NEH & APA Collaboration on Public Philosophy


The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the American Philosophical Association (APA) are collaborating for two events at the APA’s upcoming Eastern Division Meeting next month in Washington, DC. The first is a plenary address by the chairman of the NEH, William “Bro” Adams, at noon on January 7th. Following that, there will be a session “Philosophy for the Public: Reports from the Field and National Endowment for the Humanities Grants.”  Here is further information from a post at the APA Committee on Public Philosophy‘s blog:

Philosophers have in recent years found ever more avenues to bring their ideas to the public, including podcasts, websites, op-ed pieces, and popular books. In this era of greater access to philosophy, what does it mean to engage in philosophy for the public? What are the challenges in translating philosophical language and in making philosophical arguments accessible? This session will explore the value, meaning, and practice of philosophy for the public, and will highlight National Endowment for the Humanities grant programs that we hope philosophers will find conducive to the dissemination of their work. The NEH has long supported philosophy for academic audiences, and through recent programs including the Public Scholar Program, Humanities in the Public Square, and Digital Projects for the Public, the agency has created grants tailored to bring humanities scholarship – including philosophy – to new public audiences. 

Session presenters include Michael Lynch, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut and author of In Praise of Reason and True to Life; Gaurav Vazirani, Founder and Executive Director of WiPhi; Lynne Tirrell, Chair of the APA committee on public philosophy; Peter Fristedt, Senior Program Officer in NEH’s Division of Public Programs; and Mark Silver, Senior Program Officer in NEH’s Division of Research Programs.  

If you will be at the meeting, consider attending this session. If you can’t but would like to bring public philosophy events, resources, and programs to the attention of others interested in public philosophy, or raise issues about public philosophy for discussion, you are welcome to do so in the comments here.

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