Id like to urge everyone who has not yet signed the September Statement regarding Brian Leiters continued control over the PGR to consider doing so. One can sign the statement by sending an email to septemberstatement@gmail . I appreciate that many of you are personal or Facebook friends with Brian, and may find signing the statement awkward. Many of you may be reluctant to become involved in a public spat involving personal attacks and unprofessional behaviour. Many of you may have no objection to how Brian runs the PGR per se. Many of you may also appreciate his strident criticism of the many forms of bullshit that find expression on the internet. He is, after all, a New Yorker. I am, however, a South African. Uncompromised honesty may be a virtue in New York, but silence in the face of an abuse of power is a vice everywhere. Matters have now reached the point where the philosophy community, through its participation in the PGR, implicitly accepts and tolerates the bizarrely hostile behaviour that Brian has engaged in, both on his blog and in his emails. To do nothing in response to this pattern is not to remain neutral or uninvolved. It is, instead, to endorse it as within the bounds of acceptability. No person who enjoys the honour of editing of a quasi-official ranking of philosophy departments can be immune from all responsibility to act in accordance with the communitys standards. That Brian is free to bully other colleagues with impunity means that the communitys standards are either being violated or that they are themselves unjust. I am making this a public status. Share if you wish, disagree if you must. But I urge you not to look away from this issue. This is a critical time for the entire philosophy community -- we define ourselves today. Change starts here.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 22:32:46 +0000
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