Longtime reader Stephen J. K. brought this blog post by Bill Vallicella (a.k.a. Maverick Philosopher) to my attention. Thanks, Stephen! I find the tone of much contemporary philosophy off-putting. Some of it is downright revolting, which bespeaks bad character. The antipathy to religion among contemporary philosophers is stunning. That is why I read the philosophy of earlier times, when civility was the rule rather than the exception. I no longer waste my time with bad or uncivil philosophers. Among those I would recommend without qualification are Thomas Nagel, R. M. Hare, W. D. Ross, Fred Feldman, Roger Scruton, A. John Simmons, Samuel Scheffler, Robert P. George, Douglas Husak, H. A. Prichard, Lewis White Beck, Michael Otsuka, Jonathan Wolff, Gregory Kavka, L. W. Sumner, William Rowe, G. E. M. Anscombe, Joel Feinberg, Bernard Williams, Richard Brandt, C. D. Broad, J. J. C. Smart, Tom Regan, Peter Singer, Shelly Kagan, Henry Sidgwick, Marcus G. Singer, R. G. Frey, William H. Shaw, H. J. McCloskey, J. L. Mackie, and Richard Swinburne. This list contains theists as well as atheists, political progressives as well as political conservatives, and consequentialists as well as deontologists. I appreciate good philosophy, even when—especially when—I disagree with it. I have a list of bad philosophers as well, whom I avoid like the plague, but I will spare them embarrassment by not publishing it. Suffice it to say that Brian Leiter is on the list. He has had a baleful effect on philosophy, both substantively (his work is borderline incompetent) and in terms of the manner in which he treats those with whom he disagrees. He is truly an academic thug.
Civility
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