December 2016
Philosophy Books You Want Most Philosophers To Read, 2015-2016
So many philosophy books, so little time. What books should be on your list? One way to answer that question is to narrow the options down to books in your subfield. That’s a perfectly reasonable approach. But are there books in your subfield that you think philosophers who don’t specialize in your area should read? Or have you read a philosophy book outside your ar..
The Effective Altruism Challenge (guest post by Holly Lawford-Smith)
The following is a guest post* by Holly Lawford-Smith, lecturer in philosophy at the University of Sheffield (and soon-to-be senior lecturer in philosophy at the University of Melbourne), on teaching about altruism. (more…)
Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update
Here’s the weekly report on what’s new at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), and Wi-Phi.
Feel free to share other items of philosophical interest you’ve come across recently in the comments to this post.
Large-Scale Replication Experiments in Destructive Obedience and How to Resist (guest post by Mark Alfano)
The following is a guest post* by Mark Alfano, associate professor of philosophy at Delft University of Technology. It originally appeared on his blog.
“Our smug self-assurance that genocide, democide, and other crimes against humanity only happen in other countries may be our undoing.”
The Philosophy Bubble
In her interview at What Is It Like To Be A Philosopher? (a part of which we discussed here), Sally Haslanger (MIT) draws attention to three problematic tendencies in philosophers. The first concerns the idea of multiple intelligences:
To be honest, I think most philosophers are pretty limited in their intelligences. They may be amazing along a certain dimension ..
APA Issues Statement on 2016 US Presidential Election
The board of officers of the American Philosophical Association (APA) today issued the following statement on the 2016 U.S. presidential election:
Leading up to the United States presidential election one month ago and in the weeks since, the nation has experienced increasingly divisive rhetoric and a rise in bias-based attacks on members of vulnerable groups. In..
The “Analytic Co-opting” and Death of the Continental Tradition
A conversation about Continental philosophy between Fordham University philosophy professor Babette Babich and game-designer and “outsider philosopher” Chris Bateman is being published in parts on Bateman’s blog, Only a Game (part one, part two).
Bateman attributes to Babich the view that “the art of continental philosophy is dying out.” Babich, who works in Cont..
Academia and Unselfishness
Academia is a selfish sport. From the time you begin graduate school, you are rewarded for self-absorbed fixations on your personal advancement and narrowly focused research… Opportunities are rare, time is short, and prioritizing yourself at the expense of others is encouraged, even as there is a veneer of service, public engagement, and commitment to your own s..
Hirsute History Philosopher Shirt Poll Winners
You may recall from way back in October our poll to help designer Jeremy Kalgreen decide which two philosophers to add to his collection of portraits at Hirsute History, and our drawing to to see who would win free shirts. Well, the results are in. (more…)
Mind Chunks (Daily Nous Philosophy Comics)
Mind Chunks
by Pete Mandik
The Halo Effect in Academia (guest post by Felicia Nimue Ackerman)
The following is a guest post* by Felicia Nimue Ackerman, professor of philosophy at Brown University. It’s in two parts: a poem (first published as a letter to the editor on The Chronicle of Higher Education website, March 20, 2014) and a brief essay (originally published in The Providence Journal on April 28, 2009). (more…)
Jerome A. Shaffer (1929-2016)
Jerome A. Shaffer, emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of Connecticut, died on November 17th, 2016. (more…)
Questions about Terminal MAs at PhD-Granting Programs
A philosophy professor advising an undergraduate, who did not major in philosophy, about her options for graduate school quite reasonably suggested she first pursue a Master’s degree. He let her know about a number of well known terminal MA programs (most of which are on Geoff Pynn’s list, discussed here). She had found out a little about some MA programs that mostl..
Cosmopolitan Racism, Trump, and Philosophy (guest post by Bharath Vallabha)
The following is a guest post* from Bharath Vallabha, former assistant professor of philosophy at Bryn Mawr College.
“Trump is actually much more aligned with the dominant norms of academic philosophy in America than with the KKK”
Orwell, Rawls and Trump: Citizenship and Democratic Culture (guest post by Martin O’Neill)
The following is a guest post* from Martin O’Neill, senior lecturer in politics at the University of York.
“A necessary condition for the long-term survival of a liberal, democratic regime is the lived commitment of the people to their shared political values.”
Summer 2017 Philosophy Programs for Undergraduates
Are you organizing a philosophy program for undergraduates for the Summer of 2017? If so, please share information—dates, location, theme, website or email contact, etc.—in the comments here. (more…)
Hoping against Hope: a Perspective on the US Elections from the Periphery (guest post by Loubna El Amine)
The following is a guest post* from Loubna El Amine, assistant professor of political science at Northwestern University.
“If a Trump election feels tragi-comical to many Americans, this has been true of elections in our own countries for so long that both the tragedy and the comedy are now lost on us.”
Two New Zealand Philosophers Win NZ$600,000
Two philosophers have been awarded Fast Start grants for early-career researchers by the Marsden Fund. Administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand, the Marsden fund is the major source of research funding in New Zealand. The application process is highly competitive, with success rates of around 11%. (more…)
Beyond Bullshit
The following is an excerpt from an essay by Jacob Levy, Tomlinson Professor of Political Theory, Professor of Political Science, and associate member of the Department of Philosophy at McGill University, published by the Niskanen Center. (more…)
Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update
December is here. What the hell? Anyway, forthwith, the weekly report on what’s new at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy(SEP), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), and Wi-Phi, plus some extra links at the end. (more…)
Philosophy: “Not A Meritocracy”
The latest edition of What Is It Like To Be A Philosopher? is out, with Clifford Sosis (Coastal Carolina) interviewing Sally Haslanger (MIT). (more…)
NEH Summer Philosophy Programs for Educators
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), as usual, is funding a number of seminars and institutes for school teachers and college professors next summer, and several of them are being run by philosophers. They are: (more…)