Vanderpool (quoting Brad Friedman) writes: "The Kochs 'fund these various libertarian-leaning organizations under names like 'Freedom Center' in order to create more phony studies, and more dubious research.'"
How would 'phony studies' work in philosophy? There's generally no empirical data to misreport. Are we worried that people will lie about their intuitions? Good heavens! 'Dubious research' is not going to make it past peer reviewers, and publications not vetted by peers are not taken seriously in philosophy.
Also, a quick look at the center's faculty listing (http://www.arizonafreedomcenter.org/about.…) doesn't exactly support the insinuation that these are ideological appointments. They have (1) a professor who defends equality and democracy, (2) one who writes primarily about metaphysics and free will, (3) an ancient philosopher, (4) a philosopher who has written a book arguing "that the state should promote the flourishing of all who are subject to its power", and then two who seem like libertarian political philosophers, one of whom has been there for 15 years, as this article notes. It must be really hard to be a journalist. This took me five minutes of googling. Now what will I do with the rest of my day?
If the Kochs and other donors set out to stack this center with libertarians, it looks like they did a pretty poor job.
And really, the university wouldn't reveal the name of an anonymous donor? That's evidence of misconduct? I'll be sure to avoid hospitals who list anonymous donors on their walls in the future. That money might have come from people who don't share my ideology!
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How would 'phony studies' work in philosophy? There's generally no empirical data to misreport. Are we worried that people will lie about their intuitions? Good heavens! 'Dubious research' is not going to make it past peer reviewers, and publications not vetted by peers are not taken seriously in philosophy.
Also, a quick look at the center's faculty listing (http://www.arizonafreedomcenter.org/about.…) doesn't exactly support the insinuation that these are ideological appointments. They have (1) a professor who defends equality and democracy, (2) one who writes primarily about metaphysics and free will, (3) an ancient philosopher, (4) a philosopher who has written a book arguing "that the state should promote the flourishing of all who are subject to its power", and then two who seem like libertarian political philosophers, one of whom has been there for 15 years, as this article notes. It must be really hard to be a journalist. This took me five minutes of googling. Now what will I do with the rest of my day?
If the Kochs and other donors set out to stack this center with libertarians, it looks like they did a pretty poor job.
And really, the university wouldn't reveal the name of an anonymous donor? That's evidence of misconduct? I'll be sure to avoid hospitals who list anonymous donors on their walls in the future. That money might have come from people who don't share my ideology!