November 2015

Monthly Archives:

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..

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..

Which MA Programs in Philosophy Fund Students?

As some of you know, Geoff Pynn (Northern Illinois) has over the years provided an important service to the philosophy profession: maintaining a list of master’s programs in philosophy and the kind of funding they offer their students. The list now includes 31 U.S. MA programs:

Brandeis
Cal State Los Angeles
Colorado State
Florida State
Georgia State
G..

Women’s Participation At APAs Has Doubled over 40 Years

Over at the Splintered Mind, Eric Schwitzgebel (UC Riverside) reports on research he has conducted into the participation of women on the main programs of the meetings of the American Philosophical Association (APA). His findings reveal an upward trend: women’s participation in the 2014-15 meetings, at 32%, was twice that of 40 years ago. He also broke down the sess..

Mind Chunks (Daily Nous Philosophy Comics)

Mind Chunks
by Pete Mandik

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The Internet: Good for Philosophy

On a recent trip I was introduced to a senior philosopher who soon turned the conversation away from the standard opening pleasantries with this: “If it were up to me, the internet—especially blogs and social media—would go out of existence. It is just a place philosophers go to do terrible philosophy and act thoughtlessly. It’s embarrassing.”

Naturally, I aske..

Burleigh Wilkins (1932-2015)

Burleigh Taylor Wilkins, who was professor of philosophy at the University of California, Santa Barbara for forty-five years, died last month at the age of 83. Wilkins worked in political and legal philosophy, ethics, and the philosophy of history. His career also included appointments at MIT, Princeton, and Rice. A festschrift for him, Essays In Honor of Burleigh W..

SEP, IEP, NDPR, Wi-Phi Weekly Update

Below 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 a collection ..

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 ..

Are You Right for Analysis?

Ben Colburn (Glasgow) writes that Michael Clark (Nottingham), the longstanding editor of Analysis, is planning to retire soon, and that the Analysis Committee is inviting expressions of interest from potential successors. Below is the official invitation:

The Analysis Trust invites expressions of interest regarding the appointment of a new Editor or Editorial tea..

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..

Rider University Avoids Eliminating Philosophy Major

At the end of October it was reported that Rider University would be slashing 20 jobs and 13 majors—including philosophy. However, now that the university and the school’s chapter of the AAUP (American Association of University Professors) have come to a new agreement, these cuts will be avoided entirely. A statement from Rider University’s communications office, ..

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..

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 ..

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 ..

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

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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..

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..

Chaospet (Daily Nous Philosophy Comics)

Chaospet
by Ryan Lake

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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..

What Do Philosophers Make?

I mean, besides arguments?

Missouri Philosophy Issues Statement on Controversy over Racist Incidents (two updates)

The University of Missouri’s governing board is holding a meeting this morning to decide how to respond to calls by students and others for its president, Tim Wolfe, to resign. The calls for Wolfe’s resignation follow a number of racist incidents at the university over the past few months and are a response to the perceived lack of a satisfactory response to these i..

SEP, IEP, NDPR, Wi-Phi Weekly Update

Mind Chunks (Daily Nous Philosophy Comics)

Mind Chunks
by Pete Mandik

(more…)

Philosophy: Not Just for Elites

Why should all of us have some access to philosophy?

Philosophy has traditionally been studied by the elites in a society, I suppose for a few reasons. One is that elites will want to be able to think for themselves. They want to be able to make decisions; they want to have leadership positions in society. Also, the elites in society want to enjoy the best of hum..

Four Philosophers of Biology Win $2.1m

Alan Love (Minnesota), C. Kenneth Waters (Calgary), Marcel Weber (Geneva), and William Wimsatt (Minnesota, Chicago) have won a $2.1 million grant from the Templeton Foundation for their project “From Biological Practice to Scientific Metaphysics”. The funding will support, among other things, summer institutes, lectures, post-docs, and graduate students. More infor..

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..