April 2017
APA Pacific Open Thread
Here’s an open thread for discussion of the Pacific Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association (APA), currently taking place in Seattle.
New Philosophy Journal Survey Project
The Blog of the APA is launching a new project to collect and share data on the experiences philosophers have had with academic journals, including information about each journal’s “average review time, time to publication, acceptance rates, comments per submission” and related qualities. (more…)
Quitting A Safe Job To Pursue A Career In Philosophy (Ought Experiment)
Welcome back to Ought Experiment, the column by Dear Ida that offers personal advice for your academic life. Today’s letter is from someone considering pursuing a career in academic philosophy. (more…)
Don’t Turn It Off (guest post by Danielle Wenner)
The following is a guest post* by Danielle Wenner, assistant professor of philosophy at Carnegie Mellon University. It’s a response to Monday’s post, “When To Turn It Off.” (more…)
Josh Parsons (1973-2017)
Josh Parsons, our beloved friend, mentor, and role-model, died on April 11, 2017. He was 44. Our thoughts are with his family, and most especially with his wife, Hannah Burgess. (more…)
Most Philosophers Favor Efforts To Broaden The Discipline
Last year, Valerie Tiberius, professor of philosophy at the University of Minnesota, conducted what she called “The Value of Philosophy Survey.” Over 2,500 philosophers responded to the survey, which asked 24 questions, and in her Presidential Address at the Central Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association (APA) last month, Professor Tiberius discu..
To φ Or Not To φ (Daily Nous Philosophy Comics)
To φ Or Not To φ
by Tanya Kostochka
Mini-Heap
Mini-Heap: the last 10 11 items from the Heap of Links, collected here for your perusal and discussion… (more…)
When To Turn It Off
Here’s a… hypothesis for why many habits of philosophical thinking might not come naturally. The hypothesis is that some tools for critical evaluation run counter to another valuable set of tools: our tools for effective social engagement. These tools help us make sense of what someone is saying by encouraging us to interpret underspecified claims in the most posi..
Philosophy for the Public: With or Without Gimmicks?
Freelance philosopher and writer Nigel Warburton, whom you may know from Philosophy Bites, is prompted by the occasion of a straightforward interview with a philosopher in the mainstream media (Daniel Dennett on BBC Radio 4) to observe how rare it is, and then, in a series of tweets, come up with increasingly ridiculous pitches for TV and radio producers about how ..
Philosophy Instructor Reportedly Abducted
Önder Asan, a philosophy instructor from Ankara, Turkey, was reportedly abducted there on April 1st. Asan had worked at one of the educational institutions* closed down by the Turkish government following the attempted military coup there last July. (more…)
New Faculty Salary Data
The 2016-17 edition of the American Association of University Professors’ Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession has been released. It provides a wealth of information about faculty salaries in the United States. (more…)
New Essay Prize For Early Career Philosophers
The philosophy journal Mind, which was established in 1876 and has long served as a prominent venue for analytic philosophy, and which recently broadened its scope to include a greater variety of philosophy, has established a new essay competition. The journal and its publisher, Oxford University Press (OUP), have announced that the winner will receive a cash prize ..
New Philosopher-Run Blog on Imagination
The Junkyard is a new blog dedicated to study of the imagination. Its creator and editor is Amy Kind, professor of philosophy at Claremont McKenna College (with technical assistance from Eric Peterson, a philosophy graduate student at the University of Kentucky). (more…)
Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update
Here’s our weekly report on what’s new at several online philosophy resources. We currently check the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), Wi-Phi, and 1000-Word Philosophy for updates. (more…)
The Art of Philosophy (guest post by Susanna Berger)
The following us a guest post* by Susanna Berger, assistant professor of art history at the University of Southern California. It is an excerpt adapted from her fascinating book, The Art of Philosophy: Visual Thinking in Europe from the Late Renaissance to the Early Enlightenment (Princeton University Press, 2017).
Mini-Heap
Mini-Heap: the last 10 items from the Heap of Links, collected here for your perusal and discussion… (more…)
Should We Stop Interviewing Job Candidates?
Recent research suggests that job interviews not only provide potential employers with irrelevant information, but actually “undercut… the impact of other, more valuable information about interviewees,” according to Jason Dana (Yale), in a recent column in The New York Times. How, if at all, should the hiring of philosophers be affected by these findings? (more…)..
Philosophy Among Majors Threatened at LIU Brooklyn
Philosophy, math, economics, visual arts, and sociology-anthropology are among the subjects at Long Island University’s Brooklyn campus that will not be allowed any new majors, at least for the time being, according to Inside Higher Ed. (more…)
Three Philosophers Among New Guggenheim Fellows
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has announced the winners of its prestigious fellowship. There were 173 Guggenheim Fellowships awarded, three of which went to philosophers: (more…)
McMahan & Singer: Stubblefield Is A Victim Of Injustice (updated)
In an essay at The New York Times’ “The Stone,” two of the most prominent living moral philosophers—Jeff McMahan, White’s Professor of Moral Philosophy at Oxford University, and Peter Singer, Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University—argue that Anna Stubblefield, a former professor of philosophy at Rut..
Should Journals Publicly Grade Submissions?
Jonathan Weisberg, associate professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto and managing editor of Ergo, notes that by the time a paper is published in one journal, it has likely made the rounds at a few others, and hence has been reviewed by several people whose opinions on it are not publicly available. These people have already “thought about strengths and..
UC Berkeley Knew Of Prior Complaints About Searle
John Searle, emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, was the subject of at least three sexual misconduct claims filed by Berkeley students in recent years, prior to the filing of the current sexual harassment lawsuit against him and the Regents of the University of California, according to a report by Katie J.M. Baker at Buzzfeed…
New Philosophy Podcast on Politics and Public Discourse
Why We Argue is a new, interview-based podcast “that explores the triumphs and disasters of American political conversation.” It is hosted by Robert Talisse, professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University and is part of the Humility and Conviction in Public Life project directed by Michael Lynch, professor of philosophy at the University of Connecticut. (more…)..
Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update
Here’s our weekly report on what’s new at several online philosophy resources. We currently check the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), Wi-Phi, and 1000-Word Philosophy for updates. (more…)
Dominance Of The English Language In Contemporary Philosophy: A Look At Journals
“If you’re an academic aiming to reach a broad international audience, it is increasingly the case that you must publish in English. Philosophy is no exception.” So writes Eric Schwitzgebel (UC Riverside), in a post at The Splintered Mind.
As he notes, this gives native English speakers an obvious professional advantage of being able to reach a worldwide readersh..
Did Gorsuch Plagiarize? Philosophers & Others Consulted (updated)
Politico has consulted several “experts on academic integrity” to assess whether Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch plagiariazed parts of his book, The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, which was a revised version of his D.Phil thesis, as well as an article in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, while the White House has produced statements from sev..
“Fighting For Values”: A Message From The Head Of Philosophy at CEU (updated)
The following is a message from Professor Hanoch Ben-Yami, Head of the Department of Philosophy at Central European University (CEU), regarding recently proposed legislation threatening its continued existence in Hungary.