May 2016
Chaospet (Daily Nous Philosophy Comics)
Chaospet
by Ryan Lake
Plenty Of Woe To Go Around: A Post About A Philosophy Journal
What the hell is going on? You might occasionally ask yourself that question when confronted with the problems, missteps, malfunctions, and other obstacles that seem to be part of the normal experience of academic life—for example, when you send in an article to a journal and it, and the journal’s staff, seem to vanish. A reader of Daily Nous recently wrote in: (m..
Philosophical Gentrification
That the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy recently added five entries on Latin American philosophy is one indication of growing recognition of the area, writes Axel Arturo Barceló Aspeitia (National Autonomous University of Mexico) in a post at PhilPercs entitled “Against Latin American Philosophy Going Mainstream.” But, he asks, is that increased attention an un..
Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update
Here are the past week’s updates to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), and Wi-Phi. (more…)
Help Philosophy at Western Illinois
The other day we reported that the Department of Philosophy at Western Illinois University is being targeted for elimination by the university’s Board of Trustees. The Board will be voting on the matter on June 10th. Please take a moment to sign a petition supporting the department.
The petition stresses the findings of the Academic Program Elimination Review (AP..
Diversifying Your Syllabus Made Easier (guest post by Simon Fokt)
The following is a guest post* by Simon Fokt (Edinburgh), who, among other things, created the Diversity Reading List, a resource for those interested in including in their teaching works by authors from groups traditionally underrepresented in philosophy.
Philosophical Malapropisms
“Let me illiterate…”
A student once wrote that when he meant “let me reiterate.” It may be the apothecary of malapropisms. I was reminded of it by a malapropisms quiz at The Paris Review. I didn’t know the origin of the term:
Mrs. Malaprop is the pompous aunt in Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s 1775 comedy, The Rivals, and the eponym for the word malapropism. As ..
Philosophy at Western Illinois Targeted (updated)
At its upcoming meeting in June, the Board of Trustees of Western Illinois University will take up Resolution 16.6/5 which, among other things, calls for the elimination of the university’s philosophy program as a way of responding to severe budget cuts: (more…)
Destination Courses in Philosophy
It may make sense to have a summer course that, say, takes students to France to improve their French. Or one that brings them to Japan to study Japanese agricultural methods. Or a marine ecology course that takes place on a boat cruising through the Caribbean. Sometimes “destination” courses, or other courses that involve travel to or study in a specific part of th..
On Campus Visits: A Job Candidate’s Critique (guest post)
Below are critical suggestions from a graduate student, who’ll go nameless, who was on the market this past season. The suggestions are for departments, in regard to how they arrange and manage campus visits. We’ve discussed some flyout horror stories before, but there seems to be no lack of resourcefulness in how departments can make things lousy for job candidates..
Philosophy at University of Wyoming Threatened
The philosophy program at the University of Wyoming has been targeted for “elimination” by its administration in the face of impending budget cuts. Word of this came in a letter to the editor of the Laramie Boomerang from Renée M. Laegreid, a professor of history at the school (and brought to my attention by Matthew Weiner). Laegreid writes:
Governor Mead announc..
How To ACTUALLY Work During Summer (Ought Experiment)
Welcome back to Ought Experiment! Today’s letter is from a graduate student that’s hoping to break the cycle of unproductive summers… you know, sometime later this summer: (more…)
What To Read To Improve Your Philosophical Writing
A professor writes in with a question:
I’d be very curious what books or other resources your readers might recommend for graduate students looking to improve their writing skills. I have in mind anything from general style guides, to guides aimed more specifically at academics (or even professional philosophers!).
One thing that helps writers improve is read..
Pogge Attempted To Halt Investigation
Thomas Pogge (Yale), who has been in the news recently regarding allegations of sexual harassment, tried to halt the investigation into his treatment of and interactions with former Yale student Fernanda Lopez Aguilar, according to a report at The Huffington Post: (more…)
Synthese Editors Issue Letter on Special Issues
In January, an article by Jean-Yves Beziau, “The relativity and universality of logic,” which contained some remarkably strange passages, was published in a special issue of Synthese. After some publicity, the editors of Synthese, Gila Sher, Otávio Bueno, and Wiebe van der Hoek, announced that the article had not undergone the normal review process for a special iss..
To φ Or Not To φ (Daily Nous Philosophy Comics)
To φ Or Not To φ
by Tanya Kostochka
Two Ideas About Philosophers’ Use Of Intuitions
James Andow (Reading) has a very interesting post up at Imperfect Cognitions about how philosophers use intuitions. As he notes, and as everyone acknowledges, philosophers use intuitions. And, as everyone knows, reliance on intuitions has come under intense criticism, increasingly so during the past four decades. But how fair is the general criticism of philosophy t..
Digital Humanities In Philosophy: What’s Helpful & What’s Hype?
“I must say, it is rather addictive, and sometimes really satisfying.”
That’s Massimo Pigliucci (CUNY) writing at Plato’s Footnote about the digital humanities—in that line, specifically about using Google’s Ngram Viewer, which, he adds, “philosophers make surprisingly little use of.” (more…)
Zarathustra for Kids
John Holbo (National University of Singapore) has undertaken a new project: a version of Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra for kids. It’s illustrated, and written in the style of Dr. Seuss. It’s called On Beyond Zarathustra: A Parody for All and None, and samples from it have been posted on his website (and Crooked Timber). Below are images from the first few pages..
“Students Against Pogge” Group Forms
A Facebook group has been created in the wake of allegations against Yale professor Thomas Pogge called “Students Against Pogge.”
The page states: (more…)
Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update
Here’s where we post the past week’s updates to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), and Wi-Phi. Bonus link at the bottom. (more…)
PhD Programs in Philosophy with the most Women Graduates
The philosophy doctoral programs at the University of Memphis, the California Institute of Integral Studies, the University of Oregon, the University of New Mexico, the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are the only ones in the United States which have graduated more women than men during the 2004-2014 period, accord..
Chair in Atheism and Secular Ethics Endowed at Miami
Retired businessman Louis J. Appignani has donated $2.2 million to the University of Miami for an endowed chair in “the study of atheism, humanism and secular ethics,” reports the New York Times. It is the first position of its kind in the United States. (more…)
Thomas Pogge Responds to Accusations (Updated — with emails)
Thomas Pogge, the Leitner Professor of Philosophy & International Affairs and Political Science at Yale University, has published a response to allegations he sexually harassed and retaliated against a student, Fernanda Lopez Aguilar. (more…)
Thomas Pogge, Yale University, and Sexual Harassment (Updated)
When Thomas Pogge travels around the world, he finds eager young fans waiting for him in every lecture hall. The 62-year-old German-born professor, a protégé of the philosopher John Rawls, is bespectacled and slight of stature. But he’s a giant in the field of global ethics, and one of only a small handful of philosophers who have managed to translate prominence wit..
The Unpredictable Progress of Knowledge
The whole thing is predicated on what amounts to a shotgun approach to knowledge: you let people metaphorically fire wherever they wish, and statistically speaking they’ll occasionally hit a worthy target. Crucially, there doesn’t seem to be a way, certainly not a centralized or hierarchically determinable way, to improve the efficacy of the target shooting. If we w..
Philosophers Win $3.6 Million for Conceptual Engineering
Herman Cappelen (primary investigator), Øystein Linnebo, and Camilla Serck-Hanssen, all at the University of Oslo, have won a $3.6 million grant for a 5-year project on Conceptual Engineering. The grant is funded by the Research Council of Norway‘s Toppforsk program, which recently announced roughly $120 million worth of grants to 46 projects. The Conceptual Engine..
Most Cited Philosophy Books in the Social Sciences
Elliott Green, a professor in the International Development Department at the London School of Economics, looked at which works from anthropology, economics, education, geography, linguistics, management, philosophy, political science, and psychology are cited most by social scientists. At the top of the list of the 50 most cited books, he reports, is Thomas Kuhn’s ..