, like Rawls, making a great deal of the fact that one's birth is a matter of chance, and thus morally arbitrary. Today, I saw that a BBC editorial blog - weighing in on the question of who should pay for university, students or tax-payers - appeal to the same idea:
"there is also an issue here of inter-generational social justice... More by luck than desert, the generation of Lambert, Balls, Laidlaw and even Peston have had it pretty good... thanks to the accident of when we happened to have been born"

Plato's Cave Animated

Here. (via John Holbo).

(It strikes me that this is pretty good, but I haven't watched the many other videos).

UPDATE: I think I actually prefer this animation, but by making it much shorter they skip out the fact that there are two (main) stages of enlightenment. The shadows the prisoners see are - importantly - copies of copies (i.e. shadows of statues).

CV Organisation

What should go on a CV and how should it be organised?

This is something that's stressing many on the market, even to the point of debating membership of professional bodies.

One friend of mine told me that he'd had more interviews since lumping all his publications into a single list (peer review journal articles marked by an asterisk). Nonetheless, it seems that that's not the consensus view on how best to structure a CV. My eye was caught by the discussion here.

Spiros suggests that some things, including conference proceedings, popular culture books, online reviews (except NDPR) and any edited volume not by a big name editor/press shouldn't be included on the CV at all. That seems a bit extreme to me, although I think it probably is best to clearly distinguish these items from peer-reviewed research.

My CV has a section for 'research and publications'. (This allowed me to list, in a separate sub-section, working papers and those under review, without being accused of trying to pass them off as publications). Until recently, that was simply divided into 'research articles' and 'book reviews'. The problem with this is that there are one or two items in the latter category that are quite substantial (e.g. I wrote a 2,500 word book review for Res Publica that underwent - an admittedly fairly light - peer-review). On the other hand, not all of my research-related publications are really that impressive. I recently had a summary of my PhD published in an online journal (see here); which is clearly research but it feels a bit wrong trying to pass that off alongside my articles in ETMP, Philosophy and Utilitas.

My latest CV, prepared for another assault on the job market, divides publications into 'scholarly research articles' and 'other pieces' (which includes notes, replies, reviews, introductions, etc). This allows me to put the pieces I want to draw attention to up front, while still including things like the EJPE piece or popular philosophy contributions in the latter, along with my book reviews (I'd consider them to have about equal weight - which I know is virtually none). I also put my 'working papers' sub-section between the two, so people associate it with further scholarly research on-going.

I'm quite happy with the current layout, but others should feel free to discuss their preferred layouts or advice.

Bleg: Name An Article?

Ok, unusual call for help. I have a revise and resubmit on an article on democracy and non-voting. In it, I point out that behind a lot of recent arguments for compulsory voting is the (often implicit) assumption that it is democratically better if more people vote. I argue that this is not obviously the case and that non-voting may actually be helpful - e.g. because it tends to be those most affected by a decision who are more likely to vote on it and there are democratic reasons to think that they ought to have more say.

At the moment, the article is simply called 'Democracy and Non-Voting.' I quite like this title actually - it's not especially clever or catchy, but short and too the point. One of the referees did ask, however, whether I might be able to come up with something a bit more engaging. Any suggestions gratefully welcomed.

EJPE

The latest (summer 2009) issue of the Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics is available here (I assume that link will be here in future). I mention it only because they include a selection of recent PhD thesis summaries, including mine.

Longest Piece of Music

It's another old philosophical question: if a tree falls in the forest, and there's no one there to hear it, does it make a sound? (It's one relatively easily answered, unlike this variant.)

Here's a new one though: if a composer creates a 1,000 year long piece of music, then no-one will ever hear the whole thing, so what's the point?

Should We Save Animals First?

Interesting discussion on the BBC about whether it's right to spend large sums on an animal hospital rather than putting the money towards saving human lives.

Can Maggots Create Art?

We've all heard the one about chimpanzees typing out Shakespeare. I'm not so sure that maggots, of their own accord, could create a piece of art. Nonetheless, if a human decides to use them to create a piece of art, then I guess that makes him still the artist...

Is Nudity a Crime?

Apparently - according to this BBC article - nakedness as such isn't a crime in the UK, only if it 'offends decency'. I'm not sure this is really much more liberal, given that surely anyone naked could be accused of this and arrested, so there will certainly be a 'chilling' effect. Nonetheless, a useful case to remember next time I'm teaching Mill's On Liberty.

Are Coin Flips Fair?

Interesting discussion here (via Thom).

Personally I'm inclined to think this isn't much of a problem, at least provided that parties don't have/try to use this knowledge. The fairness of a coin flip rests on epistemic randomness - because it may be the case that I have flipped the coin already, so the answer is determined but unknown to you when you call (since the coin is covered by my hand).

People with the knowledge here may be able to eke out a slight advantage, but then the knowledge can also be used to counteract such gamesmanship (e.g. by 'randomizing' whether you flip the coin in your hand after catching it). A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, at least if it's the preserve of the few, but if all have it the problems can be overcome.

Laws of Attraction

Good news: it seems that intelligent men are attractive to the opposite sex.

Bad news: being round attractive women makes men stupid(er).

Does this mean that intelligent men are likely to date lots of ugly women?

Jobs by Lottery

It's finally happened: jobs are being allocated by lottery! There's no sign of any further selection procedures, bar age (over 18) and Italian residency (and, presumably, the capacity to spend 28 euros doing one's shopping), although being in supermarkets it's probably fair to assume all ticket holders are qualified for the job. Moreover, it probably beats cronyism and nepotism which, I'm told, play a large part in the allocation of many jobs in Italy.

Why Not Socialism Update

I mentioned in my Cohen obituary that I wasn't sure about the status of his new book. I have an answer here, thanks to Harry. Even better, you can read the gist of it reported in the New Statesman.

p.s. See also further tributes and anecdotes on Leiter.

The Simpsons on Art

I only caught the last ten minutes or so of The Simpsons last night (which I rarely watch at all these days, due to not watching a lot of TV at all and it being a bit early for mealtime, even on C4+1). It was this episode, in which Homer becomes an 'outsider artist.' I may have to see whether I can work a reference to this into my Aesthetics lectures; particularly this quote:
[Homer floods the town as an art project]
Bart Simpson: Are you sure this is art, not vandalism?
Homer: That's for the courts to decide, son.

Intellectual Play

I found this reflective post by Colin Farrelly interesting.

Only one year into my career as 'faculty member,' I'm less clear on my long-term goals although, in the short-term, I aspire to find another job (my current contract has another year to run) and publish more articles (hopefully in top journals). I'll see where that leads me, although I also have other, non-academic goals (i.e. settling down somewhere - buying a house and, probably one day, starting a family).

Local Happenings

I noticed a scaffolding bridge over the river near my house the other day and men doing some kind of work on the wall near the castle: now I know what's going on thanks to the picture and commentary here.

Computer Instructions

For parents and other 'not computer people' - see here.

Paying for Degrees

Chris' post amused me.

I haven't actually taken my Oxford MA yet. I'm due to graduate my D.Phil in October (I hope), so was tempted to do this at the same time - although I'm not sure it's worth paying for given that I haven't bothered to take my M.Phil degree, which would be free.*

One problem with this, of course, is it may be that I would technically be expected to wear my D.Phil gown to various official occasions (most don't do this because the MA is technically the higher degree!).

*The graduation itself would be free, but one cost is that I would have to deposit a hard-bound copy of the thesis in the Bodelian - costing more than £10 certainly.

Norrington Table 2009

The preliminary undergraduate league table is available here. Corpus a very pleasing 4th. (Three 1sts and four 2.is out of our seven PPE finalists.)

Most Confusing Comic Ever?

Probably not, but I found this pretty amusing. (Hat tip: Ben Colburn)

Death: G. A. Cohen

This has just been confirmed by emails to Philos-L and the Oxford Philosophy Faculty: G. A. Cohen died in the early hours of this morning, following a suspected stroke. I didn't know him as well as many, so I won't try to pre-empt the tributes that will no doubt soon come his way. I'll just say that I always found him a kind, entertaining and inspiring teacher. His valedictory lecture and the subsequent conference in his honour serve as reminders of just how widely he was liked and admired. No doubt all who knew him will miss him greatly.

See also Chris Brooke, Thom Brooks, Chris Bertram (and links here), Michael Rosen's account of the funeral (on Leiter), Nick Vrousalis and Stuart White. Also Times obituary and the Guardian.

It seems that his Why Not Socialism? is to be published posthumously - I assume this was already in the works, but I don't know whether the book is an expansion on or simply a reprinting of the essay already published in this collection.

Random Awards

It turns out that maybe some things shouldn't be allocated randomly...

Notts County 2-2 Liverpool XI

I’ve given up my regular blogging about Liverpool games as I just don’t have the time any more and prefer to concentrate on other matters here. Nonetheless, I suppose it’s worth making an exception for matches that I see in person…

I went to see a Liverpool Reserve XI play a pre-season friendly against Notts County this evening (taking advantage of my girlfriend living in Nottingham and celebrating our half-year anniversary in style!). It was a stronger line up than expected in some ways, featuring the likes of Darby, Pacheco and Nemeth – although I was disappointed not to see Hammill or Dalle Valle.

The match ended 2-2, which probably isn’t so encouraging. If this had been Arsenal’s young reserves then they would probably have wiped the floor with a League 2 outfit.

The hotly-tipped Pacheco scored the opener and definitely showed some nice touches, but he really was small and I’m worried he won’t make it in England. At least, he’s destined to be no more than the next Benayoun rather than the next Messi.

Of the others, I wasn’t hugely impressed. The defending was shaky at times, especially from set pieces, despite one of their centre forwards looking about 5’4” himself (kind of like a mini-me duplicate of the other actually). I didn’t think Nemeth looked too impressive – he did some good work in the build up to the first goal, but then went down rather easily in the box (just as well the ball came Pacheco’s way). I was fairly impressed with a couple of substitutes though – Simon and Saric I think they were – who livened things up a bit when they came on.

Closed for Business

I briefly popped into college today to check my post, just after lunch, but didn't try to go to the Faculty or notice anything untoward. Apparently though Merton St was closed for most of the day, after a refuse lorry collided with scaffolding.

Paying for Gametes

Apparently the UK's fertility watchdog has called for a fresh debate on paying egg and sperm donors (currently banned) in order to increase numbers. I wonder if this would also lead to paying other organ donors?

Adjuncting

I've just about finished putting together the first draft of a teaching portfolio, but here's an interesting account of what it's like to be an adjunct with little control over syllabi. Obviously it's American focused. I'm not really sure how applicable it is to Oxford. I get almost total freedom over my own reading list and what I do for 8 weeks but, at the end, the students are tested by a common exam and I get almost no say in the overall paper.

Unlearning Review

My latest book review has just been published at Metapsychology. Pretty quick, given that I only sent the review a couple of weeks ago and the review deadline wasn't even until 1st August. Definitely compares favourably to print journals, where two reviews I wrote last summer probably won't appear for a while...

NASL Shoot-Outs

Just doing some research on penalties - here's the alternative used in the North American Soccer League (where the striker has 5 seconds to run from the 35 yard line and beat the 'keeper).

No Vote = No Voice

Campaigns to encourage turnout often tell people that if they don't have a vote they don't have a voice. This is false, since there are other ways to influence the democratic process, e.g. writing to newspapers or lobbying your MP. Moreover, not having anyone you deem worth voting for is a pretty good reason to complain.

Now, however, it looks like that might be coming true - a group of cub scouts were prevented from holding a protest meeting at the House of Commons because they don't have a vote yet. It seems unfair to penalize those who don't have the right to vote, as opposed to those who fail to exercise it.

Assisted Suicide

At the ALSP conference last weekend I saw someone argue that the current UK suicide law - which allows suicide but not assisted suicide - effectively discriminates against the disabled who aren't able to kill themselves. This is an interesting argument, particularly because suicide is - as far as I'm aware - the only thing that it's legal to do but not legal to help someone do.

Anyway, one thing this throws up is the issue of what it is to 'assist' someone. Helping someone get a plane to Switzerland, so that they can then receive help, is a bit of a grey area. Until there's a test case, it would be hard to say what the law is here. The Lords have just rejected an amendment that would make this definitely legal, however.

Job: Witch

Given how competitive the academic job market at the moment is, this opportunity to almost double my salary by posing as a witch is quite appealing...

Foul Weather

Today's sudden and brief but heavy rain showers helped me make Hobbes come alive for one of my American students.

Hobbes points out that a state of war need not be one of constant fighting, but the lasting disposition to such - just as "the nature of Foule weather, lyeth not in a showre or two of rain; but in an inclination thereto of many dayes together" [Leviathan, ch.13]. I really think Americans need to have experienced English summer to appreciate this claim...

Apparently, however, even heavier rain in London led to three tube stops flooding and severe rail disruption - no doubt almost bringing about a return to the state of nature there...

JAP Editor

From Philos-L:

The Journal of Applied Philosophy, now established as 
the premier journal in its field, is seeking to appoint 
a co-editor to work alongside the current editor, Suzanne 
Uniacke. We are looking for someone with relevant 
philosophical interests and experience, a commitment to 
work as part of a team, and an understanding of the
Journal's status and remit.

The position will receive an appropriate honorarium and 
the appointment will initially be for three years.

Expressions of interest in the position should be made, 
by 1st September 2009, to the Chair of the Management 
Committee of the Journal, Professor David Archard
(d.archard[at]lancaster.ac.uk), from whom further 
information about the position can also be obtained.

This may explain why I'm still waiting for a verdict on a paper I submitted in October, despite being assured in May that the referees' reports were in and it was just awaiting editorial decision...

Salad Dodging

The traditional playground taunt directed at fat people is 'salad dodger', but it seems that avoiding salads could be a good idea - apparently many pre-packaged salads have more fat/calories than a BigMac and fries!

Music as Cure

One aspect of art and society that Plato wanted to regulate was the musical modes, suggesting that the ideal city should only allow those that breed good characters. It's now been shown, not particularly surprisingly, that music can affect blood flow and breathing. This suggests that it may have medical uses. I wonder why such studies are always done with classical/operatic music though?

Religious Attitudes to Organ Donation

One thing I've recently been thinking about is organ procurement, and in particular possible objections to an opt-out (or 'presumed consent') system. It's often suggested that this may violate the conscience of certain religious groups, e.g. because they think their bodies must be buried whole if they are to have an afterlife. It's pleasing to see that a variety of UK religious leaders consider organ donation a moral duty.

Light Switches and Religion

One of the things I'm teaching today is multiculturalism, which raises the issue of exemptions from laws for certain groups. A classic example is the fact that Sikhs don't need to wear motorcycle helmets. It's not obvious that this exemption is justified. If the law is purely paternalistic then we might say 'on their head be it', but then it's not clear that the law's justified at all. If there are good other-directed reasons for the law, then we could simply conclude that a religious code requiring one to wear a turban effectively forbids one to ride a motorbike.

I was struck by this recently reported example, however. Apparently an orthodox Jewish couple object to light sensors outside their home because their religion forbids them switching lights on on religious holidays.

Firstly, it seems to me that a religious code that "bans lights and other electrical equipment being switched on" can't be that old, and thus I wonder at its provenance. I don't recall anything about electrical goods in the Old Testament (though lights or lamps could of course be there). Secondly, it's not really clear to me what the objection is. It seems that they don't object to lights being on - apparently what they want is the lights to be on the whole time - only to them being switched on.

Presumably, what matters is whether they switch the lights on. I assume their religious code isn't forbidding anyone to switch lights on or they'd have to go around interfering with others. In this case, it's not clear why motion sensors count as them doing it. After all, they could easily cause others to switch lights on - e.g. if I was to see them enter a dark room and turn the light on for them, I don't see why this should be against their religion. Motion sensors should therefore be interpreted as the action of someone else.

It's quite common for people to circumvent religious requirements in this way. I understand that in Israel Jewish doctors feel it's wrong to turn off life support. Apparently what happens is that machines are built that will turn off unless reset - then the doctor simply fails to reset and life support is withdrawn by omission rather than act. Whether this is morally significant is highly doubtful, but since when was religion about morality anyway?

One for stats fans...

Rafael Nadal says "I will give 200% to be at 100% for [Wimbledon]."

Silly Job Interview

This morning I took part in a mock job interview conducted by John Hawthorne and a panel of 6 doctoral students, in the Philosophy Faculty's Doctoral Thesis Seminar. I guess that more practice is always a good thing. Thankfully it didn't go like this Monty Python sketch.

Oxford University PLC?

Continued assessment exercises, such as QAA, RAE and REF have led many academics to worry that universities are increasingly being treated like businesses. Now the government has abolished the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, merging its functions into the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills these fears are only likely to grow...

Exams May Cause Family Deaths

The higher rate of grandmother deaths in the run-up to exams can only mean that family members literally worry themselves to death over the performance of their beloved students.

That or the problem with most surveys is 'garbage in, garbage out'...

Refusing Organs

Apparently most people would be less likely to want organs from bad people. Scrap plans to harvest murderers for spare parts then...

BoJo

Boris Johnson puts his foot (and more) in it...

Journal Moratorium

Nous and PPR have declared moratoriums on new papers, until 1st October 2009 (Weatherson, via Leiter).

Speedy publication is important for those early in their career. I'm happy to report that I received off-prints of my ETMP piece yesterday - and was suitable impressed with the quick turnaround (first submitted Nov 2008; R&R Dec 2008; revisions submitted Jan 09 and accepted in just over two weeks; online publication Feb 2009; in print this month).

Jellyfish Crop Circle

A quite impressive Oxfordshire crop circle.

Ageing Academics

The spin on this story suggests that UK academics are ageing, which is probably a good thing for younger aspiring academics like myself. Then again, it says one in five (20%) are 55 or over, while only 25.2% are 35 or under. That still suggests more in the latter category than the former, though hopefully there's some attrition over the intervening 20 years...

The Watermarks

A useful advert on facebook directed me to this Texan band, The Watermarks. You can download free songs here. Eelctro-pop-rock I'm quite liking it...

Job Advert

It seems that many people are getting increasingly desperate on the job market, but today I found that some universities are almost equally desperate - the following job advert came via Philos-L:

Philosophers needed University of Ghana, Legon

All levels of experience are welcome.  PhD required.
Predominantly undergraduate teaching.  African philosophy,
 logic, mind, epistemology, metaphysics, theoretical/
applied ethics, philosophy of science, social and political,
hermeneutics. Address all further queries to: Head of
Department Prof. Lauer.
Initially your application should include a CV. Then if
the department establishment is interested consensually
I will send you application forms.  At that stage we will
ask for two letters of reference, which can be emailed.
On request an overview of the department will be attached
by email.  Without access to email please send your
inquiry and CV by airmail express if not courier to
Prof. Helen Lauer, Head of Department Philosophy, PO Box
LG 211, University of Ghana, Legon GHANA (West Africa).
Starting dates August 1, 2009 or more likely now January 1, 2010.

Orangutans

Yesterday I learned, from Chris, that Rousseau wrote remarkable descriptions of orangutan 'society' (for want of a better word) given that he'd never actually seen one. Unfortunately, I don't know what exactly he had to say, although apparently Wokler wrote on this. Anyway, I doubt that even he would have predicted that orangutans cannibalize their young!

Chichele Negotiations Ongoing

It seems, according to Leiter, that negotiations between Oxford University and Jeremy Waldron are still ongoing. I haven't heard any official (or even unofficial) word around here...

Ideal and More Ideal Theory

Michael Rosen puts his finger on the key difference between political philosophers these days:
[P]olitical philosophers (political theorists within philosophy departments?) at present seem to be divided between Kantians who think that it is illuminating to explore the normative issues of politics in terms of something they call "ideal theory" and those (Platonists?) who think that even the Kantians are too empirical.

Web Searches

One good point about my academic website is the ability to see the keywords people use to stumble across it via search engines. Often they're relatively uninteresting, e.g. 'Ben Saunders Oxford' and sometimes they're clearly searching for someone else (e.g. one of my contacts). Last week though there were, interestingly, several hits for 'Ben Saunders Law Ethics' (presumably related to a job application) and this morning I was found by someone searching 'i need help to write my philosophy paper on derek parfit innumerate ethics'!

Healthcare Visitors

Another postcode lottery claim...

Copycat Killing

The murder of a Norfolk teenager was based on the movie Severance. One for my lecture on art and society...

Kidney Swap

A mother from Oxfordshire donated her kidney to a stranger so that her son could receive one from another compatible donor. Once we allow bartering, I'm not sure we're so far from open buying and selling.

Cooling Sun

Apparently, scientists are baffled by decreasing solar activity. If this continues, it may partially offset any man-made warming - although the fact that the Earth appears to have been warming since 1985, despite reducing solar activity over the same time frame, is worrying.

Philosophers in Schools

The BBC reports that Wellington College in Crowthorne, Berkshire has apparently employed philosopher-in-residence Julian Baggini ('blog', wikipedia) to teach children how to think. Their own website puts it amusingly: "Wellington College to teach its students how to think in a major new departure"!

Col Ewe

The BBC football blog actually discusses Colchester United!

Deja Vu

I've been reading through a lot of Dilbert cartoon strips lately. They're good, but I can't help noticing that sometimes certain ideas get repeated (and I'm not the first to do so).

Here's one I just spotted: 30/03/08 Dilbert congratulates PHB on being the first human to fail the Turing test. 16/03/09 (just under a year later) he's obviously so frustrated that he's now shouting what should be everyone's new slogan...

Public Speaking

Not sure about the programme, but this BBC mini-site features lots of tips on public speaking. May be worth looking at before I start my lectures this coming term...

Who Needs Males?

All-female ants reproduce asexually.

When Films Become Reality...

Snakes on a plane.

Conscription?

In her book, Whose Body Is It Anyway?, Cecile Fabre suggests compulsory 'citizen service' - like the military service still practiced in numerous countries, only with youngsters being forced to perform socially useful work, such as caring. Well, it seems that it's a step closer to reality, with Gordon Brown having recently suggested compulsory community work for under 19s.

Elect the Dead

Arrow suggests that, if voters provide a rank ordering of candidates on the ballot paper, then the death of one candidate should be handled by simply ignoring them and counting up the rest of the votes as if they'd never existed. For the presence of a dead candidate to affect the choice between two live ones would violate what he calls the Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives.

Since many electoral systems only ask people to declare their first preference, so this isn't always feasible. More importantly, I don't think Arrow ever tells us what to do when the dead guy wins...

(Similar stories here)

Commandments of Lecturing

As I've mentioned, I'm currently trying to write my first set of lectures - which is harder work than I realised (even though I only have four to write!). This list of 'Ten Commandments' is therefore timely (via).

I. Thou shalt connect new lectures to previous ones.
II. Thou shalt move beyond chalk and talk.
III. Thou shalt not lecture like a caffeinated hummingbird or a tree sloth.
IV. Thou shalt not assume too much.
V. Thou shalt link known to unknown.
VI. Thou shalt be enthusiastic.
VII. Thou shalt not be a pompous ass.
VIII. Thou shalt not tolerate disruptive or disrespectful students.
IX. Thou shalt not lecture outdoors.
X. Thou shalt seize learning moments.