How Should Journals Instruct Referees?
“How, then, can philosophy become more inclusive and less boring?” Over at the Philosopher’s Cocoon, Marcus Arvan suggests that one way might be to have journals give referees different instructions from what they typically do.
The APA’s New Journal
Amy Ferrer continues her series of guest posts at NewAPPS with some details about the new Journal of the American Philosophical Association. Among other things, she writes:
As our editorial statement indicates, we favor clear, succinct papers that go out on a limb, papers that take a chance, papers exhibiting fresh perspectives on familiar problems. This is of a pi..
Concrete Suggestions for Breaking the Silence
There has been quite a bit of talk lately regarding speaking out about problems in the profession. This prompted one reader to send in the following request:
I would appreciate a post that invites suggestions, concrete suggestions, about how a woman who has been sexually assaulted or harassed might actually speak out. This includes women who have been harassed/assau..
Oxford Tutor Jeffrey Ketland Fired
Jeffrey Ketland, a philosophy fellow and tutor at Pembroke College at Oxford University, who was accused of harassment of a BPhil student who later committed suicide, has been fired from his position.
Will a Philosopher be the 2014 “World Thinker”?
Prospect Magazine’s “World Thinker” competition is underway. Among the 50 candidates are 14 people listed as philosophers: Elizabeth Anderson, Nick Bostrom, Judith Butler, Patricia Churchland, Daniel Dennett, Jürgen Habermas, Rae Langton, Thomas Nagel, Martha Nussbaum, Derek Parfit, Janet Radcliffe-Richards, Amartya Sen, Roberto Unger, and Slavoj Žižek. You can vote..
Harman & Martin on Mitochondrial DNA Transfer in the NY Times
Elizabeth Harman (Princeton) and Adrienne Martin (Penn) have a short letter to the editor in the New York Times in response to this article about mitochondrial DNA transfers.
Amy Ferrer Discusses the Site Visit Program
Amy Ferrer, executive director of the APA, discusses the Site Visit Program of the APA’s Committee on the Status of Women in a post over at NewAPPS.
“Waiter, There’s A Fly In My Soup!”
“Yes, I see him, trapped, floating helplessly on the surface of the broth, spinning slowly near the vortex left by your quickly withdrawn spoon, much as humanity rides atop the surface of life, unable to escape its predicament yet unwilling to dive in and explore it, instead knocked about by uncomprehended forces, heads set spinning by God’s hasty retreat, mere obse..
Tim Crane Talks Metaphysics
It used to be that a trip to the bookstore in search of a volume on metaphysics would bring you face to face with titles about spirits, crystals, energy, and the like. But now things are much better. I mean, you’ll still get howlers like this or this or even this when you search for metaphysics at a place like Amazon, but generally the selection is good and there is..
Saying Something if You See Something
Carrie Ichikawa Jenkins has some cautiously encouraging words for junior faculty who have “things to say” about our profession. She knows you are quite possibly nervous, and not unreasonably worried about professional harm, yet:
Philosophers, even senior philosophers, are very far from being a unified bunch with respect to their opinions on current issues in the pro..
Philosophy: The Trivia Game
Perhaps you know how to solve the mind-body problem, or how to prove that eternalism is (and always has been) true, or even which dinner party rules can be known a priori. But do you know which philosophers have appeared in which movies? Or which philosophical claims are linked to which couples of philosophers? Or which nasty line from a philosophical book review wa..
Brandom Interviewed
Jeffrey J. Williams conducts a wide-ranging and thoughtful interview with Bob Brandom in the journal Symploke. The interview (PDF) covers Brandom’s thoughts about the enterprise of philosophy, its analytic and continental traditions, its major figures, as well as reflections on his own life and career.
From the interview:
Jeffrey J. Williams: What would you say, in..
Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for Humor
A possible breakthrough in the analysis and science of humor, reported here.
March Madness: “Overrated Philosophers”
Critical-Theory.com has set up a March Madness tournament, bracket and all, of “overrated philosophers.” You can enter your vote here.
A Lot of Money for a Lot of Humility
Saint Louis University has received a grant of $2.7 million from the The John Templeton Foundation to explore the subject of intellectual humility. Contributions by SLU bring the total grant to over $3 million. The Philosophy and Theology of Intellectual Humility project will focus on a variety of philosophical and theological issues relevant to the topic of intelle..
Are Junior Faculty Overburdened with Service?
How much service, and what kinds, are appropriate for junior faculty? Is more teaching preferable to more service? Do service burdens vary by gender? Brian Weatherson presents some anecdata and comments at And Another Thing, and Carrie Ichikawa Jenkins discusses her experience at her blog, Field Notes. Have any readers had noteworthy experiences in this regard? Does..
Making a Bioethics MOOC
A team at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown (disclosure: my graduate alma mater), is putting together a massive open online course, or MOOC, on Bioethics, set to go live next month. In the meanwhile, they are maintaining a site about their efforts, which includes various posts on the making of the course, relevant data about MOOCs, and considerations of ..
Upcoming Faculty Moves
Berit Brogaard (University of Missouri-St. Louis; philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, philosophy of psychology) will be moving to University of Miami as full professor, starting in Fall 2014.
Douglas Lavin (Harvard; ethics, practical reasoning, action) will become a permanent lecturer in philosophy at University College London, starting Fall 2014.
The Case for Aesthetics
Anna Christina Ribeiro (Texas Tech) makes the case for aesthetics in analytic philosophy. (via Michaela McSweeney)
Alcoff, Leiter, and Pluralism Revisited
Regan Penaluna recounts the controversy over the Pluralist Guide to Philosophy in “A Latina Takes On the ‘Philosopher King-Maker‘” at Talking Philosophy. (via Ben Hale)
UPDATE: There have been concerns expressed about the accuracy and completeness of this report. Comments are open.
When Others Philosophize in Public
Today’s column by economist Gregory Mankiw in the New York Times provides an occasion to reflect on a problem for public philosophy. In the column, Mankiw contrasts a rudimentary form of utilitarianism with a thoughtless version of the precautionary principle. Even if you agree with the policy prescriptions that he concocts from this mix of ingredients, no philosoph..
Philacronyms (Friday Fun)
This week’s Friday Fun comes courtesy of David Boonin (University of Colorado). Thank you, David, for your suggestion, and for inspiring others to send in their contributions to this occasional series (seriously, be inspired people, or this series may not last).
David writes, “The idea is to come up with a single sentence that summarizes the most important thing(s)..
Does Utilitarianism Leave Room for Art?
A screenwriter considers the question.
An Article and a Petition to the APA about Negotiations
Inside Higher Ed has some further commentary on W’s negotiation debacle (or maybe it is better characterized as “Nazareth’s negotiation debacle”). Also, Chad Kautzer (CU-Denver) has posted a petition asking the APA to “publicly condemn the actions of the hiring committee of Nazareth College’s Philosophy Department” and “amend the APA Handbook on Placement Practices…
Human Rights for Prospective Martians
Mars One is a crowdfunded space exploration project that plans on sending humans to Mars. The trip is one-way, and after they have arrived the explorers will be expected to set up their own rules of governance and social organization. While the spirit of exploration and experimentation is admirable, certain ethical, legal, and political questions arise. These have b..
292 Interviews With Philosophers
In case you haven’t checked recently, Philosophy Bites has conducted 292 audio interviews with philosophers. What a great service! Here’s the list of the interviewees.
Only Five Black Philosophers Are on Faculty at British Universities
And only two of them are employed in philosophy departments, according to UCL philosopher Nathaniel Adam Tobias Coleman, writing in the The Times Higher Education Supplement on bias, stereotype threat, and philosophy’s general neglect of the issue of race.
UPDATE (3/20/2014): Here is the audio from “Why Isn’t My Professor Black?”, a panel discussion on March 10th a..
The Grasshopper to be Reunited With Its Original Illustrations
Broadview Press is publishing a new version of the strangely-little-known-yet-intensely-loved-minor-philosphical-classic The Grasshopper, by Bernard Suits. This edition, its third, retains the introduction from the second by Thomas Hurka and reunites the text with the original illustrations by Frank Newfeld. The book answers Wittgenstein’s view that there is no sati..