Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

In reply to mlyoung57. Unilateral change of terms + a legal right to fire for dissent is not just legally allowed, but the default assumption in 49 of 50 states. Much more so than “cancel culture,” that state of affairs explains Americans&#…

In reply to Irfan Khawaja. Those seem like mostly good points. I have not read Brennan’s post (and might not) so I’m missing some context (and withhold judgment) on some of your criticisms of him. LikeLike

In reply to Irfan Khawaja. “Suppose my contract asserts that p, but I’m an at-will employee. Suddenly, my employer starts proceeding on the assumption that ~p. I call him out, and he fires me just for that. Can he do that? Absolutely.” Yes….

In reply to mlyoung57. Apropos of Brennan’s post, read the NYT article I posted below. I just wish someone were capable of speaking directly to Brennan to tell him what utter horseshit this is: I was on the fence about teaching in person this y…

In reply to mlyoung57. A fine point: isn’t the at-will employer technically threatening to fire unless a new, different contract is agreed to (not literally unilaterally changing the contract)? If so, maybe Brennan is technically correct (but entirely …

In reply to kakatoa. Thanks so much for your comment. You can’t imagine the serendipity: if all had gone well, I was scheduled to board a flight tomorrow with the intention of spending August in the West Bank. But then COVID came, I lost my job, …

A fine point: isn’t the at-will employer technically threatening to fire unless a new, different contract is agreed to (not literally unilaterally changing the contract)? If so, maybe Brennan is technically correct (but entirely missing the relev…

Decades ago a decision was made at corporate, large medical conglomerate, to support moving supply chains out of South Africa unless “apartheid features” were addressed. A British firm, owners of the IP that we needed for our products, agreed to move…

In a whiny blog post at 200proof liberals addressed to his provost, Jason Brennan claims that you can’t enforce a contract which gives one side unilateral and unlimited power to change the terms of the contract. The context is a “compact” that Georgetown’s administration has imposed on students, faculty, and staff regarding the spread of…

I just finished Marc Levinson’s book The Box, which traces the introduction and development of the shipping container and its impact on global trade. You might think from that description that it was quite a dull read, but actually it was fascinating. (There’s a very useful 3-minute overview here. Check it out, I’ll wait.) The…