Earthtone 9: Free Download

I completed my collection of the Earthtone 9 back catalogue about a year ago now. A nice nostalgia trip back to circa-2000 British metal. For anyone that missed out first time round though, they've released a best of collection that's available for free download here. Particularly recommended 'Tat Twam Asi' and 'Amnesia' (yes, I much preferred the later more melodic stuff).

May the Best Party Win...

A triumph for local democracy in Iceland...

School Without Pupils

There's a classic episode of Yes Minister that centres around a hospital without any patients. Reading about this school without pupils reminded me of it. In fairness, the debate here is between temporary and permanent closure: no one seems to be suggesting it remains open without pupils. Sometimes, however, I think that would be quite an attractive way to run a research university...

On What Matters

I notice on Amazon that Parfit's long-awaited On What Matters now has a release date. Strangely, if their current dates are to be believed, volume 2 is due July 2010, but we need to wait until January 2011 for volume 1. Most likely, I suspect that the former should be 2011 too. Each volume is a mere £19.99, but there's also a two volume set for £30 (with price guarantee for pre-orders). The two together amount to almost one thousand pages...

A Few Bits on Football...

I've just got home from my weekly philosophy football match and am feeling pretty good about it. I definitely feel fitter than I did at the start of term and even showed a few pieces of skill: a save at the striker's feet (though admittedly when the ball was behind him) and a couple of assists: including pulling the ball back from the by-line to the edge of the area for my colleague Gonzalo (also on Wikipedia) to stab into the net with the last kick of the game.

That's pretty notable in itself, but even more surprising was seeing Martin Keown turn up to play with the group of guys after us. I think I do recall reading something about him training the blues, but don't know if this was anything to do with that.

In other football-related bits, tomorrow sees a parade celebrating the return of Oxford United to league football (I don't think that I'm quite ready for that myself...)

Also, I received my copies of Soccer & Philosophy today - available in all good bookshops in time for the World Cup...

Overtime Increases Heart Risk

A study has (probably unsurprisingly) shown a link between working much overtime and risk of heart disease. It may be no more than a correlation, but it's unclear how risk of heart disease might lead to working longer hours, so it's fairly clear that there must be some causal influence working in the other direction, even if the exact mechanism is unclear and it may in fact be that one underlying condition (e.g. a driven personality) conduces to both working overtime and risk of heart disease.

Either way, this should be a warning for academics, most of whom (anecdotally) work around 50 hours a week. If the trend in academia is towards the erosion of the traditional non-monetary rewards (such as freedom of research) and towards increasing accountability, then someone might have to start paying us properly for this one day...

Idrizaj RIP

I was shocked to learn that former Liverpool reserve and current Swansea footballer Besian Idrizaj died last night of a suspected heart attack (source: BBC, LFC). Condolences to his family.

A Close Election Indeed (And How to Resolve Ties by Lottery)

I missed this last week, so thanks to my old house mate Pavel for the pointer. While headlines were dominated by the fact that the general election produced a hung parliament, a pack of cards had to be used to decide between two candidates for a local council in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, after each received 1,034 votes.

This isn't a first. Similar examples can be found here and here.

Heron

I've seen a heron in the river out the back of the castle several times now on my way to work. It seems that it's been captured by keen Oxford photographer Percy here.

Student Loans

My dad forwarded me an email from MoneySavingExpert about student loans. They're suggesting that those of us with such loans may be facing a hike from 0% to 4.4% interest in the coming year and, therefore, that it might be beneficial for those with savings to make extra repayments.

I'm not a financial adviser, but this seems like scaremongering to me. Interest should be either 4.4% (based on price inflation back in March) or 1% above the Bank of England interest rate - which sets a cap at 1.5% (as they acknowledge).

It's true that it hasn't yet been confirmed what the interest will be, but I don't see why that should be taken as a sign that there will be a departure from previous arrangements. Given that a new election seems likely sooner rather than later, I doubt whatever parties form a government would want to risk a backlash from recent students by raising the interest on their debt.

Moreover, even if they are right that interest on student loans is set to rise, it's not obvious that repaying is the best option. Interest on any other loans, including mortgages, is likely to be higher, so those with other debts are better off paying those first, assuming no penalties for doing so. (That's something noted on MSE.) But also, once the student loan is repaid, we'll never be able to borrow again at such a favourable rate of interest. It may well be worth taking a loss over the coming year on the expectation of being able to profit in future.

Oxford Crimespot

A fatal stabbing occurred within a five minute walk of my house (and even closer to my office). Thankfully, I don't normally hang out around Que Pasa at 3am...

Philosophers Football

Some of you may be aware that tomorrow sees a group of philosophers and celebrities re-creating the famous Monty Python philosophers football sketch in London.

Fans of both football and philosophy may also be interested to know of the new Open Court popular culture and philosophy title Soccer and Philosophy - to which I contributed a chapter on penalties and lotteries - which should hit the shelves in time for the World Cup.

You can pre-order it (at a 10% discount) from Amazon now:

Election (1) 2010

I was away overnight so not able to follow all the events of the election, but as expected it seems that we've got a hung parliament. (Cue jokes about hanging politicians...)

Here are some notable comments:
Thom Brooks on the moral right to govern.
Chris Brooke on the situation in Oxford (where the Labour incumbent in Oxford East increased his majority while the Lib Dems lost Oxford West & Abingdon to the Tories).
Thom Brooks on likely effects for higher education. As I comment there, this time parties were able to dodge the fees issue - next time, they'll have to be open about their policies.

Incentives for Organ Donors

I haven't had time to read the public consultation document from the Nuffield Council on Bioethics yet but, since it relates to several matters that are of interest to me - and have appeared on this blog - I thought I'd mention that they're seeking public views on incentives for donors.

UPDATE: Public Ethics Radio features Anne Phillips on ownership of the body here.

Common People

For anyone who hasn't yet seen these Cameron/Pulp videos... This one is the best I've seen so far, though this one (with pictures of vandalized billboards) is quite good too.

Mothers to do More Housework in the Future

This report on the BBC suggests that parents spent more quality time with their children in 2000 than in 1975.

However, what I assume is a reporter gaffe, makes it sound like a chilling warning for anyone planning to be a mother in 2025: "Mothers spent between two hours to 151 minutes a day on household chores in 2000 and this rose to between 166 to 191 minutes 25 years later."

Screen grab provided in case they fix it.

Who's Responsible for the Volcano then?

I haven't had any personal travel plans directly affected by the Europe-wide flight restrictions that have resulted from the Iceland volcano. Nonetheless, it's certainly had a disruptive effects in various ways, ranging from students late back to Liverpool's long trip to Madrid.

Apparently, in other news, an Iranian cleric has blamed women dressing immodestly for earthquakes in Iran. I wonder who's responsible for the volcano?

Free MP3s

I recently touted Amazon's spring bargains, but it gets even better. I noticed a while ago that they were recommending me some free MP3s. It seems that they have a small, but rotating, selection of free MP3s.

I've yet to have anything particularly exciting from them, but (along with iTunes' free single of the week) it's a good way of getting exposed to some new artists. Particularly notable at the moment though is this somewhat random 7-song sampler, featuring Holly Golightly, New York Dolls and Rocket From The Crypt.

(Disclaimer: I've recently joined Amazon's associate scheme, in the hope of earning a few pennies from this blog, but I won't get paid any commission for you downloading free music!)

Votes for Paedophiles?

I've been keeping an eye on the BBC's live election coverage, which has produced a few interesting stories already. Apparently, one Muslim group has declared in 'haram' (forbidden) for Muslims to vote in the UK. That's an interesting case for advocates of compulsory voting, since it could lead to claims for conscientious objection or cultural exemptions, though no doubt many would argue that the possibility of abstaining is sufficient protection.

Another interesting piece concerns a Labour candidate using the Lib Dems' commitment to consider votes for criminals as part of a negative campaigning strategy. Whether or not denying criminals the vote violates their human rights, it does seem less democratic to deny them the vote - but I doubt that allowing criminals the vote would be a popular vote-winner amongst the wider population.

Libertarianism and Feudalism

There's a rather interesting post over at Crooked Timber about libertarianism and feudalism. It's a well known problem that there's a tension between two standard libertarian principles, viz. that you own yourself and that you own the products of your labour - why then don't parents own their children? John Holbo argues that this system would amount to a form of feudalism. Libertarians need not accept this but, if they argue that they subscribe to their principles in order to promote freedom, they need to explain why their particular principles better promote or respect freedom than any other alternatives, such as redistribution to give the poor more freedom. There's more to it than that, but I don't have time to read the literally hundreds of comments...

Wedding

Today I went to the (state) wedding of my old flatmate Pavel and his new wife Eleni (pictured right).

Then we went to the Randolph, Raoul's (where the manager allowed Pavel to buy the cocktail glass he and his wife had just shared) and then Brown's to celebrate.

Since I was witness, hopefully this post will help me remember anniversaries. Here's to many more happy years ahead for the both of them!

Campaign Posters

I've linked before to examples of Tory campaign poster spoofs. It seems that the fun isn't restricted to those with fancy computer software. Percy's blog has examples of graffiti on campaign posters.

Amazon Clearance

No, this post isn't about deforestation but rather the popular online retailer. Last week I noticed - quite by chance - some quite fantastic clearance items in their music bargain section.

With the demise of Virgin and Borders, it's been a while since I've come across anything similar on the High Street, but I've acquired several pretty good albums as a result of taking a chance on something that I didn't know because it looked promising and was only a couple of quid. The danger of having all these bargains online - along with the possibility of checking out online reviews, YouTube, Spotify and Last.fm - was that I ended up buying quite a few albums, but mostly for under a pound. I figure that makes it hard to go too far wrong...

Ok, mostly they were things I've never heard of, but there were a couple of exceptions. Albums by HIM (this one seems not to show up in searches and to have come down further since I ordered it), Travis and Natalie Imbruglia for under £2.50. Some that I ordered seem to have reverted to their original price (like this one) or gone out of stock (like this one), so I'm glad that I got in when I did.

A few others worth mentioning which - at time of writing - are still available at great prices (around £1 each) include the Electric Soft Parade's The American Adventure and Eighteen Visions' self-titled. If you're that way inclined, a 2CD dance/rock compilation from Cream - featuring artists such as Goldfrapp, The Egg, Depeche Mode and Bloc Party - for just 88 pence (though, to be honest, I found this a bit disappointing). For those whose tastes differ from mine, Busted or Desperate Housewives soundtrack, and loads more obscure stuff, such as this Cambridge-based compilation.

One warning to anyone browsing through is that some of the titles listed are actually singles, and thus not always so much of a bargain. Further disclaimer: I've recently joined Amazon Associates. I was planning on mentioning this sale anyway - as I have done before (e.g. one, two) - but using the links above to purchase may earn me money.

Random Justice

Barbara Goodwin reviews Neil Duxbury's Random Justice in the Times Higher Education here.

ALSP Conference

I'm off today for the Association for Legal and Social Philosophy annual conference in Southampton. There will be fewer people I know there than last summer in Edinburgh, but I hope that it will be just as interesting. The fact that the theme of the whole conference is the future(s) of democratic citizenship bodes well!

My paper is in the first session, straight after lunch today, and I'll be reunited with my old co-panellist (from Warwick/Brave New World) Dean Machin.

Lecture Lists

Next term's lecture lists are already available. Interestingly - and it's the first time that I've seen this - there's also a PPE lecture list.

I'm organizing another graduate class of my own, following on from its success last year. Provisional details:

Issues in Democratic Theory
Wednesday, 11-12:30, weeks 1-4.
Corpus Christi College seminar room.

These are research seminars for those interested in contemporary democratic theory. They are primarily intended for graduate students in philosophy, e.g. those taking the B.Phil political and legal philosophy option, but graduate students in other areas (e.g. M.Phil/D.Phil in politics or law) are equally welcome. Undergraduates should seek permission from the lecturer (ben . saunders [at] ccc . ox . ac . uk) first, in order to keep a cap on numbers (this should be forthcoming).

Each week’s session will begin with the presentation of a work-in-progress paper in the field of democratic theory. I will begin, with a paper on the problem of defining democracy, and will probably present in later weeks too, but there will also be opportunities for interested graduate students to present. Volunteers are encouraged to email me before the first session.

My papers at least will be posted on WebLearn beforehand, at http://tinyurl.com/democseminar though reading them before the seminar is not required. This site will also include an updated schedule and a couple of relevant background readings for those interested.

Week 1: Ben Saunders – A Relativized Definition of Democracy
Weeks 2-4: t.b.c.

Philosophers in the Media

Jonathan Dancy on Craig Ferguson and A. C. Grayling on the BBC. I wonder if this is the kind of impact that the REF will acknowledge?

Magnet Moralia

I seem to remember reading - I forget where, sorry - that people with certain forms of brain damage were more likely to reason like consequentialists. Now it seems that our moral reasoning can even be affected by magnets.

Of course, this raises a host of interesting questions, some of which have already been picked up on over at Crooked Timber. It's not obvious what this shows about the correctness of our moral reasoning, if you believe in such a thing. I think that, like Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman's famous work on framing effects, it should encourage us to be wary about accepting our ordinary intuitions, knowing that they could vary on the basis of seemingly irrelevant factors. (Another example I heard in a recent talk was that experimental subjects made harsher moral judgements when disgusted by their surroundings - e.g. when there was half-eaten pizza left on the table.)

Meow

I heard something on the news about this a week or two ago, but was away travelling so didn't get round to posting. It seems that the government are banning currently legal drugs such as Mephedrone.

I heard people saying that, because they're dangerous, they ought to be banned. Lots of things are dangerous but not banned, like extreme sports or an unhealthy lifestyle. No doubt John Stuart Mill would be turning in his grave. His famous 'harm principle' insists that we should only interfere with someone's liberty in order to prevent harm to others, not for their own good.

If a drug is dangerous, then the appropriate thing to do (as we do with tobacco, for example) is to warn people, and maybe regulate it (obviously we need to be sure that it doesn't end up in the hands of children, etc). To ban something just because we think that people would be better off not doing it risks the state imposing too far on individuality. Next we know the state may be banning a whole range of activities on the grounds that they're bad for those who indulge in them...

Fabre to Oxford

This isn't news to me, but since it's now confirmed on Leiter I guess that it can be made public: Cecile Fabre is on her way to Oxford.

Academia as a Vocation

Here are some interesting pieces from the Chronicle. To many in the academic world, it seems that leaving academia - even for an otherwise desirable job - is automatically considered failure. Given the bleak job prospects, however, perhaps we should think of grad school less like professional training (e.g. law school) and more like moving to the big city to be a struggling artist. So, at least, say these authors. (References via comments at the Smoker.)

Elected Lords

It seems that we may soon be heading towards an elected second chamber (replacing the current House of Lords). The problem with an elected chamber is, of course, that it potentially threatens the mandate of the Commons if there is a conflict between the two.

One way round this is to have the two elected on a different basis - for instance, in the US the Senate is elected on the basis of two senators per state, rather than being proportioned to population as the House of Representatives (their lower chamber) is. This provides some protection for the rights of small states, but also ensures it doesn't present a serious rival to the lower house's claim to represent the people. In the UK, it seems that the second chamber could be elected on longer terms and by proportional representation (though I think that may be dangerous if it led to them being seen as more legitimate).

In any case, there is another alternative - we could use sortition (random selection) to achieve a representative sample of 'people's peers'. Proposals along these lines are outlined here and here. I'm not sure whether I'm in favour of this all things considered, but I think it's certainly a shame that it seems to have been neglected in public debate. In light of such possibilities, Lord Adonis' claim that election is "the only way that a legislative assembly can be legitimate in the modern world" seems far from obvious.

Lottery Balls

Schools are allowed to use lotteries for places to make the allocation fairer and avoid discrimination. It's a topic that's been discussed here before - and in my papers in Philosophy and JAP. It seems, however, that Ed Balls is in the news again, complaining about the 'destabilising' effects that lotteries have.

I'd like to see some support for his claim that this is bad for the welfare of the students involved. As someone who went to the same secondary schools as only three of my 63 primary school peers, I didn't find the process too destabilising. Moreover, even if there's an acknowledged cost on this point, it would have to be set against improvements achieved in social justice and exposing students to diversity (no longer are middle class and working class children de facto segregated), which could outweigh any losses by making greater positive contributions.

I can't, of course, say that this is the case any more than Ed Balls can - but simply making assertions or conjectures about the effects of a lottery isn't a helpful basis for informed public policy. We need both more empirical research and a sensible public debate.

Rights Inflation?

Critics of Human Rights often argue that many supposed rights - like that to paid holidays - are really aspirations, rather than fundamental rights. Well, now it seems that many people regard internet access as a fundamental right.

Admittedly, though, this BBC article isn't the clearest. It seems that the question asked was not 'is internet access a right?' but 'should the internet be a fundamental right?' Moreover, the report states that "Countries such as Finland and Estonia have already ruled that access is a human right for their citizens" - I do think that human rights are fundamentally legal creations rather than moral, because I doubt morality tracks something as arbitrary as species membership, but I'm not sure how a human right can belong only to citizens of certain countries.

Maybe there really is a lot of rights confusion out there...

Animal Representation

Robert Goodin argues that democracy requires all affected interests to be considered, and that mute interests ought to be represented by each voter engaging in a process he describes as 'democratic deliberation within.'

This case actually concerns representation in court, rather than democratic representation, but nonetheless it's interesting that the Swiss have rejected plans to have lawyers represent animals' rights/interests.

Incubus

I can't remember off hand the last time that I either went to a gig or got some use out of my Union membership, so when I saw that Brandon Boyd and Mike Einziger of American rock band Incubus were speaking tonight, I thought I'd go along. I do own several of their earlier albums - Fungus Amongus, SCIENCE, and Make Yourself - though I haven't really followed their career too closely since and wouldn't say that they were one of my favourite bands.

Unfortunately, not all of what they said was very audible from the back of the debating chamber and some of their comments seemed to be rather banal platitudes about music being a universal means of communication, etc. They did, however, shed a little light on their personal lives - Brandon telling of his first kiss, age 12, on Hallowe'en to The Cure's Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me and Mike of how music helped him through a serious car accident, much as others may turn to religion. In response to a mixed bag of questions, Brandon revealed that he's happy for people to hear their music any way (though it's better if they buy it) and they also spoke highly of Lollapalooza (both seeing Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Ministry in 1992 and performing in 2003).

The real treat of the evening was a disappointingly short two person set, in which they played a new song called (I think) 'Tomorrow's Food' and 'Drive' - I'd forgotten just how good that song is...

Consequences of Self-Ownership

Libertarians often assert that we own our bodies, as property. It's rather hard to argue for such a claim, which operates as a premise of their political philosophy, but many think it reflects our ordinary attitude to rights over ourselves.

That this may in fact have counter-intuitive implications is nicely illustrated by Walzer and Fabre. If our bodies are private property, then we should be able to do what we want with them (subject to not violating others' rights), which would include - for example - selling them (prostitution, organ sales, etc).

There are two related features currently on the BBC website - one about a woman raising money for charity by selling herself for dates and one about the commodification of cadavers. I have an article on organ procurement in the latest Journal of Medical Ethics (subscription required).

Pain-Free Meat

I find quite persuasive that what's morally wrong - if anything - about eating meat is not that it involves the death of an animal but animal suffering throughout its life. Torturing an animal seems far worse, morally speaking, than having one painlessly killed (e.g. put down by a vet), because it's clear that animals feel pain but not that they have consciousness of themselves as on-going agents with future projects.

If this is right, then eating meat per se isn't wrong, it's simply the meat industry that is. Maybe if animals were kept in good enough conditions, it would be ok to eat them. I don't think there needs to be too much debate as to whether animals like cows, pigs and even chickens can feel pain - though there is for some animals (like fish). An alternative to treating the animals better, however, might be to genetically engineer them to they don't feel pain. An intriguing suggestion...

(Hat-tip Lise. Her post here.)

Electoral Reform

The BBC has had a couple of interesting features on electoral reform recently, which I thought I'd highlight here:

This one explores why voters vote against their self-interest, suggesting that they may be more swayed by rhetoric than facts or that the working classes may resist the paternalism of liberal 'do-gooders.'

This provocatively-titled piece suggests that we could elect MPs in the same way as reality TV stars, eliminating the least popular until we end up with a majority vote between two candidates. As it recognizes, this is really similar to the way French presidents are elected, though a more realistic approach is to have just one vote with voters numbering their candidates, so that votes can be redistributed without the need for another poll. That's how many student politics elections work, but I worry whether all voters would understand the system were it practiced at national level.

Finally, I wanted to highlight this piece as absolute trash. They try to predict how electoral results of the past might have been different had we used Alternative Vote rather than our current First Past The Post system. The problem is that, even if the survey about what people's second choice would have been is accurate, the whole point is that their first preference may well have been different (a point acknowledged at the bottom)!

Under our present system, many people vote for one of the main two parties - which is not their real preference - simply in order not to have their vote wasted. Indeed, it's quite possible that someone who voted Labour in the last election, but really understood the implications of this survey, could have answered that Labour would have been their second-choice under AV - but that would have harmed, not benefited, Labour...

Jan Palmowski is a Disgrace: He Must Go

Protest against proceedings at King's College, London. See here.

Tory Tombstones

The spoofing of Tory campaign posters continues. Hot on the heels of MyDavidCameron comes MyToryTombstone!

Here is my go at the original:

A First Step Towards Eugenics?

I've posted stories before about incentive payments being used for various ends, such as to encourage patients to take medicine or to be good parents. Well, now it seems that a group in the US is paying drug users to get sterilised! I'm not sure I really agree that this is exploitative, whether or not I agree with it all things considered. What worries me is that it could be the first step towards more widespread eugenics, if other 'undesirable' groups were to start being paid not to breed...

Graduate Salaries

I was pleased to find that, after an extra 5 years of (postgraduate) university education, my starting salary last year was - slightly - higher than the average graduate starting salary, which is apparently £25,000. Mind you, I suppose the average for those with a degree in PPE from Oxford may well be higher...

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...