philosophers
TagWhy Policy Needs Philosophers As Much As It Needs Science (guest post)
The following is a guest post* by Adam Briggle and Robert Frodeman, both professors of Philosophy at the University of North Texas and co-authors of Socrates Tenured: The Institutions of 21st Century Philosophy. This essay originally appeared in The Guardian and is reposted here with permission of the authors.
The Pathologies of Philosophers
Pathologies of Philosophers
an incomplete list
Enthymemalysis – the inability to proceed with a conversation because one’s interlocutor has neglected to explicitly state a step in their thinking that any normal listener would have automatically filled in. (more…)
Glasgow Hires Six New Philosophers
The Department of Philosophy at the University of Glasgow made six new permanent appointments this summer. That’s an unusually large number of hires at one time for one department. (more…)
Filling in Wikipedia’s Coverage of Philosophy
An effort is underway to fill in some gaps in Wikipedia’s coverage of philosophy, particularly its coverage of “underrrepresented philosophers and philosophy.” As part of this year’s WikiConference North America, there will be an “editathon” during which Alex Madva (Cal Poly Pomona) will be coordinating the addition of information and entries in Wikipedia. The event..
The Changing Role of Philosophers As Public Intellectuals
Via a chock-full-of-philosophy-links post at the wonderful Omnivore blog at Bookforum comes “The Philosopher As Public Intellectual” by Patrick Baert, a sociologist at Cambridge University. The essay is part of a forthcoming collection, Public Intellectuals in the Global Arena: Professors or Pundits? (more…)
APA Issues New Guide For Philosophers Seeking Non-Academic Jobs
The American Philosophical Association (APA) has published a new guide for philosophers seeking non-academic employment, entitled Beyond Academia: Professional Opportunities for Philosophers. According to a press release about the publication, (more…)
Philosophers among the 2016 Class of Royal Society of Canada Fellows
The Royal Society of Canada has announced its newly elected fellows. “They have been elected by their peers in recognition of outstanding scholarly, scientific and artistic achievement,” according to the RSC. Among those honored are several philosophers: (more…)
Caspar Hare AMA Interview Today; Others Scheduled
The moderators of the /r/philosophy board at the discussion site Reddit have released their Fall 2016 schedule of “ask me anything” interviews with philosophers. First up is Caspar Hare (MIT), today, at 1pm Eastern Standard Time. (more…)
Illustrations of Logicians
I’ve previously linked to some of the line art portraits by graphic designer Matt Leadbetter that the Open Logic Project commissioned. Well, now there are a bunch of them available in one place, along with links to individually downloadable portraits (under Creative Commons license). How many of the following can you correctly identify? (more…)
Dale Jacquette (1953-2016)
Dale Jacquette, Senior Professorial Chair in Theoretical Philosophy at the University of Bern (Switzerland), died this past Sunday. Prior to moving to Bern in 2008, he was professor of philosophy at Penn State University. He also held visiting appointments or was affiliated with the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh, the Julius Maximil..
Philosophers Among Recipients of 2016 NEH Grants
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has announced the winners of several of its grants programs, totaling $79 million. 300 projects received support, and among them were a few philosophy professors. (more…)
What Are Philosophers Supposed To Do?
The summer issue of The Hedgehog Review is out and features a symposium, “On the Business of Philosophy.” The main element of the symposium is Richard Rorty’s Page-Barbour Lectures at the University of Virginia, with responses from Susan Haack (Miami), Robert Pippin (Chicago), and Matthew Crawford (Virginia). (more…)
“Crazy Genius” Philosophers, Logic, and Mental Illness
Interestingly, having studied a lot of logic in graduate school, I observed that the culture of logic is more accepting of mental illness, though not for most people. Given the stereotype of the “crazy genius logician”—exemplified, for instance, by Kurt Gӧdel—neuro-typicality does not seem to be a precondition for success. (more…)
“Free Range Philosophers”: A New Site
Free Range Philosophers is a new website about and for “people with advanced training in philosophy who are either working outside of traditional academic jobs or engaged in philosophical outreach or other philosophical activities outside of the academic classroom.” (more…)
Police Shootings of Blacks in the U.S.; What Can Philosophers Do or Say in Response?
News from the past week:
- July 5th, 2016: Police officer shoots and kills Alton Sterling, a black man, while he was seemingly pinned to the ground, unable to move.
- July 6th, 2016: Police officer shoots and kills Philandro Castile, a black man, after he was pulled over for a broken tail light.
- July 7th, 2016: Five police officers killed by sniper fire durin..
Enormous Open Access Phenomenology Project
A new project—The Open Commons of Phenomenology—aims to provide an open access digital platform for “the entire corpus of phenomenology,” including canonical texts, research related to phenomenology, and other materials, by 2020. (more…)
Traits of the Greats
What are the traits of great philosophers? Matthew Hammerton, a PhD student at Australian National University, came across a passage by Cambridge University mathematician Timothy Gowers about how genius is neither necessary nor sufficient for success as a research mathematician, asking whether philosophers thought something similar about those who produce high quali..
Philosophers Discuss Trump
The Chronicle of Higher Education has a “Trump Issue” (may be paywalled) in which several academics, including three philosophers, comment on the U.S. presidential candidacy of Donald J. Trump. They include Jason Brennan (Georgetown University), Aaron James (UC Irvine), and Matthew Meyer (University of Scranton). (more…)
Valuable Philosophical Life Lessons
I’m often asked—by non-academics, natch—if anything in my philosophical education has been of value to me in the conduct of my lived life. I have found this question hard to answer in the terms my interlocutors demand, largely because is because posed to me in what I call ‘lock-key’ form: is there a lock you have been able to open with a philosophical key? The l..
Did You Hear The One About…?
Did you hear the one about Heraclitus? Well I bet you haven’t heard this version.
Did you hear the one about Foot? It kills.
“The Counterfactuals” Review & Giveaway
The new, self-titled album by The Counterfactuals, a rock band that is 3/4 philosophers, has just been released. Below is a review of it by Michael Crawford, and below that is the opportunity to win some band merch.
Eleven Philosophers Win ACLS Fellowships
The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) has announced the winners of its current fellowship competition. There are eleven twelve philosophers among the winners: (more…)
Morton White (1917-2016)
Morton White, Professor Emeritus in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study, died on May 27th. Over the course of his career he taught philosophy at City College of New York, Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard University. (more…)
Other Two-Body Problems (guest post by Carol Hay & John Kaag)
The following is a guest post* by a couple of philosophers at the University of Massachusetts Lowell—Carol Hay, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of Gender Studies, and John Kaag, Professor of Philosophy—on being a couple of philosophers: not just in the same discipline, but in the same department. (more…)
Summer Reading: Your Non-Fiction Suggestions
The other day we solicited summer reading suggestions in fiction. Fiction! Who has time for that? If we are going to be reading something this summer that isn’t philosophy, we better learn something about the real world from it. So, readers, which works of non-philosophy non-fiction do you recommend your philosofriends read this summer? (more…)
Summer Reading: Your Fiction Suggestions
Ah, summer…. that part of the year in which I like to think I have time to read something besides philosophy. Help me keep the dream alive, philosofriends, and recommend some fiction. If you want to say something about why you’re recommending this or that particular work, be my guest. But you don’t have to. Because it’s summer. (more…)
PhD Programs in Philosophy with the most Women Graduates
The philosophy doctoral programs at the University of Memphis, the California Institute of Integral Studies, the University of Oregon, the University of New Mexico, the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are the only ones in the United States which have graduated more women than men during the 2004-2014 period, accord..
Philosophers Win $3.6 Million for Conceptual Engineering
Herman Cappelen (primary investigator), Øystein Linnebo, and Camilla Serck-Hanssen, all at the University of Oslo, have won a $3.6 million grant for a 5-year project on Conceptual Engineering. The grant is funded by the Research Council of Norway‘s Toppforsk program, which recently announced roughly $120 million worth of grants to 46 projects. The Conceptual Engine..