Month: June 2024

Reading Amoris Laetitia, Part 1

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Amoris Laetitia, Ethics, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive, The Search for Values 0 Comments

Earlier this week, I finished reading the recent Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation from Pope Francis entitled Amoris Laetitia (“The Joy of Love”). Subsequently, on various news outlets and social media, I have seen a number of so-called “summaries” of Amoria Laetitia that can at best be described as grossly inadequate and ungenerous readings of it and, at worst, as…

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Reading Amoris Laetitia, Part 2: The Introduction

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Amoris Laetitia, Ethics, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive, The Search for Values 0 Comments

I’ll just assume that many non-Catholics, like myself, have absolutely no idea what authority Pope Francis’ Amoris Laetitia exerts (or exhorts) as a “Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation.” So, first, a primer on Papal texts. An apostolic exhortation is but one of many different types of communications from the Pope to the community of clerics and laypersons that constitute…

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Not Every Idea Needs a Tool, But Every Tool Needs an Idea

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Digital Humanities, Open Source Pedagogy, Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, Teaching, Technology and Human Values 0 Comments

Last semester, I conducted a test-run on a new assignment I had devised for my courses– the “Technology and Human Values” project— and I was, quite frankly, floored by the work that students did for it. The basic assignment is for students to work in groups of four or fewer to devise a merely-possible technological solution…

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Philosophy’s Gatekeepers

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Professional Academy, Race and Racism, RMWMTMBM Archive, Women and Gender Issues 0 Comments

Yesterday’s piece by Jay Garfield and Bryan Van Norden’s in NYT‘s The Stone (“If Philosophy Won’t Diversify, Let’s Call It What It Really Is”) has already generated some of the most interesting online discussion about the discipline and profession of Philosophy that I’ve seen since our last salacious exposé. (What are we at now, philosophers? 190 days…

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“Grace and Frankie” and the Right to Die

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Ethics, Philosophy, Politics, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, Public Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, Women and Gender Issues 0 Comments

There are so many things about Netflix’s original comedy series Grace and Frankie (now in its second season) to recommend it, not least of which is its pitch-perfect gallows humor.  Orbiting around the decidedly 21st century lives of four septuagenarians– the eponymous Grace (Jane Fonda) and Frankie (Lily Tomlin) and their now ex-husbands, Saul (Sam Waterston)…

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Twitter: Now With More Characters, Less Character

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Pop Culture/Film/Literature, RMWMTMBM Archive, Technology and Human Values 0 Comments

Twitter has changed a lot over the last few years, but until recently there was one inviolable rule to which all users were obliged: tweets must be limited to 140 characters or less. Because a computer “character” is a unit of information that roughly corresponds to a grapheme– letter, number, punctuation mark, or whitespace– the…

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#30DaySongChallenge 2016

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson 30 Day Song Challenge, 30 Day Song Challenge 2016, Music, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments

Each summer, I participate in the #30DaySongChallenge. As regular readers of this blog already know, what that entails is my posting a song in response to a daily prompt for each of the 30 days of June, accompanied with some (long or short) post that accounts for why I chose that song for that day’s…

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“Trial by Internet” and the Presumption of Innocence

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Ethics, Philosophy, Politics, Professional Academy, RMWMTMBM Archive, Women and Gender Issues 0 Comments

Only a couple of weeks ago, I noted on this blog (in “Philosophy’s Gatekeepers”) that it had been 190 days since the last major breaking-news story about sexual harassment or assault in professional Philosophy. That was a noteworthy fact, And then, last Friday, the Thomas Pogge story broke. I’ll just direct readers to the news coverage…

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It’s Time To Get Rid of Formatting Guidelines for Academic Journals

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Professional Academy, Public Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments

This morning, I was reading an engaging and superbly well-written book that I’ve been asked to review for philoSOPHIA and found myself, in spite of its merits, grumbling aloud about the very experience of reading it.  Why? One word: Endnotes. I truly hate the maddening inconvenience of endnotes. All those unnecessary interruptions, all that flipping back…

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30 Day Song Challenge, Day 1: Your Favorite Song

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson 30 Day Song Challenge, 30 Day Song Challenge 2016, Music, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments

As I’ve done for the last several years, I’ll be posting once a day throughout the month of June for the #30DaySongChallenge. (Here is the link to the “anchor” page for this year’s iteration of the Challenge where you can keep up with my daily picks.) There is a prompt for each day, and today’s prompt…

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