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Conant Wins Humboldt Professorship

Philosopher James Conant of the University of Chicago has been named as one of three winners of this year’s prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Professorships. (more…)

Interdisciplinarity and Marginalization in Philosophy

When asked whether some of the work in experimental philosophy would be better characterized as psychology, Joshua Knobe (Yale) tells Pendaran Roberts (Warwick):

First off, it should be emphasised that analogous issues arise for just about any area of philosophy that pursues interdisciplinary research. (more…)

A Flag for Utilitarianism

Does your philosophical view have a flag? If you’re a utilitarian, it does now. Johan E. Gustafsson, a lecturer in philosophy at the University of York, has designed a flag for utilitarianism. Here it is: (more…)

What Philosophical Idea Or Position Do You Find The Scariest?

It’s Halloween, and philosophers everywhere are dressing up as obscure ideas and concepts that they’ll have to spend too much time explaining. Costumes are fun, but let’s not forget the horror, shall we? (more…)

That Philosophy Is A “Cushy Gig” Explains Some Of The Profession’s Problems

Philosophy is largely male, white, cis, straight, able-bodied—why? Well, maybe it has little or nothing to do with philosophy.

That appears to be the view of philosopher Albert Atkin (Macquarie), in response to Richard Marshall when he raises the topic of diversity in philosophy in an interview at 3:AM Magazine. (more…)

Philosophy, History, and the Environment

There’s another fascinating philosophical interview at 3:AM Magazine, this time with NYU’s Dale Jamieson. Once again there is an abundance of interesting material. Two passages stood out. (more…)

More Funding To Study Effects on Teaching Kids Philosophy

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), an independent charity in the United Kingdom, has awarded a £1.2 million ($1.46 million) grant to SAPERE for it to expand and study its Philosophy For Children (P4C) program, according to Schools Week. (more…)

Philosophy Program At IPFW To Be Eliminated (guest post by Charlene Elsby) / UPDATE: Link to Petition

The Philosophy Department at Indiana University – Purdue University, Fort Wayne (IPFW) will be completely eliminated by January, 2017, according to a plan announced by the Purdue Board of Trustees and IPFW Chancellor, Vicky Carwein. (more…)

Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update

Greetings and welcome to the weekly report on what’s new at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), and Wi-Phi. (more…)

Philosophy Departments and Journals Ranked by Gender Data at New Website

A new website presents data on women in philosophy in a novel manner: it orders departments by number of women faculty and journals by number of women authors. (more…)

Data on Diversity in (mostly) US Philosophy

The American Philosophical Association (APA) has released a new report on its membership demographics over the past three years. Has philosophy become more demographically diverse during this period? It’s not easy to tell from the data.

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Why 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.

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Advice for a Philosopher Being Used By a Scam

As reported last week, there is a phony version of the International Journal of Philosophy and Theology in existence, tricking authors into submitting to it rather than to the legitimate one.

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Applied Philosophy Courses Outside Value Theory

Philosophy departments face increasing pressure to demonstrate their value to their universities. One type of response is to attempt to increase enrollment in philosophy courses. There are various ways to do this. One way is to offer courses that apply philosophy to matters of personal or social concern. The result is a familiar variety of courses in applied ethics,..

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…)

Naturalism, Evolutionary Biology and Theism

In yet another excellent interview at 3AM: Magazine, Richard Marshall talks with Elliott Sober (Wisconsin). There is a lot of interesting material in this interview, including Sober’s takes on the criticisms of evolutionary theory by Jerry Fodor (Rutgers) and Thomas Nagel (NYU).

On Nagel, he says:

Nagel thinks that “remarkable facts” can’t have low probabiliti..

Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update

Good morning, philosofriends. Below is the weekly report on what’s new at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), and Wi-Phi. (more…)

Three Philosophers Received Feces in the Mail (Update: Four Philosophers)

Sally Haslanger (MIT), Carrie Ichikawa Jenkins (UBC), and David Velleman (NYU) each received envelopes in the mail this past summer containing feces, according to an article at Buzzfeed by Katie J.M. Baker. As the article notes, “All three philosophy professors were embroiled in a 2014 academic brawl over what they perceived as an abuse of power within their field,”..

Philosophy of Jazz

Philosophy of Jazz is a new site—“currently in its initial stages”—on topics at the intersection of jazz and philosophy. The site, created by David C. Ring (Orange Coast College) is set up as an editable wiki, and you can find in the top menu a link to request to become an editor. (more…)

Philosophers, Neighbours, and Tartars (Guest Post by Justin E. H. Smith)

The following is a guest post * by Justin E. H. Smith, professor of philosophy in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Université Paris Diderot – Paris 7. He is the author of several books, including the recently published The Philosopher: A History in Six Types (Amazon link here). In addition to his academic publications, he has written a number of..

Charles Taylor Wins Million Dollar Berggruen Prize

Charles Taylor, professor emeritus of philosophy at McGill University, is the winner of the inaugural Berggruen Prize. (more…)

Publishing Scam Mimics Legitimate Philosophy Journal

When Chris Kramer, associate professor of philosophy at Rock Valley College in Illinois, learned that a paper of his had been accepted to the International Journal of Philosophy and Theology, he was excited. And then suspicious. (more…)