November 2017

Monthly Archives:

Recent APA Grants Fund Projects on Outreach and Diversity

The American Philosophical Association (APA) has announced the winners of several of its grants for the 2017-2018 academic year. All of the funded projects appear to be aimed at growing philosophy’s constituency, focusing especially on younger students (including high schoolers) and members of groups traditionally underrepresented in professional philosophy in the U..

Jerry Fodor (1935-2017) (updated)

Jerry Fodor, one of the most influential philosophers of mind of the 20th Century, has died. (more…)

Disbelief, Inaction, and the Persistence of Harassment and Assault

Helen Beebee (Manchester) and Heather Widdows (Birmingham) have co-authored an essay at IAI, “Weinstein, Westminster, and Philosophy: Structures of Abuse,” on the recent spate of accounts of sexual harassment and assault. (more…)

Conference Panel Proposals

A reader writes in with the following query: (more…)

Harassment and ‘Splaining at the American Society for Aesthetics

The American Society for Aesthetics (ASA) recently convened in New Orleans for its 75th Annual Meeting. In its wake, the art and philosophy blog Aesthetics for Birds has published a pair of posts (one from A.W. Eaton and another from Paul C. Taylor) complaining about sexual harassment and the treatment of attendees from traditionally underrepresented groups there, a..

Philosophers Win ERC Consolidator Grants (updated)

The European Research Council (ERC) has announced the 2017 winners of its large Consolidator Grants. Among the recipients are three philosophers: (more…)

APA & other Academic Organizations Issue Statement on Tax Bill

The American Philosophical Association (APA) today joined with 34 other academic organizations to issue a public statement opposing the provision in the tax reform bill recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that would result in graduate school tuition waivers counting as taxable income. They currently do not. (more…)

Laptops in Classrooms Revisited

Nearly two years ago, prompted by a Columbia professor’s decision to ban laptops in his classes, we discussed classroom computer and phone policies. The subject has been gaining more traction recently, owing to recent studies and an op-ed last week in The New York Times by University of Michigan education, public policy, and economics professor Susan Dynarski. (more..

Philosophy for the Police

In 2015, Freddie Gray suffered fatal injuries in the back of a police van. Since then, the Baltimore police department has instituted various reforms, including an educational program for police that includes philosophy and literature. (more…)

Philosophers and the Humanities

By exerting their imaginations and their talent for coming up with pesky counterexamples, probe away at the conceptual boundaries of God, free will, morality, etc, and try to determine, by the power of thought experiments alone, just what is and isn’t possible, and what conclusions are the most reasonable. (more…)

Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update

Here’s the weekly report of what’s new at some useful online philosophy resources. (more…)

Mini-Heap

Here’s the latest edition of Mini-Heap—10 recent items from the frequently updated Heap of Links. Feel free to discuss. (more…)

Mind Chunks (Daily Nous Philosophy Comics)

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Philosophers On The Art of Morally Troubling Artists

The news over the past several months has been full of revelations of sexual harassment and assault by men involved in arts and entertainment and other fields (for lists of recently revealed cases, see here and here). The cases have brought to the public’s attention a variety of questions concerning power, justice, gender relations, privacy, business practices, and ..

New Interdisciplinary Institute for Science & Technology Studies

The Ann Johnson Institute for Science, Technology & Society (AJI) has been launched at the University of South Carolina. (more…)

Mini-Heap

Here, a little late, is the latest edition of Mini-Heap—10 recent items from the frequently updated Heap of Links. Feel free to discuss. (more…)

Chignell from Penn to Princeton

Andrew Chignell, currently professor of philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania (and before that, at Cornell University), will be joining the faculty at the University Center for Human Values (UCHV) at Princeton University as a Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor. (more…)

Mentoring Workshop For Women Graduate Students In Philosophy

Athena in Action is a networking and mentoring workshop for graduate student women in philosophy. Applications are now being accepted for its third annual workshop, which will be taking place this summer. (more…)

Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update

Greetings. Here’s the weekly report of what’s new at some useful online philosophy resources. (more…)

Philosophical Photography Contest

The Rotman Institute of Philosophy at Western University is again running its philosophical photography contest. (more…)

What Philosophers Are Asking Today (for World Philosophy Day 2017)

“What is the meaning of life?” That’s probably the question that springs to mind when a non-philosopher is asked what philosophers study. And while some philosophers do in fact work on that question, like any single question it does not capture the extraordinary range and diversity of subjects philosophers are thinking and writing about. (more…)

Philosophy of Science Undergrad Summer Program

The Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh will be hosting a summer program in philosophy of science for undergraduate students from underrepresented groups this coming summer. (more…)

Ad Hoc (Daily Nous Philosophy Comics)

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Why Science Education Needs Philosophy

Many of the young people who attend my classes think that philosophy is a fuzzy discipline that’s concerned only with matters of opinion, whereas science is in the business of discovering facts, delivering proofs, and disseminating objective truths. Furthermore, many of them believe that scientists can answer philosophical questions, but philosophers have no busines..

A Woman’s Graduate School Experience at Princeton Philosophy in the 80’s

It was impossible for me to get credit for my own work… and for the faculty to put the two things together: me, Lisa Lloyd, the woman, and my own original work… So what can you say? (more…)