The claim that Professor Singer appropriates women’s voices because his name appeared first on a couple of bylines seems belied by the fact that Helga Kuhse and Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek (both women co-authors of his, in the 20th and 21st Century respectively) are listed first on all of the books they’ve written with him as far as I can tell. In his recent interview with Tyler Cowen, he assiduously mentioned Lazari-Radek whenever his work with her was mentioned.
Scopus says Singer has >600 co-authors, and I think that’s only in academic publications. Claim (47) seems surprising.[1] [Edit: it’s actually 77, see Pablo’s comment below.]
And Claim (46) seems plausible but uninteresting, given that “Scholars of the American movement find that [nonhuman animal rights] activists are overwhelmingly women at about 80 per cent (Gaarder 2011).”
Helga Kuhse and Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek are both academic utilitarian philosophers and were probably more independently established than Dawn (e.g. tenure), so both the expectations and the power dynamics could have been pretty different.
The difference is also consistent with the newspaper context—a generalist newspaper reader is likely to decide whether to read an newspaper article in a few seconds max, and “world-famous prof you’ve probably heard of at a top institution is lead author” plausibly helps.
The distinction between philosophers and animal activists might be relevant. For instance, his name was also listed last on a 2007 book he co-edited with two woman philosophers (Lori Gruen and Laura Grabel). In contrast, he was listed first on a 2006 book he co-authored with animal activist Jim Mason (a man). But the claim that he “appropriates” people’s voices is unsubstantiated, never mind the stronger claim that he appropriates some people’s voices simply because they are women.
Doesn’t Dawn’s own case substantiate the claim that he “appropriated” people’s voices, or something similar, like “used their voices without giving fair credit”?
Did anyone claim he appropriated women’s voices simply because they are women?
I think this is compatible with the possibility that he used women’s (or anyone’s) voices without giving them enough credit only when he thought he could get away with it.
Still, Dawn apparently agreed to have Singer’s name first, based on the argument that it would do more good for animals. And it might have just been true that it would do more good, because it seems plausible on the more direct near-term effects by bringing more attention to the pieces. Singer also plausibly honestly believed it, and plausibly had good intentions.
However, this could also mean reducing the rise of these other animal advocates, compared to having them as first authors, which could be worse for the movement overall in the longer run. So, he might have been wrong to believe it was best overall.
Also, it’s just misleading to put his name first when he’s only editing.
The meaning of first authorship depends on the specific cultural context and norms. In law, this would be fine; in academia, I assume not.
For newspaper articles, at least those that are like op-eds . . . I don’t assume that Senator So-and-So, a named CEO, or a similiar person who is not a professional journalist actually drafted the piece they signed. So “misleading” is too strong for me.
I would have assumed Singer wrote these pieces based on him appearing as first author, and him probably often writing his own pieces. He does write professionally.
Also, even if you have more context to avoid making this assumption, this doesn’t mean the average reader does. Maybe the average person who might engage with Dawn professionally would understand this context, though, and maybe that’s much more important for her career than what the average reader believes.
The claim that Professor Singer appropriates women’s voices because his name appeared first on a couple of bylines seems belied by the fact that Helga Kuhse and Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek (both women co-authors of his, in the 20th and 21st Century respectively) are listed first on all of the books they’ve written with him as far as I can tell. In his recent interview with Tyler Cowen, he assiduously mentioned Lazari-Radek whenever his work with her was mentioned.
Dawn claims:
Scopus says Singer has >600 co-authors, and I think that’s only in academic publications. Claim (47) seems surprising.[1] [Edit: it’s actually 77, see Pablo’s comment below.]
I don’t know what “period relevant to this case” means, but I think hundreds of co-authors would be included if they mean 2002-2020.
Note that this is a different Peter Singer. Here is the entry for the relevant Peter Singer. According to it, Singer had 77 co-authors.
Oops, good correction, thanks!
And Claim (46) seems plausible but uninteresting, given that “Scholars of the American movement find that [nonhuman animal rights] activists are overwhelmingly women at about 80 per cent (Gaarder 2011).”
Helga Kuhse and Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek are both academic utilitarian philosophers and were probably more independently established than Dawn (e.g. tenure), so both the expectations and the power dynamics could have been pretty different.
The difference is also consistent with the newspaper context—a generalist newspaper reader is likely to decide whether to read an newspaper article in a few seconds max, and “world-famous prof you’ve probably heard of at a top institution is lead author” plausibly helps.
Good point.
The distinction between philosophers and animal activists might be relevant. For instance, his name was also listed last on a 2007 book he co-edited with two woman philosophers (Lori Gruen and Laura Grabel). In contrast, he was listed first on a 2006 book he co-authored with animal activist Jim Mason (a man). But the claim that he “appropriates” people’s voices is unsubstantiated, never mind the stronger claim that he appropriates some people’s voices simply because they are women.
Doesn’t Dawn’s own case substantiate the claim that he “appropriated” people’s voices, or something similar, like “used their voices without giving fair credit”?
Did anyone claim he appropriated women’s voices simply because they are women?
I think this is compatible with the possibility that he used women’s (or anyone’s) voices without giving them enough credit only when he thought he could get away with it.
Still, Dawn apparently agreed to have Singer’s name first, based on the argument that it would do more good for animals. And it might have just been true that it would do more good, because it seems plausible on the more direct near-term effects by bringing more attention to the pieces. Singer also plausibly honestly believed it, and plausibly had good intentions.
However, this could also mean reducing the rise of these other animal advocates, compared to having them as first authors, which could be worse for the movement overall in the longer run. So, he might have been wrong to believe it was best overall.
Also, it’s just misleading to put his name first when he’s only editing.
The meaning of first authorship depends on the specific cultural context and norms. In law, this would be fine; in academia, I assume not.
For newspaper articles, at least those that are like op-eds . . . I don’t assume that Senator So-and-So, a named CEO, or a similiar person who is not a professional journalist actually drafted the piece they signed. So “misleading” is too strong for me.
I would have assumed Singer wrote these pieces based on him appearing as first author, and him probably often writing his own pieces. He does write professionally.
Also, even if you have more context to avoid making this assumption, this doesn’t mean the average reader does. Maybe the average person who might engage with Dawn professionally would understand this context, though, and maybe that’s much more important for her career than what the average reader believes.