January 2015
Lessons for Philosophy from Economists on English?
“Over the last 35 years, less than half of graduated Ph.D. students have gotten tenure-track academic jobs upon graduation. The result is a large pool of residual job seekers, which places even more pressure on the job market for existing students.”…
“The data are pretty straightforward,” the paper says. “While students in top-10 programs might have a reasonabl..
Teaching As If Our Students Were Not Future Philosophers
Since most of our undergraduate students are planning to go to graduate school in philosophy and become professional philosophers, it makes sense that the undergraduate philosophy curriculum is typically filled with courses that prepare them for that future. Their courses should introduce them to the way that contemporary professional philosophers understand their f..
Philosophy of Police Violence and Mass Incarceration
Lisa Guenther, associate professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University, has developed a new philosophy course, “Police Violence and Mass Incarceration,” which she will be teaching this coming term. I think it is a great way of showing students a way in which philosophy can interact with current events. I asked her about the course, and in an email she writes:
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Ancient Scrolls of Philodemus, Carbonized by Vesuvius, Now Readable
Using a technique known as x-ray phase-contrast tomography (XPCT), a research team in Italy has figured out a way to read the text of ancient rolled-up scrolls that had been blackened, warped, and embrittled in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D. The scrolls were found in 1752 during excavations in Pompeii. Most of the approximately 1,800 (!) scrolls found so fa..
Virtual Dissertation Writers Groups, Round 2
Joshua Smart, a philosophy graduate student at the University of Missouri,is once again coordinating virtual dissertation writers groups (previously). He writes:
While advisors and committees are important, it can be incredibly helpful to discuss one’s work with peers in a lower-stakes environment, and it can be particularly enlightening to do so with those who t..
Joshua Cohen to Join Berkeley Faculty
Joshua Cohen, who had held appointments at MIT and Stanford before recently moving to Apple University, will be joining the University of California, Berkeley as a Distinguished Senior Fellow in its School of Law, Department of Philosophy, and Department of Political Science, starting July 1, 2015. According to a notice on the UC Berkeley Philosophy Department web p..
“Philosophy is for posh, white boys with trust funds”
Seven philosophers are interviewed in The Guardian in the wake of a recent report by the UK’s Equality Challenge Unit that found that “among non-Stem (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects, philosophy is one of the most male-dominated, with men accounting for 71.2% of the profession” in the UK. They were asked “Why aren’t there more female philosopher..
Germany’s Heidegger Society Chair Resigns (updated)
Günter Figal (Freiburg) resigned his position this past Thursday as chair of the Martin Heidegger Society in the wake of the publication of Heidegger’s Black Notebooks (Schwarze Hefte), which many believe show that Heidegger’s antisemitism was more central to his thinking than previously thought. Figal, who had held the position since 2003, is reported to have said ..
Lupe Fiasco Hands Off Philosophy Sunday to WiPhi
Rapper Lupe Fiasco has been running a weekly philosophy discussion on Twitter called Philosophy Sunday (#PhilosophySunday). With a new album about to come out, he is handing off responsibility for the discussion over to the folks at Wi-Phi. Their first run at it will be tomorrow, January 18th, starting at 2pm EST. Gaurav Vazirani, a philosophy PhD student at Yale an..
Ruin a Date with a Philosopher in 5 Words
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports on a recent twitter tag: #RuinADateWithAnAcademicInFiveWords. There are a few philosophers chiming in. One of the best so far: @Ethicistforhire with “Doesn’t science make philosophy obsolete?”
I think this calls for a Ruin A Date With A Philosopher in 5 Words thread.
Bob Hanna Retires from Colorado
Bob Hanna retired on December 31st from his position as professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado. Hanna had been “suspended without pay for a semester in 2013 for sexual harassment and unprofessional conduct” (previously). According to an article in the Daily Camera: “Hanna made frequent unwanted romantic advances, often in the form of emails, toward wo..
A “Nonproblematic” Black Philosopher
Mabogo More, who was recently awarded the Frantz Fanon Lifetime Achievement award by the Caribbean Philosophical Association, is profiled in the Mail & Guardian. More held appointments at University of the North – Turfloop, the University of KwaZulu-Natal – UKZN, and the University of Durban-Westville, as well as fellowships at Birmingham, University of Illinois, an..
Government Attempts to Interfere in Universities in Macedonia
Students and faculty in Macedonia have been protesting attempts by the government there to impose state-supervised exams for university graduates. Response to faculty involvement in the protests has been to propose a requirement that the government’s ministry of education approve the composition of thesis committees and be involved in thesis defenses.
Todd May (Cle..
“Raw Intellectual Talent” and Academia’s Gender and Race Gaps
Cultural beliefs and stereotypes that associate men but not women with “raw intellectual talent” can help explain the differing gender gaps across various academic disciplines, according to a new study by Sarah-Jane Leslie (Princeton), Andrei Cimpian (Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), Meredith Meyer (Ottterbein), and Edward Freeland (Princeton) published today in Science..
Philososplainin’ #2: Letting Kids Do Stuff Themselves
Making the rounds this morning is the news of parents who are being investigated for neglect for allowing their children, ages 10 and 6, to walk, by themselves, the one mile from a park to their home in Silver Spring, Maryland. There have been a rash of such stories recently, it seems, most notably one about a South Carolina mother who was arrested (!) for allowing..
New Philosophy of Science Association Officers
Sandra D. Mitchell (Pittsburgh HPS) has been elected President of the Philosophy of Science Association (PSA). Professor Mitchell will serve a two-year term (from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2016) as Vice-President and President-Elect of the PSA, after which she will serve a two-year term (January 1, 2017 through December 31, 2018) as President of the Assoc..
Philosopher’s Index Upping Its Game
The Philosopher’s Index, an academic philosophy database available through the libraries of many universities and colleges, is rolling out a service that contains not merely abstracts (which it has long featured), but the full text of its indexed articles, according to a recent press release. Called “The Philosopher’s Index with Full Text,” it provides articles from..
CU Faculty Panel: Barnett Did Not Retaliate Against Student
The faculty panel responsible for reviewing the University of Colorado’s allegations against associate professor of philosophy David Barnett (previously) has concluded that he is not guilty of retaliation. While university administrators had wanted to fire Barnett, the panel voted 4-1 for a one year suspension without pay instead. Barnett had been accused of retalia..
Philosophers and Theorists on the Charlie Hebdo Attacks (updated)
Yesterday, twelve people were shot dead at the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical magazine. It was reported that the gunmen shouted “We have avenged the Prophet Muhammad” and “God is Great” in Arabic (“Allahu Akbar”), and so the attack is believed to be the work of militant Islamists in response to offensive cartoons that appeared in the magazine.
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How Do You Want Your Students To Assess You?
Most colleges and universities have students fill out forms to evaluate their instructors’ performance at the end of the term. Semesters are just beginning around now, but it is not too early to start thinking about those evaluations. One study found that “students’ ratings 2 weeks into the semester did not differ from end-of-semester evaluations.”
There are lots..
The Philosophy of Philosophical Institutions
Robert Frodeman and Adam Briggle (both of the University of North Texas) have published an essay, “Socrates Untenured,” at Inside Higher Ed that makes a case for what they call “field philosophy” — a “context-driven, problem-focused, and interdisciplinary” approach. Their hope is that “a new philosophical practice, where philosophers work in real time with a variet..