philosophy
TagGlasgow 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…)
Anglo-American Philosophy: “A Site of White Supremacy”
“A perverse feature of American life is that calling a white person racist is allegedly a very wounding insult.”
That’s Lionel McPherson (Tufts), in a post currently up at Philosopher. I start with that quote because reflection on it might forestall some knee-jerk reactions to some of the other things McPherson says. It is worth noting the relative seriousness wi..
Joseph Boyle (1942-2016)
Joseph Boyle, professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Toronto, died on September 24th. Professor Boyle worked mainly in ethics, including ethical theory and applied ethics (especially bioethics), as well as natural law theory. He received his doctorate in philosophy from Georgetown University, and prior to the University of Toronto, held appointments a..
Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update
It’s Monday morning—somehow already the first Monday of October—and time for 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…)
Shafer-Landau to Return to Wisconsin
Russ Shafer-Landau, currently professor of philosophy at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and director of its Parr Center for Ethics, will be returning in Fall 2017 to the Department of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he had been professor for 13 years. (more…)
“European Philosophy” Is No Good
At least not as a helpful label:
So I have a provocative proposal of my own: intellectually speaking, the more valid distinction is not between ‘European’ and ‘non-European’ philosophy, but between philosophical cultures that respond to Greek thought (however indirectly), and those that do not. (more…)
A Surprisingly Overlooked Gap in Philosophy (guest post by Bob Fischer)
Bob Fischer is an assistant professor of philosophy at Texas State University. In a brief conversation over the summer, he shared with me an observation about a problem teaching philosophy to college students and I thought, “no, that can’t be correct.” But he was right, and he was doing something about it. In the following guest post, he explains the problem and how..
Update on the Threat to Philosophy at IPFW (guest post by Charlene Elsby)
In August we learned that the Philosophy Department at Indiana University – Purdue University, Fort Wayne (IPFW) was confronting the possibility of a “restructuring” that could result in its elimination, owing to the university’s financial problems and what appeared to be a stacking of the deck against units in the school’s College of Arts and Sciences in the proced..
An Interview with David Chalmers
David Chalmers (NYU & ANU), apart from being a prolific academic philosopher, does a good amount of public philosophy, is half of the team that runs PhilPapers and its associated endeavors, edits the philosophy of mind series for Oxford University Press and the philosophy of mind section at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and, I’m told, takes on an impressi..
Tips for a Successful Philosophy Demo
The president of a university philosophy club writes in seeking advice on how to attract new students at the activities fair to their table. One idea they’re keen on is to have laptops out with various philosophy-related games or other interactive sites running. He mentions Moral Machines, Cleverbot, Philosophy Experiments, and Information Is Beautiful’s ‘What Is C..
Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update
Good morning, philosofriends. Below you’ll find what’s new at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), and Wi-Phi.
If there are links of philosophical interest you’ve come across recently, you are welcome to share them in the comments to this post (though check out the Heap ..
A Tale of Two Conferences (UPDATED)
Last weekend, the Society for Analytical Feminism (SAF) held its 2016 conference. This weekend, the Society of Christian Philosophers (SCP) held its 2016 Midwest conference. I did not attend either of these conferences, but I did hear about them. As one might expect, they had a lot in common with other conferences: a fair amount of anticipation in advance, a mix of ..
New Media in Psychology and Philosophy
The focus here at Daily Nous is on the philosophy profession, but the following dispute down the street caught my attention. (more…)
Grad Students: What Would You Tell Your Fellow Students, But Can’t?
First we asked what graduate students would like to say to their professors, but felt like they couldn’t. Then we asked what professors would like to say to graduate students, but couldn’t. Less for the sake of exploring all of the available logical space (but of course partly for that) and more because it was requested and might be of some use, we shall now take up..
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..
Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update
It’s Monday already! Time for the weekly report on updates to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), and Wi-Phi. (more…)
Improve Your Philosophy Teaching With This One Weird Trick
What if I told you there was an easy, scientifically-proven, five-minute method for improving your teaching? Just five-minutes, and your teaching ratings go up. No, I’m not talking about giving your students candy when you have them fill out the course evaluation forms. I’m talking about an actual improvement in learning outcomes, based on real science. How much wou..
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…)
Hiring Departments Ask Candidates To Anonymize Materials
At least a couple of philosophy departments that are hiring this year have instituted measures to shield the identity of applicants from those reviewing some of their application materials. (more…)
Major Ethics Blog PEA Soup Revamped
PEA Soup (with the PEA standing for Philosophy, Ethics, and Academia) has just undergone a number of changes. It has a new look. It has moved to a new address: www.peasoup.us, and it has teamed up with DePauw University’s Prindle Institute of Ethics (directed by Andrew Cullison). (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…)
Not Refereeing the Resubmitted Paper You Recommended for Revision
Here is something that happens in the world of academic philosophy publishing: (more…)
How To Teach Philosophy In Comedy Clubs (Guest Post by Michael Connell)
The following is a guest post* by Michael Connell, an Australian comedian. Connell has a thing for philosophy, especially Stoicism, which he incorporates into his act (e.g., “How you think shapes how you feel. What I’m saying is that if you don’t enjoy this show, it’s your fault.”). I asked him to talk about his work and conveying philosophical ideas to non-philosop..
Care to Referee More?
Some members of our profession are referee superstars, being asked multiple times a week to referee papers for journals (and often saying ‘yes’), while others are well-qualified but unnoticed, and are almost never asked to referee. The result is that some philosophers have become unfairly overburdened, journal editors have been having increased difficulty finding re..
Virtual Dissertation Groups
Once again, Joshua Smart, a PhD student at the University of Missouri and an instructor at Christopher Newport University, is organizing virtual writing groups for students working on philosophy dissertations. He writes:
While advisors and committees are important, it can be incredibly helpful to discuss one’s work with peers in a lower-stakes environment, and it..
Diversity in Philosophy: Is the Problem Lack of Pre-College Exposure?
Recall these figures from “What is the State of Blacks in Philosophy?” by Tina Fernandes Botts, Liam Kofi Bright, Myisha Cherry, Guntur Mallarangeng, and Quayshawn Spencer: though blacks in the U.S. make up over 13% of the general population, they make up just 1.32 percent of the total number of people professionally affiliated (as grad students or faculty) with U.S..
Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update
Happy Monday, y’all. New thing here: if there are links of philosophical interest you’ve come across recently, you are welcome to share them in the comments to this post (though check out the Heap of Links first to see if it’s not already in there). Alright, then. Without further ado, below are the recent updates to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), Int..
Philosophy Teaching Games
Do you use games as a teaching tool in your philosophy course? And if so, which games, and to teach what? The questions were prompted by a friend drawing attention to “The Hobbes Game” by John Immerwahr (in the Fall 1976 issue of Teaching Philosophy). He lays out the game in the first few pages of the article, reproduced below. See the full article for a discus..