November 2015
Jonardon Ganeri Wins Infosys Prize
Jonardon Ganeri (NYU) is the winner of the 2015 Infosys Prize in the humanities category. It is the first time a philosopher has won this prize.
The jury panel, headed by Harvard professor and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, awarded Ganeri for his outstanding scholarship and originality in interpreting and scrutinizing analytical Indian Philosophy and shedding light ..
Georgetown Philosophy Dept Supports Student Protestors (Updated)
Students at Georgetown University have staged a sit-in at University President John (“Jack”) DeGioia’s office, calling for, among other things, a frank discussion of how Georgetown benefited from slavery, as well as the renaming of a building currently called Mulledy Hall. Christina Cauterucci at Slate writes:
At the center of the students’ grievances is Mulledy ..
Philosophers Among The Browser’s Nominees for Best Writing
You don’t often hear praise in popular culture for the writing of contemporary philosophers, yet The Browser, a popular aggregator of online writing, has included several among their nominees for their 2015 “Golden Giraffes” writing award.
They include:
- David Benatar, “We Are Creatures That Should Not Exist”
- Alain de Botton, “We Hate Cheap Things”
- Les Gre..
Philosophy’s Public Relations Moment — Were We Ready?
The Republican Presidential Primary Debate earlier this week led to a spike in public attention to the study of philosophy. Various news outlets covered Marco Rubio’s claim that the United States needs “more welders and less philosophers,” as well as other disparaging comments about philosophy by John Kasich and Ted Cruz (see previous post), along with responses by ..
Not Legally Actionable, But…
A tenure-track woman professor at a private U.S. university writes:
In light of a situation that recently came up in my department, I’ve been thinking quite a lot about the following question… I’m honestly at a loss for how to deal with this, and I’d love to hear some (sensible) thoughts of others on the issue.
The issue is this: Take it as a given that ther..
Mind Chunks (Daily Nous Philosophy Comics)
Mind Chunks
by Pete Mandik
Univ. of Illinois Settles with Salaita / Update: Statement from UIUC Philosophy
The University of Illinois will pay $875,000 to settle the Steven Salaita case. From the press release from Salaita’s lawyers:
Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and co-counsel Loevy & Loevy announced the settlement of Professor Steven Salaita’s case against the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) for firing him from his tenured posit..
Ad Hoc (Daily Nous Philosophy Comics)
Ad Hoc
by Rachel Katler
Philosophers Gift Guide 2015
Last year I waited until mid-December to post the gift guide and tons of philosophers missed out on pencil sharpeners because their loved ones had already bought them something else. I’m not going to make that mistake again. Today is”Cyber Monday,” a holiday that stretches back to the era before all of the marketing professionals who used the word “cyber” to describ..
Paris Attacked
France has declared a national state of emergency and tightened borders after at least 120 people were killed in a night of gun and bomb attacks in Paris. Eighty people were reported killed after gunmen burst into the Bataclan concert hall and took dozens hostage. The siege ended when security forces stormed the building. People were shot dead at bars and restaurant..
Philosophy Citation Practices Revisited
You may recall that earlier this year, in a guest post, Marcus Arvan decried philosophers’ reading and citation habits. Now, Moti Mizrahi has a post up at The Philosophers’ Cocoon with data showing that philosophy articles, on average, contain fewer than five cites per article are cited less than five times:
Additionally, Mizrahi says that other data suggest..
Disability Studies Quarterly Is Reviewing Stubblefield’s Articles
A philosophy professor who wishes to remain anonymous wrote to the editor of Disability Studies Quarterly in the wake Anna Stubblefield’s conviction for aggravated sexual assault of a severely disabled man requesting that the journal issue a retraction of an article purportedly co-authored by Stubblefield and her victim. From that letter:
Earlier this month, phi..
Frederick Beiser Wins Award from German Government
Frederick Charles Beiser (Syracuse) has been awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, “honoring his lifelong teaching of German philosophy to American students,” according to a press release from the German government. It adds:
Professor Beiser has been critical in introducing important works of German philosophers from Kant to..
To φ Or Not To φ (Daily Nous Philosophy Comics)
To φ Or Not To φ
by Tanya Kostochka
What Should Academics Do About Journal Prices?
All six editors and all 31 editorial board members of Lingua, one of the top journals in linguistics, last week resigned to protest Elsevier’s policies on pricing and its refusal to convert the journal to an open-access publication that would be free online. As soon as January, when the departing editors’ noncompete contracts expire, they plan to start a new open-ac..
SEP, IEP, NDPR, Wi-Phi Weekly Update
Here are last week’s additions and updates to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), and Wi-Phi Wireless Philosophy, appearing here via special arrangement with Philosophical Percolations. They were first posted in PhilPercs’ “Saturday Linkorama” along with lots of other ..
Nussbaum Wins Quinn Prize (updated)
Martha Nussbaum, Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, has won the American Philosophical Association’s Quinn Prize. The prize, named for Philip L. Quinn, is “awarded in recognition of service to philosophy and philosophers, broadly construed.” The award includes $2500 and an engraved plaque.
UPDATE ..
Philosophers and Welders and Politicians (updated)
Oh my.
In last night’s Republican primary debate, Florida Senator and presidential candidate Marco Rubio criticized U.S. higher education for being “outdated.” It is too expensive, he said, and too hard to access. Additionally, “it doesn’t teach 21st century skills.” Like welding.
I don’t know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more mo..
Philosophy Jobs Wiki Is Up
The Phylo Job Wiki is up and running. From the site:
A job wiki is a space for philosophy job seekers to post unofficial information about the status of various job openings in philosophy. Job seekers traditionally share information about when hiring departments schedule interviews, make offers, and so forth. Although job seekers provide this information as a ser..
Best Philosophy Blog Post of the Year
3 Quarks Daily has opened up nominations for the 2015 edition of its best philosophy blog post or online-only writing contest. The judge this year is John Collins (Columbia). You can check out who won the prize in previous years at links from here.
The editors at 3QD write:
As usual, this is the way it will work: the nominating period is now open. There will ..
The Ludlow Hearing: Some Questions
The hearing to determine whether Peter Ludlow will be fired from Northwestern University (previous posts) has been underway over the past month or so but is currently on hold. According to documents related to the hearing provided to Daily Nous, a number of complaints about whether the hearing is being conducted fairly and in accordance with Title IX guidelines have..
Chaospet (Daily Nous Philosophy Comics)
Chaospet
by Ryan Lake
SEP, IEP, NDPR, Wi-Phi Weekly Update
Below are the past week’s additions and updates to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), and Wi-Phi Wireless Philosophy, appearing here via special arrangement with Philosophical Percolations. They were first posted in PhilPercs’ “Saturday Linkorama” along with many othe..
A Response to Brian Leiter from the Margins (guest post by Christopher Lebron)
The following is a guest post* by Christopher Lebron, assistant professor of philosophy and African American studies at Yale University.
A Response to Brian Leiter from the Margins
by Christopher Lebron
Take a look around you. It’s a new day. Campuses around the country have put the world on notice that there is no last place of refuge for marginalization. Ap..
Philosophy as Anti-Terrorism Tool
A study from 2010 cites Philosophy for Children among “teaching approaches that help build resilience to extremism among young people.” The study, commissioned by the UK government,
presents the findings from a large-scale, in-depth research study into teaching methods—knowledge, skills, teaching practices and behaviours—that help to build resilience to extre..
Copyrights and Quotes in Academic Work
So here’s yet another case of over-the-top copyright restrictions involving something I wrote. In December 2014, the Whitehead Research Project held an excellent conference on Whitehead’s short book Symbolism (which Amazon also sells as an ebook for 99 cents). I was one of the speakers at the conference; I posted an uncorrected version of my talk, “Whitehead on Caus..
Practical Questions About The Philosophy Curriculum
In a comment on a previous post, What’s “Core” and What’s “Peripheral” in Philosophy—and Why?, Brian Weatherson (Michigan) notes that there are “some practical questions that need answering from time to time.” They are:
- Which subfields of philosophy should a philosophy major be required to take courses in?
- Which subfields of philosophy should a PhD student be ..
What’s “Core” and What’s “Peripheral” in Philosophy—and Why?
It’s pretty bizarre, when you think about it, that someone who spends their time wondering whether tables are real is considered to be working on a foundational area of philosophy, but someone who wonders whether races are real is doing something we consider a niche, ‘applied’ topic. Likewise, someone who tries to figure out how words like ‘might’ work is doing some..