The bombing of Iran, the starving of Cuba, the waging of genocide in Palestine. It's time to let go of the idea the role of the US is to enforce a rules-based order, and instead recognize the incredible harm our country unleashes around the world, and take meaningful action to reduce it.
Officially up online here: doi.org/10.1080/0020.... Let me know if you'd like a copy!
CONTINGENT PHILOSOPHERS! (Contractually, not metaphysically). I’ve been a big fan of @contingent-mag.bsky.social for a while. This year they’re letting philosophy piggyback one of their institutions: the year-end list of books and articles written by non tenured/permanent academics in that year.
These cases aren't the focus of this discussion, but I do view them as compatible with what I'm trying to say for just the reasons you cite. I think there's very interesting work to be done on how they factor into this sort of picture and expanding on the notion of 'material conditions' I rely on.
I think we could also add historical examples of philosophers rationalizing the oppression and disenfranchisement of various groups and how those arguments have been regularly weaponized by governing authorities to implement those policies.
Thanks so much for sharing these illuminating thoughts and reading the piece so closely @shengokai.blacksky.app! A lot of food for thought here. I really like the examples you give of how academic philosophers have in fact played an important role in rationalizing and generating these harms.
Very glad to hear it sounds like the paper can be useful for your work! I hadn't thought about this in the contexts you mention, but I'd definitely be interested in hearing more.
😂 did not notice that!
Thanks!
Would love to hear your thoughts!
Haha, you helped me decide to stick with it!
Many thanks to @hugormota.bsky.social and @sadhominem.bsky.social for inviting me to to Oslo to talk about these issues as well as participants in @eraldo.bsky.social's MANCEPT workshop on the philosophy and politics of journalism. Thanks to @mikesbarnes.bsky.social for feedback as well!
I'm grateful to @victorpickard.bsky.social for his generous guidance on various questions about media history and scholarship.
I draw some broader lessons about idealist strains in philosophical work and what research in non-ideal epistemology should look like. Let me know what you think!
In pinning the resulting harms on false beliefs, we get the source of the problem wrong and we don’t identify the measures needed to address these harms: establishing a public good and institution that’s properly independent of the cannibalizing nature of the market.
Let journalists regulate themselves, so we can continue to reap profits and power from these institutions! Victor Pickard shows this in striking detail in his highly recommended Democracy Without Journalism?, and you find similar arguments from Robert McChesney, Edward Herman, among many others.
But what historical scholarship shows is that modern journalistic norms, especially around balance and objectivity, actually arose as a defensive measure by powerful, private owners of media to stop increased public oversight and public alternatives to for-profit media.
The main case study concerns recent philosophical discussions of the balance norm in journalism. Most accounts assume the pernicious effects of this norm stem from journalists’ false beliefs about their profession.
This often gets things wrong both analytically and in terms of what’s needed to address those harms. I take some inspiration from Marx and Engels here.
I have a new paper coming out in Inquiry called ‘The Perils of Epistemic Idealism': philpapers.org/rec/SHITPO-40. I argue that especially in applied, political work, philosophers have a tendency to assume that political harms are primarily a product of false beliefs and misguided concepts.
Congratulations, Adam! Loved the pieces of this you've shared and looking forward to recommending it to lots of people. Excited to dig into the whole thing!
It is UK publication day for "The Magic Kingdom and the Meaning of Life" (from @politybooks.bsky.social). I guess it's a strange time for a book about Disney to arrive in the world, but this project means a lot to me, and I'm really proud of it. www.wiley.com/en-ie/The+Ma...
✨️ Your assistance needed! ✨️
gofund.me/731300e6
Dennis is a dedicated HJN organizer. He has worked to improve conditions at Healy Towers. Residents have won repairs, common space improvements, drug treatment resources, and successfully stopped a wrongful eviction.
Any amount is appreciated!
Dennis Threatt is a public housing resident and one of the most dedicated organizers building the NC Tenants Union. He's helped win substantial improvements for his fellow residents, but now he needs our help: he has a major procedure not being covered by Medicare/Medicaid: gofund.me/731300e6.
from Dr. Caravello's union:
bsky.app/profile/cfau...
"Jonathan Caravello...was reportedly “piled on by multiple agents all at once” as “he tried to help a man in a wheelchair” who was having difficulty moving after...[ICE] agents threw canisters of tear gas"
our colleague is still missing as of the last info I got
dailynous.com/2025/07/12/p...
