March 2016
Why Do Undergraduate Women Stop Studying Philosophy? (guest post by Morgan Thompson)
The following is a guest post* by Morgan Thompson (Pittsburgh), who, along with Toni Adleburg (UCSD), Sam Sims (Florida State), and Eddy Nahmias (Georgia State), authored the newly published “Why Do Women Leave Philosophy: Surveying Students at the Introductory Level” (Philosophers’ Imprint). Below, Thompson covers some of the main points of the paper for the purpos..
Famous Philosophers In The Styles of Famous Artists
Renee Jorgensen Bolinger, a graduate student in philosophy at the University of Southern California, paints portraits of famous philosophers in her spare time. For each one, she chooses the style of an artist who thematically links up with the philosopher. For example:
See the whole collection. Some are even for sale as prints, and on shirts, mugs, pillow..
Reference Management Software Revisited
Back in Fall of 2014 we discussed reference management software and apps. Bibdesk and Zotero seemed to be the most popular options at the time. A reader has written in asking us to revisit the topic, noting that when it comes to information technology, a year and a half is a long time. What new options are out there? Have people’s preferences changed? Let us know. T..
To φ Or Not To φ (Daily Nous Philosophy Comics)
To φ Or Not To φ
by Tanya Kostochka
Modern Universities Have Always Had Safe Spaces
…Academic freedom is the core meaning, the core institutional life, of freedom of debate and freedom of inquiry in the university setting. And one thing that’s notable about academic freedom as I’ve just labeled it is that it creates safe spaces. The people who are doing the work on an ongoing basis be they students, teachers, or researchers, don’t have to spend a..
Penn State’s Efforts at Diversifying Philosophy
Five black women earned Ph.D.s in philosophy from Penn State this year, according to an article at The Chronicle of Higher Education (currently paywalled) that looks at the efforts the philosophy department there has been making to diversify philosophy.
The Chronicle reports that:
According to the latest federal data, of the 370 American citizens and permanent..
Faculty Salary Report
A large determinant in how much faculty earn is the discipline in which they teach, according to a report at Inside Higher Ed on the salaries of tenured and tenure-track faculty at four-year colleges and universities. The best-paying fields for full professors are law, business, and engineering, with humanities fields towards the low end. The article notes:
The l..
Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update
Below are the past week’s updates to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), and Wi-Phi Open Access Philosophy Videos. (We hope to add the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy back into the mix, too, in future weeks. If you have suggestions for other sites you’d like to see included in this weekly update, please say so ..
Philosophers Win NEH Grants
The National Endowment for the Humanities has announced $21 million in funding awarded to 248 humanities projects. Among them are ten (if I missed any, please let me know) which are directed by philosophers. Congratulations to the winners:
- Christa Acampora; Mariann Weierich (co-project director), Hunter College
$90,594
Project Title: The Experience of War: ..
Justin Leiber (1938-2016)
Justin F. Leiber, retired professor of philosophy at Florida State University, died earlier this week. Prior to joining Florida State, he taught at Lehman College (CUNY) and the University of Houston. Professor Leiber worked mainly in philosophy of language, and also in philosophy of psychology and cognitive science. In addition to his philosophy work, he had a care..
Prof. Suspended for Mistreatment of Philosophy Grad Student
Marquette University, based on recommendations from a faculty panel, has imposed a punishment on John McAdams, associate professor of political science at Marquette University, for his mistreatment of philosophy graduate student Cheryl Abbate in the Fall of 2014 (see here and here for background), according to a report from Inside Higher Ed. From the article:
A l..
Getting In Next Time (Ought Experiment)
Welcome back to Ought Experiment! Today’s letter comes from a student who just struck out on all their grad school applications, and wants to know what they can do to improve their chances next time:
Dear Louie,
I have well over a 4.0 GPA, and had great letters of recommendation from my professors. I also have published one paper in an undergrad journal. On to..
Do Philosophers’ Personal Lives Influence Their Choice Of Research Topic?
According to the philosophical training that I received, scholars select their research topics on the basis of an impartial assessment of the scholarly potential of these topics. I recognized very early in my career that this is not the case. The reasons that academics choose the topics of their research and teaching are often related to their personal lives; early ..
More On Whether Philosophy Has Lost Its Way
Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective, the digital wing of the journal Social Epistemology, has featured an exchange of short articles in the wake of “When Philosophy Lost Its Way” by Robert Frodeman and Adam Briggle (both of University of North Texas), an article we previously discussed a couple of times. The exchange is between Luke Maring (Northern Ariz..
Mind Chunks (Daily Nous Philosophy Comics)
Mind Chunks
by Pete Mandik
Irony of the Day: Special Issues and Political Correctness Edition
Jean-Yves Beziau (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), recently in the news for bizarre remarks he made about political correctness, homosexuality, and the attractiveness of an “old lady” in an essay on logical pluralism in a special issues of Synthese (which prompted a moratorium on special issues there, and reconsideration of policies of editorial oversi..
BBC Launches Public Philosophy Program
The BBC has launched a new program called “The Global Philosopher.” Each episode is a public philosophy session led by Michael Sandel (Harvard) with participants video-conferenced in from all over the world. Video footage is then edited, put online at the BBC’s site, and also broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
You can watch the first episode, on immigration and refugees, ..
Fitelson from Rutgers to Northeastern
Branden Fitelson, previously Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University, is now Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Northeastern University, as of this morning. Professor Fitelson works in epistemology, logic, and philosophy of science.
Philosophy Needs Better Marketing
The plans for growing and diversifying philosophy can’t be a shotgun approach. We need to find places every year where we can advocate and promote philosophical growth with precision because of our limited resources. We can do this through a robust development and advocacy process along with PR and advertising campaigns. There are lots of ways to grow and diversify ..
Doing the Best By Their Opponents
Which philosophers or philosophical papers do the best at presenting compelling and sympathetic cases on their opposition’s behalf, so that even if you’re unfamiliar with the general issue, you come away from the paper thinking, “Well, if they can answer that case, there isn’t going to be much more to be said”? Which philosophers or philosophical papers present part..
Professors, You Were Not Normal
Professors, you were not normal. You weren’t normal back when you were an undergraduate, and you aren’t normal now. Even back then, you cared about stuff (yes I’ll say “stuff”) that most of your fellow students didn’t even ever think about, and now that you’ve spent so much time studying that stuff, writing about that stuff, credentializing yourself in that stuff, a..
Philosophy as a Way of Life: The Course
Philosophers, have you ever taught a course about philosophy as a way of life? Stephen R. Grimm, professor of philosophy at Fordham University, has. During the course his students have to select one of the ways of life covered in the course, spend three days living it, and then create video reflections of the experience. It would be great to hear from others who’ve ..
Poll: Most Preferred Means for Promoting Academic Work
A reader requested a poll to help him determine how to promote and share his work online and make contact with other academics with similar interests. Let’s do it! Which of the following would you recommend? I know one popular answer might be “all of them,” but that’s not an option. You can select two, though.
(more…)
Editorial Changes at Thought
The editorial staff at the journal, Thought, has changed. Crispin Wright writes:
We wish to record our great gratitude to Jc Beall (Subject Editor for Logic), Janice Dowell (Subject Editor for Metaphysics), and Carrie Jenkins (Principal Editor) for their contributions to the editing of the journal hitherto. We are excited to announce that Catarina Dutilh-Novaes (..
Issues with Special Issues of Journals
Special issues often have guest editors, and the procedures for submission and editorial review may vary from those used for standard issues. The recent publication of an article with some rather bizarre passages in a special issue of Synthese has brought attention to how special issues are put together, with particular questions raised about editorial oversight and..
Proud Provincialism, Superficial Sophistication
Among the humanities, philosophy is the field in which provincialism has most successfully disguised itself as a universal and timeless form of inquiry. It’s not at all uncommon to hear philosophy professors demur, when the subject of, say, classical Indian logic comes up, that they “regrettably don’t know anything about that.” What they really mean is: “My professi..
A “Tragic Question” of Academic Life (guest post by John Schwenkler)
The following is a guest post* by John Schwenkler, assistant professor of philosophy at Florida State University.
A “Tragic Question” of Academic Life
by John Schwenkler
In her splendid essay “The Costs of Tragedy”, Martha Nussbaum relates a story from her days as a young professor at Harvard:
When I began teaching as an assistant professor at Harvard, phi..
Philosophy Tag
We restarted Philosophy Tag a couple of weeks ago, with me tagging Suzy Killmister (Connecticut) for her paper, “The Woody Allen Puzzle: How ‘Authentic Alienation’ Complicates Autonomy.” Let’s see who she tagged…