New additions to the Heap…

1. An upcoming video game is about Arthur Schopenhauer as a student “seeking prohibited knowledge” — developed by Toby Svoboda, “The Life of Arthur” will be released next week
2. “Analytic philosophy, even at its most technical, is one way of tackling those fundamental tasks [of securing grounding and direction in life], and as such serves the same emotional needs that non-philosophers reveal to us during our classes, at parties and in hair salons, planes and Ubers” — Helena de Bres (Wellesley) wraps up her series on analytic philosophy and the meaning of life
3. “We laugh at ‘something mechanical encrusted on the living’” — Emily Herring (Ghent) on Bergson’s philosophy of laughter
4. “There seems to be nothing that in principle cannot be taught in a college classroom provided its relevance to the course” — Carlo DaVia (Fordham) has produced a guide to help professors untangle and address different potential moral problems related to teaching and classroom speech
5. “The puzzle of addiction: why do people keep using drugs, given that costs outweigh benefits?… Costs and benefits can only be weighed relative to a set of values [so] whose values determine when drug use becomes addiction?” — Hanna Pickard (JHU) is interviewed about how to understand addiction
6. “Just 20% of PhD-granting institutions in the United States supplied 80% of tenure-track faculty members to institutions across the country between 2011 and 2020,” according to a new study — and “depending on the field, only 5–23% of faculty members worked at an institution more prestigious than the one at which they earned their PhD”
7. “I am an American Philosopher” is a series of interviews (15, so far) with philosophers published by the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy — here’s one with Eric Mullis (Queens University of Charlotte), who brings together dance and philosophy

Discussion welcome.

Mini-Heap posts usually appear when 7 or so new items accumulate in the Heap of Links, a collection of items from around the web that may be of interest to philosophers. The Heap of Links consists partly of suggestions from readers; if you find something online that you think would be of interest to the philosophical community, please send it in for consideration for the Heap. Thanks!