Month: November 2021

Daily Nous Features

Mind Chunks

November 30, 2021
Public Philosophy and Outreach, Rationality

Having a Say in What You Believe and Finding “New Ways of Being”

November 30, 2021

One way philosophy professors try to interest new students in philosophy is by appealling to the idea that philosophy can help them be more…
philosophy

“Very often, corralling is not an option in philosophy”

November 30, 2021

That’s philosopher Frank Jackson (ANU), in a recent interview published in The Undergraduate Philosophy Journal of Australasia.
Public Philosophy and Outreach

Amsterdam Synagogue Declares Spinoza Scholar “Persona Non Grata” (updated)

November 29, 2021

Yitzhak Melamed, professor of philosophy at Johns Hopkins University, has been declared a “persona non grata” by a rabbi of the Portuguese Jewish Synagogue…
Publishing

Citation Rankings of Philosophers Based on Scopus Data (updated)

November 29, 2021

A database of information regarding citations of researchers has been updated, and now includes information about the citation rates of researchers, including philosophers.
Daily Nous Features

Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update

November 29, 2021

The weekly report on new and revised entries at online philosophy resources and new reviews of philosophy books…
Uncategorized

Bernard Rollin (1943-2021)

November 29, 2021

Bernard “Bernie” Elliot Rollin, professor emeritus of philosophy, animal sciences, and biomedical sciences at Colorado State University, has died.
Daily Nous Features

Mini-Heap

November 29, 2021

New additions to the Heap of Links…
Lives of Philosophers

Philosophers On How the Pandemic Has Changed Us

November 26, 2021

In this group post, philosophers reflect on how the pandemic has transformed higher education, our everyday lives and practices, and ourselves. [Friday, 11/26/21: moved…
Public Philosophy and Outreach

Sanders Foundation Announces New “Philosophy in the Media” Fellows

November 24, 2021

The Marc Sanders Foundation has announced the inaugural class of fellows in its recently launched “Philosophy in the Media” program.
journals

New: Journal of Spinoza Studies

November 24, 2021

The Journal of Spinoza Studies (JSS) is a new, online, open-access, peer-reviewed journal that “aims to publish original, innovative scholarly work on any aspect of…
Daily Nous Features

Ad Hoc

November 23, 2021
philosophy

In Defense of the Details (guest post)

November 23, 2021

Are today’s younger philosophers “focusing too much on detailed investigations of individual things and not enough on the big picture”?
Daily Nous Features

Mini-Heap

November 23, 2021

Links of interest to those interested in philosophy…
Uncategorized

Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update

November 22, 2021

The weekly report on new and revised entries at online philosophy resources and new reviews of philosophy books…
Teaching

How Much Do Philosophy Professors Grade?

November 19, 2021

A professor at a liberal arts college writes in because she has seen signs of confusion in her department about “what is manageable or…
Daily Nous Features

Mini-Heap

November 19, 2021

New additions to the Heap of Links…
Uncategorized

World Philosophy Day & the Growth of Philosophy

November 18, 2021

Today is World Philosophy Day, a day designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to celebrate “the enduring value of…
Cuts and Threats to Philosophy Programs

Save Philosophy at Bloomsburg

November 17, 2021

“In its desperate need to scapegoat something other than its own misadventures overbuilding, over-spending on everything but education… BU finds itself unable to fulfill…
Awards Grants Honors

Qiu Lin Wins 2021 Aristotle Prize

November 17, 2021

The Metaphysical Society of America (MSA) has awarded its 2021 Aristotle Prize to Qiu Lin, philosophy Ph.D candidate at Duke University. The theme of…

Heap of Links

Asking “How did I get here?” may help us reflect on the nature of personal identity in ways that asking “Who am I?” cannot — Marya Schechtman's 2024 Central Division Meeting Presidential Address
“Collecting is a game, but what kind of game? It is an imperfect information game of acquisition” — a theory of collecting, from Steven Hales
“A general human tendency: to overestimate how far we have come in the progress of human knowledge” — a lengthy interview with Thomas Nagel
“Many couples do not survive trauma like this” — A profile of Susan Brison—who was brutally attacked in 1990, and who wrote about it in Aftermath—and her husband, Thomas Trezise, who has now written his own book stemming from those events
“Bad AI Consciousness Takes” Bingo Card — Henry Shevlin's area of specialization is becoming a popular topic in popular discourse, and he can't stand the "cavalcade of terrible takes"
Does the principle of sufficient reason imply panpsychism? If it does, do we then ponens or tollens? — Sam Kimpton-Nye on these questions and the "demand for intelligibility"
PTSD flashbacks may be harmful, but they may also be helpfully “resupplying phenomenal experience” to those who, owing to trauma, are “grasp alienated” — Michaela McSweeney on trauma and "madness-as-strategy"
A look at the very first issue of Mind — Brett Mullins surveys its articles on the occasion of the journal's 150th anniversary
The most bizarre plagiarism-related story ever — featuring: a death, an investigator, a dissertation, a mysterious red book, and more
New data on earnings by major and university — though not all universities
“AI poses two different existential threats to [our] valuing practices” — Jordan MacKenzie offers an account of why negative judgments about AI taking over our creative and caring activities are justified
“Submission” is a humorous clicker-style game about starting a career in academic philosophy (or not) — created by Nat Hansen
“The best investment in education is to become the most human human—a challenging, fulfilling, exciting pursuit that connects us across generations” — an interview with Christa Acampora, philosopher and dean of Arts & Sciences at UVA
“What would happen if we tried to live without the mythology of agency at all?” — It's worth pondering, since "agency is just an internal command hallucination," says Alexander Douglas
“Reading List” is a free Mac app for keeping track of papers to read — philosophy PhD student Hayden Kajercline created this productivity tool for researchers, with help from Claude
How should we react to scary predictions about AI? “First: by asking questions” — "If you believe predictions uncritically, it amounts to obeying in advance," says Carissa Véliz
“I feel unbelievably lucky that I was able to make philosophy my profession” — Karen Ng reflects on her path into philosophy, at #first-genphilosophers
The ordinary concept of knowledge “doesn’t work at all the way philosophers said it does” — a round-up of studies shows how weird the philosophers' version of the concept is
1000 or so psychiatrists were asked to diagnose standardized clinical case vignettes. “Two doctors agreed on the diagnosis only 55% of the time” — What does this tell us about psychiatry? Or about other fields in which experts disagree?
Where Aristotle taught Alexander — "this newest dig may be the most revealing yet, offering insight into the specifics of Alexander the Great’s education"

All Links →

Latest Comments

Justin Weinberg on Overwhelming Cheating
Reminder: The comments policy says of LLMs, "please do not submit comments written in whole or in part by these tools."
Nice try on AI Use in STEM and Philosophy Dissertations
"If there is a line, defend it. If there is no line and any AI-generated text invalidates authorship, defend that instead." Have you heard of a false dilemma…
Rosanna Festa on My Crystal Ball
I am a philosopher woman and I have the Crystal Ball.
Animal Symbolicum on New: “Why Teach Philosophy?”
Since everyone knows that the paradigm philosophical achievement is the production of a peer-reviewed article presenting an argument for a claim, the series’ titular question is already answered.…
Dave on Putting the Pub in Public Philosophy
Georgia Southern also does Philosophy After Dark' at a local brewery (!): https://www.griceconnect.com/lets-eat/philosophy-after-dark-builds-community-through-timely-and-timeless-questions-10373344.
MBW on AI Use in STEM and Philosophy Dissertations
Not so worried – it's also in Pangram's interest to continue the arms race. Their AI can fight the chatbots, and when it's not useful, we won't rely…
Paul Doran on Putting the Pub in Public Philosophy
Check out Philosophy In Pubs, Liverpool, England – https://www.philosophyinpubs.co.uk/schedule/all/schedule https://philosophyinpublic.co.uk
David Wallace on AI Use in STEM and Philosophy Dissertations
I never said anything about long term policy. At present, AI detection works, and we can make policy based on that. As and when the technological situation changes,…
Nick on AI Use in STEM and Philosophy Dissertations
But as you hint, isn't there just a simple argument against long-term reliance on any such tools as Pangram? In the long run, someone will surely reverse-engineer any…
DoctorK on AI Use in STEM and Philosophy Dissertations
Substantive oral defenses in philosophy have been common all over the world, and I see no evidence that there are fewer 'neurodivergent' philosophers in e.g. the UK or…
Michel on AI Use in STEM and Philosophy Dissertations
Most of their services do indeed go way too far in my estimation, yes. The rest might or might not be okay, depending on how they play out,…
Roger Da Shrubber on Overwhelming Cheating
Is it a binary? Or is it a matter of accommodation verses inclusion? They are very different things and from my perspective, its like the disabled have to…
Jessie Ewesmont on AI Use in STEM and Philosophy Dissertations
It's definitely a joke, since the next paragraph says it helps young scholars write more emails.
Roger Da Shrubber on AI Use in STEM and Philosophy Dissertations
No, it's not an N+1 game. I'm not arguing that no line can be drawn. I'm trying to get Michel to defend the position he actually holds, but…
Nice try on AI Use in STEM and Philosophy Dissertations
You appear to be desperately goading Michel into a line drawing trap, something resembling a sorites paradox. Suppose Michel responds to you that n number of AI generated…