Author Archives: Steven Yates

About Steven Yates

I have a Ph.D. in Philosophy, taught the subject at a number of universities around the American Southeast, then became disillusioned in the profession, moved to Chile in 2012. I am the author of Civil Wrongs: What Went Wrong With Affirmative Action (1994), Four Cardinal Errors: Reasons for the Decline of the American Republic (2011), What Should Philosophy Do? A Theory (2021), and most recently, So You Want to Get a PhD in Philosophy? (2025). I've also published around two dozen articles & reviews in academic journals, and hundreds online on numerous topics ranging from pure philosophy to political economy. My Substack publication is Navigating the New Normal. I currently live near Concepcion, Chile, with my wife Gisela and our two spoiled cats.

Of Climate Change, Science, and Experts: A Meditation

Posted on September 21, 2017 by Steven Yates

[Author´s note: co-posted on NewsWithViews.com but has yet to appear there. I have added and deleted a number of lines here and there and in general tried to increase clarity wherever possible.] A few months ago, a friend of mine, his … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Books, Election 2016 and Aftermath, Higher Education Generally, Philosophy of Science, Political Economy | Tagged American stupidity, anomalism, anomaly hunting, Charles Fort, climate change, climate change denialism, climate change hoax, climate change online, Climategate, experts, how we lost our minds, John Cook climate change, Man-made Climate Change, nature of science, parallel institutions need for, Paul Feyerabend, philosophy of science, Thomas S. Kuhn | 2 Comments

The Art of the Argument: Stefan Molyneux’s Book Reviewed on LGP

Posted on September 13, 2017 by Steven Yates

(Note: co-posted as a product review on Amazon.com with the necessary modifications.) Stefan Molyneux, The Art of the Argument: Western Civilization’s Last Stand (Kindle Edition, Amazon Digital Services LLC: August 27, 2017). Pp. 172 / kb 299. This book was panned on … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Higher Education Generally, Libertarianism, Political Philosophy | Tagged Argument, Debate, free market, higher education, libertarian, libertarianism, Logic, Political philosophy, Stefan Molyneux | 4 Comments

Analytic Philosophy: An Informal Defense (and a Modest Criticism)

Posted on July 24, 2017 by Steven Yates

This is a post dealing with a few basic issues in contemporary philosophy, issues easily lost sight of even by some trained professionals depending on their inclination. History discloses four major traditions, or more precisely, methods, of doing philosophy. There … Continue reading →

Posted in analytic philosophy, Language, Philosophy | Tagged analytic philosophy, bullshit, Charles Morris, Christophobia, hate speech, homophobia, Islamophobia, Jason Stanley, methods of philosophy, natural language, ordinary language philosophy, phobias, propaganda, sensitivity training, transphobia, use vs. mention, Wittgenstein | 1 Comment

Official Narratives

Posted on June 24, 2017 by Steven Yates

Note: the post below is a brief excerpt from the central section of a much longer work in progress, tentatively entitled Confessions of an (Ex) Academic Dissident, which may or may not see the light of print someday. The topic, though, seems … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Election 2016 and Aftermath, Language, Political Economy | Tagged 9/11 Truth, conspiracy, conspiracy theory, Election 2016, JFK assassination, Kennedy assassination, official narrative, propaganda, Russian hackers, Russian interference, Seth Rich, WTC7 | 7 Comments

Wittgenstein’s Two Greatest Insights About Language

Posted on June 14, 2017 by Steven Yates

We’re back, after another unfortunate hiatus caused by a lingering illness and furthered by a computer meltdown. Might as well accept it: I will never be a technology person. But anywize…. This post is one I’ve been planning for some … Continue reading →

Posted in Language, Philosophy | Tagged analytic philosophy, conspiracy theory, homophobia, homosexual lifestyle, language as convention, logical form, natural langiuage, ordinary language, propaganda, Wittgenstein | Leave a comment

Academia Embarrasses Itself Again: the Hypatia Affair

Posted on May 4, 2017 by Steven Yates

The last time I wrote a piece of this sort, an exposé of academic philosophers embarrassing themselves, it caused me some problems. I try to learn from my mistakes, and what I learned from that occasion could be set down … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Where Is Philosophy Going? | Tagged academic left, affirmative action, arguments for God's existence, Brian Leiter, diversity is our strength, Feminism, Humanities, Hypatia', leftist threats of violence, leftist violence, Philosophy, radical feminism, Rebecca Tuvel | 6 Comments

May 1 – International Workers Holiday or International Diversion

Posted on May 1, 2017 by Steven Yates

It’s May 1. Here in Chile, it’s a national holiday, the official name for which is Día Internacionale de Trajabadores (International Workers’ Day). The holiday isn’t celebrated in the U.S., of course, or in Canada, because of its association with … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Political Economy, Where is Civilization Going? | Tagged Adjuncts, Chile, Feminism, globalization, Illuminati, Internacionale de Trajabadores, International Workers, May 1, May Day, neoliberalislm, political correctness, the neoliberal university | Leave a comment

April Book Potpourri: Kipnis, Stanley, Jorjani, More …

Posted on April 28, 2017 by Steven Yates

Over recent months and weeks any number of items have come to my attention that could have been blog entries, had I complete information about them. For example, there is the just-released book by Laura Kipnis, Unwanted Advances: Sexual Paranoia Comes to Campuses (Harpers, 2017), as of this writing listed as #1 bestseller in feminist theory on Amazon.com. Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Books, Philosophy, Where Is Philosophy Going? | Tagged "alt-right", antimaterialism, Arktos Media, Brian Leiter, Feminism, How Propaganda Works, Jason Reza Jordani, Jason Stanley, Laura Kipnis, mass incarceration, paranormal phenomena, Peter Ludlow, Prometheus and Atlas, Sexual Paranoia, Socrates, Socrates Tenured | Leave a comment

Announcement: I Have Joined Patreon / Patreon.com

Posted on April 17, 2017 by Steven Yates

I’m back after another vacation, lol. Actually, I have been working very hard on completing a novel in six months (begun in early November with its projected completion date in early May). To help with the costs of publication and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Patreon, Patreon.com | Leave a comment

What Should Philosophy Do? (Part 3)

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Steven Yates

In the first two installments of this trilogy, our point of departure being John Horgan’s series on Scientific American, we offered a tentative response to the questions posed both by his title (“What Is Philosophy’s Point?”) and by ours. Before … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Where Is Philosophy Going? | Tagged allegory of the cave, alternative facts, essentialism, fake phobias, John Horgan, local knowledge, negative philosophy, Paul Feyerabend, What Should Philosophy Do? | 3 Comments

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