Category Archives: Academia

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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

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 , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pivotal Western philosophers no longer welcomed by students at this British university because of their color.

Posted on January 18, 2017 by Steven Yates

Plato? Descartes? Kant? Pivotal figures, all, who irreversibly changed the direction of what Richard Rorty called the conversation of the West. But to the up-and-coming generation of students, there’s a problem. Weren’t they all white males? With Plato it might … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Culture, Higher Education Generally, Where Is Philosophy Going? | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Spat Over A Christian Philosopher’s Presentation Reveals the True State of the Profession: Wretched!

Posted on October 6, 2016 by Steven Yates

“The more the antics of hard-leftist professors with tenure can be exposed … in articles, on blogs, on Facebook, etc., the wider will be the realization that academic philosophy may be active institutionally but is intellectually dead in the water. The wider the doors may one day open to the writings of us outsiders in a troubled world hungering for meaning and actual critical thinking, the sorts of things philosophy traditionally pointed toward and provided.” Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Christian Worldview, Culture, Higher Education Generally, Philosophy, Where Is Philosophy Going? | 14 Comments

The 50 Most Influential Living Philosophers

Posted on August 25, 2016 by Steven Yates

Intriguing list of the “50 most influential living philosophers” at http://www.thebestschools.org/features/most-influential-living-philosophers/. Brian Leiter doesn’t much care for it, but this list seems to me reasonably balanced in offering representatives of, e.g., both Christian and atheist perspectives, Continental versus analytic philosophers, … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Philosophy | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

What Is It Like to Be a Lost Generation Philosopher (Part 3)

Posted on July 25, 2016 by Steven Yates

[Continued from Parts One and Two] Given that you pursued a career in academic philosophy, any specific regrets? One big one from my early days. Not turning my MA thesis on Paul Feyerabend into my first book. The idea was … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Culture, Higher Education Generally, Libertarianism, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Political Economy, Political Philosophy, Where is Civilization Going?, Where Is Philosophy Going? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

What Is It Like to Be a Lost Generation Philosopher (Part 2)

Posted on July 21, 2016 by Steven Yates

[Continued from here.] Getting back to personal stuff again if you don’t mind: what did your parents make of your decision to go into philosophy? My mom had always encouraged me to find out and pursue what I was really … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Christian Worldview, Higher Education Generally, Libertarianism, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Political Economy, Political Philosophy, Where Is Philosophy Going? | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment