Philosophy

Occupy Aristotle

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Occupy Movement, Philosophy, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive 8 Comments

Recently, I saw that a philosopher friend of mine (Jeffrey Bernstein) posted the following as his status update on Facebook: “For an explanation of (1) why Occupy Wall Street doesn’t need a positive political program and (2) why the Occupy Movement exceeds the designations of Democrats and Republicans, read the first paragraph of Aristotle’s Metaphysics.”…

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The Philosophy Smoker Controversy

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive 7 Comments

For those of you fortunate enough not to know what a “Philosophy Smoker” is, let me begin by saying that it has nothing to do with either “smoking” or “Philosophy.” “Philosophy Smoker” is, rather, the informal term used to reference end-of-the-day receptions held at professional Philosophy conferences. Generally speaking, Philosophy Smokers are garden-variety academic conference…

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Dr. J Catches Up

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson 99%, American Values video project, Music, Occupy Movement, Philosophy, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments

It’s been too, too long since I’ve posted here. Two whole months, in fact. [Insert standard excuse about being too busy.] My absence was particularly egregious this time, since my last posts, back in September, left a few issues hanging. (Just as an aside, it’s hard for me to believe that the last time I…

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Leiter v. Alcoff, Part One: The Basics

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Leiter/Alcoff, Philosophy, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive, Women and Gender Issues 3 Comments

Now that things have quieted down a bit, and in response to readers who’ve been asking me to do this for a while, I’ve decided to offer a few reflections on the recent (and very public) kerfuffle between Brian Leiter and Linda Alcoff. I expect that most of you who aren’t professional philosophers don’t have…

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Leiter v. Alcoff, Part Two: The Context (or, Why This Isn’t Simply A “He Said, She Said” Story)

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Leiter/Alcoff, Philosophy, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive, Women and Gender Issues 8 Comments

Okay, if you haven’t read Part One of this series, you should go back and do so. Otherwise, the following won’t make much sense. If you have read Part One, and if you don’t already have a dog in this fight, you may be wondering: what exactly is the big deal here? So what, two…

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31 Days in Seuss, Day 1: My Job

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson 31 Dys in Suess, Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive 1 Comment

I’m beginning a new Challenge today, called 31 Days in Seuss. I’ll be taking some element of my life each day and describing it in verse like the children’s author Dr. Seuss. I have to admit that I’m not entirely confident I’m going to be able to do this for the whole month of July,…

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American Philosophy and/or Philosophy in America

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive 3 Comments

Several years ago, when I was still at Penn State, I learned of Phillip McReynolds’ film project on American Philosopher (or philosophers in America) through my dissertation advisor (and McReynolds’ wife), Shannon Sullivan. Since then, I’ve seen a few segments of it appear here and there on the internet, but I had yet to see…

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The Uncanny Valley 7: Sonzai-Kan

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, RMWMTMBM Archive, Uncanny Valley 4 Comments

Every time I try to put away my obsession with the uncanny valley, some new robot or robot-story invades my world and reanimates that fascination all over again. Regular readers of this blog will know that I first became interested in robotocist Masahiro Mori’s theory of the uncanny valley back in October of 2010, when…

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“American Values” Video Project…. or, The Little Idea That Could

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson American Values video project, Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, The Search for Values 4 Comments

I’m not yet finished editing the “American Values” video, some of the images of which are in this collage on your left, but I wanted to share a bit about the making-of the project, which is turning into one of the most serendipitously rewarding things I’ve stumbled into in quite some time. I’ll start at…

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Help Me With My Video Project!

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson American Values video project, Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, The Search for Values 1 Comment

I’m soliciting your help, readers, with a video project I’m putting together focusing on “American Values.” Think of it as a cross between the old NPR program “This I Believe,” a Pew Research Poll, a snapshot of American diversity a la Flickr, and something like your senior thesis. I want to know what you– all…

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