philosopher
TagWilson from LaTrobe to Western Australia
Rob Wilson, currently professor of philosophy at LaTrobe University in Melbourne, will be taking up the position of professor of philosophy at the University of Western Australia (UWA).
Michael Detlefsen (1948-2019)
Michael (“Mic”) Detlefsen, the McMahon-Hank Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, has died. (more…)
Learning, Without Illusions, From A Nazi Philosopher
I do take seriously Heidegger’s claim that some of his key philosophical ideas provided the basis for his political commitments. I have tried to understand how he might have conceived of those connections and to trace some of his efforts to develop those lines of thought. I don’t think that this renders his philosophy irredeemable but neither do I think that one can..
Rom Harré (1927-2019)
Rom Harré, a wide-ranging thinker whose academic career included over 30 years as part of the philosophy faculty at Oxford University, followed by over 20 as part of the psychology faculty at Georgetown University, and a great many visiting appointments around the world, has died.
Triumphantly Breaking Free from Academic Philosophy, But Still…
In 2015 I received the National Humanities Medal at a ceremony at the White House. President Obama himself put the medal around my neck, and the rumor was that he made the final choice. In the speech he gave before awarding all the medals, in addition to citing my work on Gödel and Spinoza and Plato, he spoke of me as the philosopher who sometimes chooses to write n..
Miguel León-Portilla (1926-2019)
Miguel León-Portilla, emeritus professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and “the world’s foremost authority on Náhuatl philology and philosophy,” has died. (more…)
Justin Zylstra (1987-2019) / Memorial Prize
Justin Zylstra, a research fellow in philosophy at the University of Vermont who received his Ph.D. from the University of Alberta in 2016, died last month of cancer. An effort is underway to establish a memorial prize in metaphysics in his name. (more…)
Elizabeth Anderson Wins MacArthur Fellowship
Elizabeth Anderson, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and John Dewey Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan, is a recipient of a 2019 MacArthur Fellowship. (more…)
Myles Burnyeat (1939-2019)
Myles Burnyeat, emeritus fellow at Oxford University’s All Souls College and emeritus professor of philosophy at Cambridge University’s Robinson College, has died. (more…)
Zack Selected as 2019 Romanell – Phi Beta Kappa Professor
Naomi Zack, professor of philosophy at Lehman College, City University of New York (CUNY), has been awarded the 2019 Romanell – Phi Beta Kappa Professorship. (more…)
André Gallois (1945-2019) (updated)
André Norman Gallois, emeritus professor of philosophy at Syracuse University, died earlier this month. (more…)
20 Theses Regarding Civility (guest post by Amy Olberding)
Too many (most?) conversations about civility begin because someone did something perceived to be uncivil. Making civility all about what other people do is in fact part of the problem, as civility is then degraded into a cudgel and its proponents into cops. Conversation about civility would be improved if sorting oneself out was the focus.
Epistemic Humility, Ideological Mercy, Legitimation, and Disagreement
“the whiplash of (rather quickly) moving from an intensely conservative, fundamentalist world into a progressive, academic world… taught me two things…”
John N. Williams (1952-2019)
John N. Williams, a philosopher who spent much of his career working in Singapore, and who had just last year taken up a position as professor of philosophy at Nazarbayev University, has died. (more…)
Schechter from WUSTL to Indiana
Elizabeth Schecter, previously in the Department of Philosophy and the Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology Program at Washington University in St. Louis, is now associate professor in the Department of Philosophy and the Cognitive Science Program at Indiana University, Bloomington. (more…)
Barry Stroud (1935-2019) (updated)
Barry Stroud, professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, died last week. (more…)
Philosopher Wins €3 Million Grant for Project on Public Trust in Expert Opinion
Maria Baghramian, Head of the School of Philosophy at University College Dublin, has won a €3 million (approximately US$3.3 million) grant for three-year research project on “the role of science in policy decision making and the conditions under which people should trust and rely on expert opinion that shapes public policy.” (more…)
Philosopher-Photographers on Instagram (and Elsewhere)
Sometimes a little beauty is in order. (more…)
Bryan Magee (1930-2019)
Bryan Magee, one of the most successful popularizers of philosophy in recent times, has died. (more…)
Agnes Callard’s List of “views that are considered controversial that shouldn’t be”
“There’s no such thing as being good or bad at philosophy.” (more…)
Agnes Heller (1929-2019)
Agnes Heller, a prolific Hungarian philosopher who as a child lost much of her family in the Holocaust and as a professor at the University of Budapest lost her job because she refused to testify that her mentor, György Lukács, committed political “crimes”, has died. (more…)
Daniel Callahan (1930-2019)
Daniel Callahan, co-founder and longtime director of the Hastings Center, the first-ever bioethics research institute, has died. (more…)
John Gardner (1965-2019)
“Uncontroversial ideas need not less but more critical scrutiny, since they generally get such an easy ride.” Those are the words of John Gardner, Professor of Law and Philosophy and Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford University, who died last week at age 54. (more…)
Lyons from Arkansas to Glasgow
Jack C. Lyons, currently professor of philosophy at the University of Arkansas, will be moving to the University of Glasgow. (more…)
Naomi Zack from Oregon to Lehman College, CUNY
Naomi Zack is leaving the University of Oregon to become Professor of Philosophy at Lehman College, City University of New York (CUNY). (more…)
Translation of Modern Era Korean Women Philosophers Underway
Philip J. Ivanhoe and Hwa Yeong Wang, both of the Sungkyun Institute for Confucian Studies and East Asian Philosophy at Sungkyunkwan University, have won a $75,000 grant from the Korean Studies Promotion Service to support their project of producing an annotated English translation of the work of two 18th-19th Century Korean Confucian women philosophers. (more…)..
Searle Found to Have Violated Sexual Harassment Policies (Updated with further details and statement from Berkeley)
Well-known philosopher John Searle, who began teaching at the University of California, Berkeley in 1959, has been stripped of his emeritus status there owing to the finding that he violated the university’s sexual harassment policies.
Problematic Letters of Recommendation for Students and How to Handle Them
Here’s a story that involves a well-meaning professor who wrote a rather unusual letter of recommendation for a student, some other well-meaning professors at PhD programs the student applied to who notified him that the letter was (in the words of one of them) “unhelpful and inappropriate,” and a department chair who attempted to handle the situation. It ends with ..