May 2017
Philosophy Under Threat at Univ. of St. Thomas Houston (updated)
It is standard operating procedure at the University of St. Thomas (Houston) for faculty to receive and return their renewal contracts for the following academic year by May 15th. May 15th has come and gone, and not one of the 11 members of the university’s Department of Philosophy has received their contract (neither has anyone in the English Department there). (mo..
Chaospet (Daily Nous Philosophy Comics)
Chaospet
by Ryan Lake
Mariana Ortega to Penn State
Mariana Ortega, currently professor of philosophy at John Carroll University, will be joining the Department of Philosophy and the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Pennsylvania State University in January, 2018.
The Great Philosophers, Now With Smiles
Have you ever noticed how dour the great philosophers look in their portraits?
Martin O’Neill, senior lecturer in politics at the University of York, decided to put a happier spin on the history of philosophy. Here’s the result: (more…)
Kipnis and Publisher Sued
Laura Kipnis, a professor in the School of Communication at Northwestern University, and Harper Collins, the publisher of her recent book, Unwanted Advances: Sexual Paranoia Comes To Campus, are being sued by a Northwestern philosophy graduate student, “Jane Doe,” for public disclosure of private facts, false light invasion of privacy, defamation, and intentional in..
Mini-Heap
Mini-Heap: recent items from the Heap of Links, collected in groups of 10, here for your perusal and discussion. (more…)
What Graduate Students In Philosophy Are And Should Be Paid For Teaching
The graduate students in the philosophy program at the University of St. Andrews are concerned about their teaching conditions, some of them tell me, but they don’t have a good grasp on how their situation compares with that of philosophy students elsewhere, particularly in the UK. (more…)
If Anglo-American Philosophy Is So Great, Where Is Its Las Casas? (guest post by Manuel R. Vargas)
Many of my philosophical friends are puzzled by my interest in Anglo-American philosophy… If Anglophone philosophers—especially those who have studied in the U.S.—have done anything important, anything that matters, they tell me, surely there would be evidence in the other humanities, in the architecture and ambitions of the great universities, or in the visib..
Psychologists Test Kant’s Aesthetics
The experience of beauty is a pleasure, but common sense and philosophy suggest that feeling beauty differs from sensuous pleasures such as eating or sex. Immanuel Kant claimed that experiencing beauty requires thought but that sensuous pleasure can be enjoyed without thought and cannot be beautiful. These venerable hypotheses persist in models of aesthetic processi..
Never Trained How To Teach
I was never trained or advised how to teach. I just imitated what I liked about my own teachers… Once I said in a lecture that some philosophical problem was very hard, and nobody knew how to solve it. Such a remark would have strongly motivated me, but the look on most of the students’ faces said “So why bother us with it? Go away and solve it, then you can come ..
An Easy Way To Make Your Presentation Materials Accessible To People With Disabilities
Some people are visually impaired in a way that interferes with their ability to read handouts or see presentation slides (e.g., PowerPoint). Adam Cureton, assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Tennessee, is one such person, and he notes that “that lectures and talks are very difficult to follow when I cannot read the handout or see the PowerPoint s..
Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update
What’s new at some key online philosophy resources? We check the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), Wi-Phi, and 1000-Word Philosophy for updates weekly and report them right here. (more…)
Virtues of Philosophers: Humility, Curiosity, Charity, Courage, and Grace
What are the virtues of a philosopher?
I won’t pretend this is an uncontroversial question, but I leave aside the tasks of defending it and arguing for particular specifications of its concepts. What I have in mind are aspects of character in virtue of which philosophers are able to do whatever it is they are supposed to do, well—especially in light of the fact..
A Statement of Support for Tommy Curry
In response to the news that Tommy Curry, professor of philosophy at Texas A & M University, has been receiving racist hate mail and death threats owing to a mispresentation of his words by pundit Rod Dreher, and that the president of his university, Michael K. Young, publicly reiterated this misrepresentation, graduate students from across his university have autho..
What Philosophy Journal Decisions Look Like
Sometimes a picture is worth a million words, or at least a number of numbers. Writer Natasha M. Frost has created a visual representation of publication decisions made at a number of academic philosophy journals, as reported by authors at the Blog of the APA’s new journal survey site: (more…)
Philosophy Professor Receiving Death Threats (updated with transcript, letter from colleagues)
Tommy Curry, professor of philosophy at Texas A & M University, has been receiving racist hate mail and death threats in the wake of an opinion piece at a conservative website that frames remarks of his in a misleading way—and among those apparently misled, it now appears, is Texas A & M president Michael K. Young. (more…)
Favorite Teaching Experiences 2016-17
The school year is wrapped up at some places, and about to be wrapped up at others. We could use some positive vibes around here, philosofriends, so please share some of your favorite teaching experiences from the past year. (more…)
To φ Or Not To φ (Daily Nous Philosophy Comics)
To φ Or Not To φ
by Tanya Kostochka
Mini-Heap
Mini-Heap: recent items from the Heap of Links, collected in groups of 10, here for your perusal and discussion. (more…)
Hypatia Controversy Updates (updated)
Below is a list of assorted commentaries on the ongoing Hypatia controversy, mostly lifted from one of the updates on the original post on the story. Recent additions at time of posting include: (more…)
Sanders Foundation Announces Metaphysics Prize Winner
The Marc Sanders Foundation has announced that T. Scott Dixon, assistant professor of philosophy at Ashoka University (in India), is the winner of its annual metaphysics prize for his essay, “Plural Slot Theory.” (more…)
Peter Kivy (1934-2017) (updated with statement from Rutgers)
Peter Kivy, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University, has died. A prolific philosopher of art, literature, and especially music, Professor Kivy had over 20 books to his name. (more…)
Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update
What’s new at some key online philosophy resources? We check the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), Wi-Phi, and 1000-Word Philosophy for updates weekly and report them right here. (more…)
Systematic Discrimination in Peer Review: Some Reflections (guest post by by Kyle Powys Whyte)
“As these issues of peer review and editorial review continue to arise every year, I hope people increasingly address the systematic problems—taking into consideration the ongoing history of discrimination and the thorough reforms that need to take place in the world of academic publication.”
The following is a guest post* by Kyle Powys Whyte, Timnick Chair in ..
Before We Go Forward (guest post by Alison Suen)
“…the conversation should have been about the issues, rather than the individual. Unfortunately, it did not begin that way.”
The following is a guest post* by Allison Suen, assistant professor of philosophy at Iona College.
Hypatia’s Editor And Its Board President Defend Publication of Tuvel Article
“I firmly believe, and this belief will not waver, that it is utterly inappropriate for editors to repudiate an article they have accepted for publication… Editors must stand behind the authors of accepted papers. This is where I stand. Professor Tuvel’s paper went through the peer review process and was accepted by the reviewers and me.” (more…)
Mini-Heap
Mini-Heap: recent items from the Heap of Links, collected in groups of 10, here for your perusal and discussion. (more…)
The Latest Philosophy Papers
A new website has been launched that lists new philosophy articles as they are published. The site, called The Philosophy Paperboy, is the creation of Andrea Raimondi, graduate student in philosophy at the University of Nottingham, with web design by Lorenzo Cataldi. It’s searchable, and currently tracks over 400 journals. (more…)