prison
Philosophy Organization Serves Women Recovering from Homelessness and Prison, and Others
Wisdom’s Edge Foundation is a non-profit organization that aims to bring philosophy-based classes to people who do not have access to traditional university offerings in philosophy. (more…)
Belarusian Philosopher, Imprisoned Since August, Is Now on Hunger Strike
Uladzimir Mackievič (Matskevich), a philosopher in Belarus who has been critical of Alexander Lukashenko, the country’s longtime dictator, has been in prison since last August, charged with “organizing of actions that grossly violate public order.” Owing to lack of progress with his case, he began a hunger strike on February 4th. (more…)
A Philosopher Helps A Former Prisoner Dig Deep Into His Experiences, Thoughts, and Art
“I realized I couldn’t be what the officials were expecting of me. You got to put that in your head so they can’t break you. They want to break you. If you’re not broken, they say you’re crazy.” (more…)
Three of Wesleyan’s Graduating Philosophy Majors Earned Their Degrees While In Prison
This month, the first group of seven incarcerated men will be graduating from a recently created program at Wesleyan University with their Bachelor’s degrees. Three of them—Michael Braham, Clyde Meikle, and Andre Pierce—will be graduating as philosophy majors. (more…)
Northwestern Prison Education Program Raises Funds to Fight Spread of COVID in Prisons
The Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP), led by Northwestern University Professor of Philosophy Jennifer Lackey, has been raising funds and purchasing supplies to combat the spread of COVID-19 among prison populations in Illinois. (more…)
Philosopher-Led Prison Education Program Receives $1 Million Grant
The Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP), an initiative “to provide a high-quality liberal arts education to incarcerated students in Illinois” while reducing recidivism, led by Northwestern University professor of philosophy Jennifer Lackey, has received a $1 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to expand its programs. (more…)
New AOS: Public Philosophy & Prison Education
Marymount Manhattan College is looking to hire someone with expertise in both public philosophy and prison education, neither of which have been listed as areas of specialization in a philosophy job ad before, to my knowledge. (more…)
An Ethics Bowl Inside San Quentin State Prison
In February, in the chapel of San Quentin State Prison, seven philosophy undergraduates from the University of California, Santa Cruz faced off against a group of prison inmates—in an ethics discussion. (more…)
From Prison in Illinois to Publication in The New Yorker with Help from a Philosophy Professor
Fifteen inmates at Statesville Correctional Center in Illinois took a course on mass incarceration with Northwestern University philosophy professor Jennifer Lackey. It was an interdisciplinary course with a range of guest lecturers, including Alex Kotlowitz, a writer and a senior lecturer in journalism at Northwestern. He gave them an assignment to write about thei..
Philosophy in Prison Program at U.Missouri Kansas-City Wins Prize from APA and PDC
The Philosophy in Prison Program of the Philosophy Department at the University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC) has won 2016 Prize for Excellence and Innovation in Philosophy Programs. The prize is awarded jointly by the American Philosophical Association (APA) and the Philosophy Documentation Center (PDC). The prize award is campus-wide electronic access to a bund..
Applying Philosophy to Our Prison Problem
How did the United States go from a country that incarcerated roughly 500,000 citizens in 1980 to one that incarcerates roughly 2.3 million today? Civil unrest and rising crime were used to focus public debate on ideals of law and order. Those ideals were then employed to justify a criminal-justice system that, given social conditions, runs counter to race-neutral, ..
Course Evals from Prisoners and Princetonians
Sukaina Hirji and Daniel Wodak, two graduate students at Princeton, are currently teaching a class of fourteen prisoners at the Albert C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility in New Jersey. You may recall that they were two of the philosophers interviewed here previously about their experiences teaching philosophy in prison.
Their course this term is called “Philos..
More on Teaching Philosophy in Prison
The notion of incarceration goes back to the beginning of philosophy, with the imprisonment and execution of Socrates—and the idea, expressed by his student Plato in the Republic, that we are all imprisoned by the cave of our own reflections but don’t realize it. “ face a lot of the issues ordinary people face, but in a heightened condition. We’re all doing life in ..
Teaching Philosophy in Prisons
Currently over two million people in the United States are in prison, and about nine million worldwide. There are many questions worth asking about the systems of criminal justice that lead to that result. The focus of this post, though, is quite narrow. It concerns just one thing academic philosophers can do, as academic philosophers, in light of this: teach prison..
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Abdollah (Omid) Payrow Shabani (1962-2023)
Abdollah (Omid) Payrow Shabani, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Guelph, died last month. (more…)
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Disproportionate and Intended Harm to Innocents in Israel’s War in Gaza (guest post)
“Experts on just war disagree on what precisely counts as permissible proportion. But clearly this is grossly disproportionate.”
Antonio Negri (1933-2023)
Antonio Negri, a well-known Italian political philosopher and Spinoza scholar, has died. (more…)
International Journal of Philosophical Studies Essay Prize Winners
The International Journal of Philosophical Studies (IJPS) has announced the winners of its 2023 essay prizes. (more…)
Proportionality, Psychic Harm, and the Day After (guest post)
“Once we count psychic harm, it looks like Israel’s war might be proportional. But it could be proportional only if the Israelis aren’t imposing on basically all Gazans a greater psychic burden than the psychic burden that Israelis hope to avoid,” which could be the case “if Israel takes it upon itself, as soon as possible, to reassure the Gazans that Gaza will not ..
Offering Free and Low-Cost Philosophy Programs to the Public
Wisdom’s Edge Foundation is a non-profit organization that “brings philosophy to the edges of society.” (more…)
Israel & Hamas: Another Letter, Another Critical Response (updated)
As mentioned in an update to this post, a group of philosophers posted an open letter, dated November 1, 2023, under the heading “Philosophy for Palestine.” (more…)
Professors’ Lawsuit Says Idaho Anti-Abortion Law Violates Free Speech Rights
A group of professors, including two philosophy professors, along with the Idaho Federation of Teachers and the University of Idaho Faculty Federation, have filed a lawsuit challenging a 2021 state law that prevents state funds from being used to “procure, counsel in favor, refer to or perform an abortion”. (more…)
Douglas Portmore’s Six Commandments for Getting the Most Out of Graduate School
How can you get the most out of graduate school? Douglas Portmore, professor of philosophy at Arizona State University, has some advice for you. (more…)
Philosophy News Summary
Recent philosophy-related news.* (more…)
Supreme Court Declares Harvard’s and UNC’s Affirmative Action Programs Unconstitutional
“Harvard’s and UNC’s admissions programs violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment,” the U.S. Supreme Court declared in a ruling today. (more…)