July 2016
Academic Assistance for Pogge’s Students
Ruth Chang (Rutgers), acting in her capacity as Ombudsperson of the American Philosophical Association (APA), passes along the following message from two former students of Thomas Pogge (Yale), who has been accused of sexual harassment and other unprofessional behavior and criticized by hundreds of academics for it. The authors are concerned about the situation of P..
What Philosophy Makes You Worse At
Over at the group blog, A Philosopher’s Take, new contributor Mike Steiner (a philosophy PhD who went into the business world) has a post up asking what studying philosophy makes one worse at.
Your Experience With Grants
On the comment thread to the recent “Money for Philosophers” post, Chris Surprenant (University of New Orleans) wrote:
This is a nice resource, but it can also be overwhelming and lead to a great deal of frustration. (more…)
Philosophy: Splendidly Polyphonic, Historically Limited, Problematically Magical
In the latest interview at What Is It Like To Be A Philosopher?, Clifford Sosis (Coastal Carolina) asks Kwame Anthony Appiah (NYU) how he sees the future of philosophy. Appiah answers:
I’m not much of a prophet and I feel very stuck in the present of the subject, which strikes me as splendidly more polyphonic than it was when I started out. (more…)
The Enduring Evolution of Logic (guest post by Thomas Ferguson & Graham Priest)
The following guest post* is by Thomas Ferguson and Graham Priest (both of CUNY) and appears here via a special arrangement with Oxford University Press and the OUP Blog, at which it is also posted. (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..
Site Layout Issues
Yesterday morning, some changes were made to the layout here at Daily Nous (most visibly, some of the advertising slots were moved around). Some people have reported that the site now looks “different” or “avant garde” or “completely screwed up.” Here’s how it should look (on a normal-sized laptop):
Referees With Attitude Problems
Everyone involved in the academic journal publishing process, it seems, is overworked. It’s true of the editors, of course, but also of the referees who say yes. And when people are overworked, they often become especially concerned with how their time is used up, by themselves and others, and frustrated when they feel their time is wasted. (more…)
The Costs of Publishing Principia Mathematica (guest post by Landon D. C. Elkind)
The following is a guest post* by Landon D. C. Elkind, a PhD student in philosophy at the University of Iowa. At the Bertrand Russell Society‘s 2016 annual meeting it was noted that Russell and Whitehead each paid to publish their jointly authored Principia Mathematica, and the discussion turned to how much, in today’s dollars, they laid out. (more…)
The “Grad School Takeover”
Even in four-year colleges that emphasize undergraduate education, new appointments are going to top graduates from a mere handful of prestigious doctoral programs that emphasize research and professional advancement over teaching. The academic job market and tenure expectations focus ever more intently on publications, whether in book or journal form, that tend to ..
Philosophy on Instagram
A philosopher who wishes to remain anonymous thinks philosophy needs more of a social media presence, and so created a philosophy-related Instagram account. She writes:
Ad Hoc (Daily Nous Philosophy Comics)
Ad Hoc
by Rachel Katler
The Biggest Problems Facing Science — How Different is Philosophy?
A few reporters at Vox conducted an unscientific survey of scientists to unpack the sense they’ve been getting that “science is in big trouble.” The result is a list of the seven biggest problems facing science, based on responses from 270 scientists. (more…)
Allegations of Ideological Policing via Refereeing
The refereeing of academic papers in philosophy has its share of problems. Is one of them ideological policing? That is an allegation made by Dan Demetriou (University of Minnesota, Morris) in regards to an article he co-authored with a student, Michael Prideaux. (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…)
Australasian Association of Philosophy Awards
The Australasian Association of Philosophy (AAP) has announced the winners of several of its 2016 awards. The list of prizes and winners is below. But first, notice that the AAP issues an award to non-philosophers: its Media Professionals’ Award. (more…)
Univ. of Minnesota Philosophy Receives $1.23 Million Donation
The Department of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota has received a $1.23 million donation from Stephen Setterberg. Dr. Setterberg is the president of PrairieCare, a mental health provider. He also majored in philosophy as an undergraduate at Minnesota before going to medical school there. (more…)
Philosophy Talk’s Fundraising Troubles
During its last fundraiser, Philosophy Talk, the weekly radio show hosted by Stanford University’s John Perry and Kenneth Taylor, failed to make it more than 4% of the way to its $150,000 goal, according to The Stanford Daily. (more…)
The Focus on Minutiae
Clifford Sosis (Coastal Carolina) has published a new interview at his What Is It Like To Be A Philosopher? site, this time with Florida State University’s David McNaughton. (more…)
Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update
What’s new this past week at Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), and Wi-Phi: (more…)
The Philosophy Twitterverse
What, if anything, should philosophers do on Twitter? The Blog of the APA has an interesting interview with longtime Twitterphile Kelly Truelove (@TrueSciPhi), who, among other things, keeps statistics on philosophers and their followers on Twitter, and he addresses this question. (more…)
Academic Purges In Turkey
The government of Turkey appears to be using the recent attempted coup as an excuse to purge universities of opposition. According to recent reports, the licenses of approximately 21,000 teachers have been revoked, nearly 1,600 deans have been ordered to resign. Additionally, the government has banned academics from travelling abroad. (more…)
Philosopher Becomes Romania’s Minister of Education
Mircea Dumitru, until recently dean (which in the Romanian context is a title more akin to university president, I’m informed) and professor of philosophy at the University of Bucharest, has been appointed the Minister of Education of Romania by the country’s Prime Minister, Dacian Ciolos. (more…)
Teaching Students Logic Improves Their Logical Reasoning Skills
Newflash: teaching students logic improves their logical reasoning skills—at least according to some new research. You may be thinking, “duh,” but that would be a mistake. After all, “teach” isn’t a success term. And as it turns out, “there is little evidence that studying logic itself improves one’s logical thinking.” (more…)
Mind Chunks (Daily Nous Philosophy Comics)
Mind Chunks
by Pete Mandik
Benhabib on Pogge (Updated with Clarification from Benhabib)
The German newspaper, Zeit, has an article on the recent allegations of sexual harassment and other unprofessional behavior against Thomas Pogge. In it, Seyla Benhabib, Pogge’s colleague in Yale’s Department of Political Science, is reported as calling for Yale to act.
New Journal: European Journal of Japanese Philosophy
The inaugural issue of the European Journal of Japanese Philosophy is out. It’s a publication of the European Network of Japanese Philosophy (ENOJP). (more…)
Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update
What’s new at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), and Wi-Phi? This stuff: (more…)