philosopher
TagPhilosophy Professor Receiving Death Threats (updated with transcript, letter from colleagues)
Tommy Curry, professor of philosophy at Texas A & M University, has been receiving racist hate mail and death threats in the wake of an opinion piece at a conservative website that frames remarks of his in a misleading way—and among those apparently misled, it now appears, is Texas A & M president Michael K. Young. (more…)
Sexual Harassment, Assault, and Retaliation Lawsuit Against John Searle
John Searle, the Willis S. and Marion Slusser Professor Emeritus of the Philosophy of Mind and Language at the University of California, Berkeley, is being sued for sexual harassment, assault, and retaliation by a former female Berkeley undergraduate who worked for him as an assistant at the John Searle Center for Social Ontology. (more…)
Brading from Notre Dame to Duke
Katherine Brading, currently Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, has accepted an offer from Duke University and will become Professor of Philosophy there starting in Fall of 2017. (more…)
Open Letter Regarding Thomas Pogge (a few updates)
Over 160 academics have signed an open letter regarding the allegations of sexual harassment and professional misconduct of Thomas Pogge, Leitner Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Political Science at Yale University, including at least 16 of his colleagues at Yale. (more…)
Lodi Nauta Wins 2.5 Million Euro Spinoza Prize
L.W. (Lodi) Nauta, professor of philosophy and dean at the University of Groningen, is one of the 2016 winners of the Spinoza Prize, “the highest award in Dutch science.” It is bestowed by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). (more…)
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…)
Fitelson from Rutgers to Northeastern
Branden Fitelson, previously Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University, is now Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Northeastern University, as of this morning. Professor Fitelson works in epistemology, logic, and philosophy of science.
Interview with Janice Dowell
Clifford Sosis (Coastal Carolina) continues his series of interviews of philosophers at What Is It Like To Be A Philosopher? with Janice Dowell of Syracuse University. In it she discusses her childhood (she worked as a janitor for a Princeton eating club), how she ended up going into philosophy (“almost entirely by accident”), her career at various institutions, her..
Cathy Legg Moves from Waikato to Deakin
Catherine Legg, previously at the University of Waikato, will take up the position of Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia, from March 2017. (more…)
For The First Time, A Philosopher Is Named “University Professor” In The UC System
Forty-one professors hold the title of “University Professor” across the ten-school University of California system. The title is “reserved for scholars of international distinction who are also recognized as teachers of exceptional ability.” The latest scholar to be named a University Professor is also the first philosopher to be given the honor: John Martin Fische..
$2 Million in Fellowships for Improving Public Discourse
Humility and Conviction in Public Life, an interdisciplinary endeavor at the University of Connecticut directed by philosopher Michael P. Lynch and funded by the John Templeton Foundation, has awarded a total of $2 million to ten scholars engaged in various projects to improve public discourse. (more…)
Dominic Balestra (1947-2016)
Dominic Balestra, professor and chair of philosophy at Fordham University, died on November 8th, 2016. (more…)
The Job Insecurity of Philosophy Instructors: A Case Study
“I love being a professor. I have been a professor my whole life. I don’t know what I am going to do.” That’s Pamela Ryan, who has been a philosophy instructor at Morehead State University for 15 years. This past Friday she was called into the office of the Dean of the Caudill College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Morehead, M. Scott McBride, and told t..
Is Philosophy Unfriendly?
The latest interview at What Is It Like To Be A Philosopher? is up, and it’s with Dan Haybron (Saint Louis University). There’s a lot of interesting stuff in it, so worth a read. One theme that stuck out was the idea that, though most philosophers are quite nice, there is something “unfriendly” about philosophy. Professor Haybron says of grad school in philosophy:
..
Philosopher Arrested For Protesting Fracking
Adam Briggle, associate professor of philosophy at the University of North Texas, has been arrested for engaging in a protest at a Vantage Energy fracking site in Denton, Texas.
Three Denton residents could face criminal trespassing charges after they were arrested early Monday morning in front of the entry to a gas well site on the city’s west side… The trio j..
Marilyn McCord Adams (1943-2017)
Marilyn McCord Adams, a philosopher who held appointments at Rutgers University, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Yale University, UCLA, and Oxford (as the first and only woman to be the Regius Professor of Divinity), has died. (more…)
Tom Regan (1938-2017)
Tom Regan, professor emeritus of philosophy at North Carolina State University, died this morning. Professor Regan was known largely for his work on ethical questions regarding the treatment of animals. He developed a theory of animal rights which he put forward in his well-known book, The Case for Animal Rights. He was also a specialist on the philosophy of G.E. Mo..
Raymond Smullyan (1919-2017)
Raymond Smullyan, Oscar R. Ewing Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Indiana University, Bloomington, and before that professor of math and philosophy at Lehman College (CUNY), died last week. (more…)
MacBride from Glasgow to Manchester
Frasier MacBride, currently Chair in Logic and Rhetoric at the University of Glasgow, will be moving to the University of Manchester. MacBride works in metaphysics, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of language and the history of analytic philosophy. (more…)
Philosophy: Splendidly Polyphonic, Historically Limited, Problematically Magical
In the latest interview at What Is It Like To Be A Philosopher?, Clifford Sosis (Coastal Carolina) asks Kwame Anthony Appiah (NYU) how he sees the future of philosophy. Appiah answers:
I’m not much of a prophet and I feel very stuck in the present of the subject, which strikes me as splendidly more polyphonic than it was when I started out. (more…)
When, If Ever, Do Scandals Belong On A Scholar’s Wikipedia Page?
The various sexual harassment scandals and other controversies involving some well-known philosophers raise the question of how to determine whether information regarding such events is to appear in reference works about them, especially the world’s most popular reference, the constantly updated and largely crowd-sourced Wikipedia. (more…)
What Are Some of Your Sayings?
If I’m remembering correctly, T.M. Scanlon recounts a story in which a person sitting next to him on a plane asks him what he does for a living. Scanlon admits he is a philosopher, and the fellow passenger asks, “What are some of your sayings?” Jonathan Wolff has an old column that mentions this story (he has apparently heard a few different versions, so perhaps he ..
Hopes For Your Philosophy Book — Its Sensible Ideas And Its Mistakes
Joseph Raz, professor of philosophy and law at Columbia University and Kings College, London, has written reflections on his well-known and nearly 30 year-old The Morality of Freedom for a collection of critical essays by others on it, forthcoming in the Jersualem Review of Legal Studies. Rather than engage point-by-point with the criticisms the other contributors ..
Ben Caplan from Ohio State to University of Kansas
Ben Caplan, currently professor of philosophy at Ohio State University, will become professor of philosophy at the University of Kansas, starting in Fall 2017. Professor Caplan works mainly in metaphysics and philosophy of language, and also has interests in philosophy of art and the metaphysics of gender. You can learn more about his work here. (more…)
Princeton Receives 16,000 Pages of Lewis Correspondence
Stephanie (“Steffi”) Lewis, the widow of David Lewis (1941-2001), has donated his papers to the Manuscripts Division of the Princeton University Library. There are a lot of them:
The David K. Lewis Papers include his extensive correspondence with other philosophers and scholars. There are approximately sixteen thousand pages of Lewis’s correspondence, both incomi..
Philosophy and the Racial “Epistemic Horizon”
Looking back, I brought something special to those spaces that are predominantly white at Duquesne. And I don’t think that white philosophers can offer what I offered to those Black students and students of color. There is a certain discourse, certain assumptions, a shared discourse, a shared worldview, a shared style. There is also a certain understanding of where ..
Letter Protesting Dickinson’s Treatment of Sartwell
Joel Pust (Delaware) and Eric Winsberg (South Florida) have authored an open letter in regards to philosopher Crispin Sartwell’s employment status at Dickinson College: “Academics’ Statement of Protest Regarding Dickinson College’s Treatment of Professor Crispin Sartwell.” They invite philosophers and other academics to sign. (For some context, see this post.)
Fr..
Philosopher Faces Blasphemy Charges (updated)
Philosophy professor Sheikha al-Jassem (Shaikha Binjasim) is facing charges of blasphemy and the possible loss of her faculty position at Kuwait University, owing to remarks she made in a television interview about freedom of conscience, the politicization of religion in Kuwait, and how the Kuwaiti constitution, not the Quran, is and should be the basis of law in Ku..