April 2016
JoĂŁo Paulo Monteiro (1938-2016)
 JoĂŁo Paulo Monteiro, professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of SĂŁo Paulo (USP), died on April 17th, 2016. He taught at USP for roughly 30 years. He worked in epistemology and political philosophy, but his focus was primarily on David Hume (he was a charter member of the Hume Society). (more…)
The Philosophical Art Of Bringing The Dead Back To Life
When I look back at the projects I pursued during my career, a certain pattern becomes evident. In several cases I was drawn to an idea, or a theory, that had been declared dead. In each case, when I looked at the death certificate, it seemed to me that the victim deserved to be resuscitated. I devoted myself to this project of bringing the dead back to life.
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Philosophy Professor Sues College for Retaliation (updated)
Lauren Barthold, associate professor of philosophy at Gordon College, a Christian liberal arts college in Massachusetts, has filed a lawsuit against the college for retaliating against her for her public statements (such as a letter to the editor of a newspaper) disagreeing with college president Michael Lindsay over whether federal contractors, on the basis of reli..
Is Polite Philosophical Discussion Possible? (guest post by Nomy Arpaly)
The following is a guest post* by Nomy Arpaly, professor of philosophy at Brown University. In it, she discusses the effects of politeness and rudeness in philosophy. It was initially posted at PEA Soup.
Is Polite Philosophical Discussion Possible?
Nomy Arpaly
I’ll never forget the old guy who asked me, at an APA interview: “suppose I wanted to slap you, ..
Enormous Philosophy & Music Festival (Discount for DN readers!)
HowTheLightGetsIn is an interesting and big (the biggest?) summer philosophy and music festival. It is taking place from May 26th to June 5th in Hay-on-Wye, and features talks, debates, and, of course, concerts. There are sessions on questions in epistemology, politics, mind, free will, ethics, the emotions, rationality, and more.
A bunch of philosophers and theo..
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..
Wolff from UCL to Oxford
Jonathan Wolff, currently dean of arts and humanities and professor of philosophy at University College London (UCL), will be taking up the Blavatnik Chair in Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University as of September 1, 2016. During the 2016-2017 academic year he will be teaching at both UCL and the Blavatnik School. Professor Wolff wo..
Shockley from Buffalo to Colorado State
Kenneth Shockley, currently associate professor of philosophy and director of the Sustainability Academy at the University at Buffalo – SUNY, has accepted a position as associate professor and Holmes Rolston III Endowed Chair in Environmental Ethics and Philosophy at Colorado State University, starting in August 2016. Professor Shockley works in environmental philos..
To φ Or Not To φ (Daily Nous Philosophy Comics)
To φ Or Not To φ
by Tanya Kostochka
Are History’s “Greatest Philosophers” All That Great? (guest post by Gregory Lewis)
The following is a guest post* by Gregory Lewis, a medical doctor and amateur philosopher, in which he looks through a statistical lens at the formation of the Western philosophical canon. You can read more of his writings, including an earlier version of the piece that follows, at his site.
The Personality of Philosophy Majors
Psychologist Anna Vedel (Aarhus University) writes: “The choice of education is perhaps the first highly important decision that young people have to make for themselves in the developed world. Each education paves the way for certain vocational paths, and the choice has a lasting impact on the young adult’s life.” It might be useful, then, to see what we can learn ..
Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update
Below are the past week’s updates to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), the Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), and Wi-Phi. (more…)
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..
Keeping Philosophical between Undergrad and Grad
A reader writes in:
I am planning on applying to graduate school in philosophy for 2017. However, I graduated from my undergraduate institution a few years ago and have been doing non-philosophy things since. I’m looking for opportunities to get (re)involved in philosophy, but pretty much everything I’ve found (institutes, journals, etc.) is either for current un..
Nearly $1 Million To Study Ethics of Gene Editing
The Hastings Center, an independent, interdisciplinary bioethics research institute in upstate New York, was recently awarded nearly $1 million from the John Templeton Foundation for a three-year project to study the ethical and social implications of gene editing methods (like Crispr-Cas9) on germline cells (changes to which would be passed down to future generatio..
How To Put Yourself Out There: Media Advice For Academics (Guest Post by Kevin J.S. Zollman)
The following is a guest post* by Kevin J.S. Zollman, associate professor of philosophy at Carnegie Mellon University. He has had a bit more experience than the average philosopher with popular media, and he kindly offered to present some advice to help philosophers and other academics get the attention of, and successfully communicate with, journalists. (more…)..
Philosophers Elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences
Five philosophers are among the newly elected members of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. They are: (more…)
Summer Philosophy Programs for High School Students
A reader has asked me to solicit information about philosophy summer programs for high school students. If you know of any or involved in any, please do list them in the comments. If you have links to the programs’ sites, please include them. Thank you!
Mind Chunks (Daily Nous Philosophy Comics)
Mind Chunks
by Pete Mandik
Prominent Philosophy Journal Broadens Scope
Mind, a longstanding leading journal of philosophy known for publishing high quality work in the analytic tradition, has a new editorial staff and has announced in an editorial its plans to broaden its scope and appeal:
The sole criterion for publication in the journal is quality. No area of philosophy, no style of philosophy, and no school of philosophy is to be..
Individuals, Institutions, and Racial Justice
I think that rights-based discourse is necessary, but there is this sense in which rights can be given and, by implication, taken away. Within this context, I think that America needs a movement that transcends the civil rights movement. Applicative justice might be necessary, but not sufficient. Imagine a scenario where justice is being applied across the board, an..
Individuals, Institutions, and Conservatism in Moral Philosophy
How many effective altruists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
None. There are better uses of their time.
How many critics of effective altruism does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Who knows? They’re still waiting for structural reform to take care of it.*
A few years back, the movement known as “effective altruism” began to make a splash, and over the..
€1.2 Million for Research on the Metaphysics of Pregnancy
Elselijn Kingma, associate professor of philosophy at the University of Southampton, has been awarded a 1.2 million Euro (approximately $1.35 million) European Research Council (ERC) Research Grant for her work on the metaphysics of pregnancy.
Kingma explains: “Every single human is the product of a pregnancy: an approximately nine-month period during which a foe..
Philosophy Degrees: How Many Are Awarded, And To Whom?
Humanities Indicators, a project of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has released new degree-specific data on various humanities subjects, including philosophy. Here are some of the findings. All data and images below are from the Humanities Indicators site. (more…)
Right Answers And What Makes For A Good Philosopher
Just going to put this on the table:
Question: You work in the field of the philosophy of religion. Are you a religious person and do you think philosophy of religion can be done by people who aren’t?
Answer: Let me take your questions in order. I am a Christian; I was brought up in a Christian family; and I’ve never really wavered from that worldview. I defin..
What Does “Engaged” Philosophy Look Like? (Guest Post)
The following is a guest post* by Ben Baker, Louise Daoust, and Rob Willison (University of Pennsylvania) on a recent attempt at publicly engaged philosophy at the University Pennsylvania—one that others might be interested in trying out elsewhere.
Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update
Below are the past week’s updates to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP) and Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR). There was nothing new at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy nor any new videos at Wi-Phi this week, but there’s a bonus entry below. (more…)
Jennifer Nagel To Do an AMA Session on Reddit Today
There will be an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) session on Reddit today with Jennifer Nagel (Toronto). The session begins at 1pm Eastern Time (US), and you can submit a question ahead of time, check out the other questions, and then follow the discussion this afternoon, here.
The AMA is presented jointly between the moderators of the philosophy subReddit and the folks a..