Issues in the Philosophy Profession

Prestige Bias in Philosophy

In this paper, I argue that prestige bias is both the first and the final hurdle to make academic philosophy more inclusive…. Prestige bias is a first hurdle to diversity, because countering it provides a wide-reaching way to make philosophy more diverse even if we did not increase our efforts to increase diversity specifically. By actively working against presti..

Help Philosophy at Western Illinois

The other day we reported that the Department of Philosophy at Western Illinois University is being targeted for elimination by the university’s Board of Trustees. The Board will be voting on the matter on June 10th. Please take a moment to sign a petition supporting the department.

The petition stresses the findings of the Academic Program Elimination Review (AP..

Thomas Pogge Responds to Accusations (Updated — with emails)

Thomas Pogge, the Leitner Professor of Philosophy & International Affairs and Political Science at Yale University, has published a response to allegations he sexually harassed and retaliated against a student, Fernanda Lopez Aguilar. (more…)

Thomas Pogge, Yale University, and Sexual Harassment (Updated)

When Thomas Pogge travels around the world, he finds eager young fans waiting for him in every lecture hall. The 62-year-old German-born professor, a protégé of the philosopher John Rawls, is bespectacled and slight of stature. But he’s a giant in the field of global ethics, and one of only a small handful of philosophers who have managed to translate prominence wit..

When Someone Suggests Expanding The Canon…

A gem of a comment from Amy Olberding on the post earlier this week about expanding the philosophical canon is worth excerpting:

…let me just explain how these sorts of conversations read to me and how, it seems to me, they repeat endlessly. On my most cynical days, I think we can dispense with any further conversations about including non-western traditions. F..

APA Statement on Bullying and Harassment (Update: Coverage from IHE)

The American Philosophical Association (APA) has released a statement on bullying and harassment:

The American Philosophical Association appreciates the work of philosophers who bring their philosophical expertise to the public by way of op-ed essays, public forums, teach-ins, and other venues. We see this increased public engagement by philosophers as important ..

The APA’s Free-Rider Problem

American Philosophical Association (APA) Chairperson Cheshire Calhoun (ASU), at the Blog of the APA, writes:

What the APA does for philosophy and philosophers gets done in virtue of the hard work of hundreds of members. All told, more than 200 individuals graciously volunteer their time and expertise in serving on APA committees and task forces, on divisional pro..

Deeper Diversity and the Game of Professional Philosophy

On one understanding of diversity—perhaps an understanding that was once the dominant one—making professional philosophy more diverse means making it the case that it is not exclusively the province of just a few kinds of people (with “kind” understood in terms of sex, race, culture, ethnicity, class, sexuality, physical ability, education, experiences). Th..

Against Reducing The Number of Philosophy PhDs

Here’s our situation: for many professions—actor, artist, astronaut, athlete, musician, novelist, philosopher, just to name a few—there are more people who aspire to enter them than succeed in doing so.

How bad is this? There are some problems with it, of course: mainly the disappointment of and opportunity costs borne by those who are unable to join what is ..

Not Legally Actionable, But…

A tenure-track woman professor at a private U.S. university writes:

In light of a situation that recently came up in my department, I’ve been thinking quite a lot about the following question… I’m honestly at a loss for how to deal with this, and I’d love to hear some (sensible) thoughts of others on the issue.

The issue is this: Take it as a given that ther..

A College without Philosophy? A Philosophy Department without Philosophers? (updated)

After program cut upon program cut, at what point does a liberal arts institution cease to be one?

That’s the question in an article at Inside Higher Ed that centers around faculty cuts at Wartburg College in Iowa, a Christian college.

This month, at least three tenure-track faculty members at Wartburg received notices that the college was not recommending the..

Philosophy in 10 Years

Here are five predictions about the state of philosophy in ten years:

1. Philosophy’s popularity as a major will increase. This will be owed in part to the swing of the cultural pendulum, to economic growth making people more comfortable with a major lacking a clearly-defined career path, to efforts by the profession to emphasize the practical value of philosophy..

Where Philosophy Is Missing

Some colleges have no philosophers. Some colleges have philosophers, but not many, yielding a very low philosopher-to-student ratio, particularly when compared to elite institutions or flagship state schools. Such colleges—which include many community colleges, state branch campuses, and historically black colleges and universities—seem to turn out very few stud..

Do the Tenured Speak Up Enough?

Tenure is, in part, designed to protect one from retaliation. It’s the tenured that can make the culture of silence (and shame) within a profession disappear…. Obviously they need help from their employers (universities and grant agencies), but it does make a difference.

What is so distressing about professional philosophy, is that too much of the hard work i..

How to Encourage Service to the Profession?

A professor writes in:

We hear a lot of complaints about how the APA and about how journals are run from folks who don’t volunteer for the APA or serve (and have never served) in leadership positions at journals (e.g. as those responsible for finding referees and ensuring to the best of their limited abilities that referees are doing their jobs). Suggestions for..

Are Bans on Faculty-Student Sex Unjust to Students?

The New Republic has published “Lust for Learning,” by Laura Miller. If it weren’t for the fact that this article is full of references to philosophers past and present, I would ignore it and its ridiculous subtitle: “Is erotic longing between professors and students unavoidable?” Take a moment to imagine the bizarre world in which the answer to that question is yes..

Creating a Climate Survey for Faculty and Staff

A philosophy professor writes in seeking the assistance of Daily Nous readers:

I am the chair of my department’s (brand new) committee on the climate for women and underrepresented minorities in philosophy. One of the first steps that we took, as a committee, was to attempt to anonymously survey all of our philosophy majors and minors on various issues, includi..

Philosophy Cliques Revisited

A graduate student who prefers to remain anonymous writes in:

Is it a step in the right direction towards abolishing white male supremacy when the mansions of Hollywood are opened to millionaire actors from minority groups or when the children of the global elite are allowed behind the gates of the Ivy League? Some say we have to start somewhere and we might as w..

Is Philosophy Too “Stupid” For Women? (updated)

Women in Philosophy: What Needs to Change?, a collection of essays edited by Katrina Hutchison (Macquarie) and Fiona Jenkins (ANU), is reviewed by David Papineau (KCL, CUNY) in The Times Literary Supplement. Papineau reviews the book with the question in mind of why there are so few women in philosophy. Things are not as overtly sexist as they were in the bad old da..

What Explains Female Under-Representation Among Philosophy Majors?

Evidence from a new study seeking to explain why women are under-represented among philosophy majors suggests that they are not discouraged by introductory philosophy courses, but rather come to college already with certain attitudes that discourage them from studying philosophy. The findings are presented in “Why Is There Female Under-Representation among Philosoph..

Goswami Lawsuit Against DePaul to Proceed

Namita Goswami was denied tenure in the Department of Philosophy at DePaul University in the 2009-2010 academic year. She claimed that discrimination played a role in the decision and sued. Her story was covered a few years back in Inside Higher Ed:

“I was teaching exactly what I was hired to do and it was used against me,” said Goswami, a native of India who all..

Critical Thinking Chair Goes to HAZMAT Specialist

A few years ago, the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) received a donation to create the Eugene H. Fram Chair in Applied Critical Thinking (previously). Its first holder was Clarence “Chip” Burton Sheffield Jr., a professor of art history. The school just named Sheffield’s successor: Jennifer Schneider, a professor in RIT’s College of Applied Science and Techn..

APA Issues Letter on Sexual Harassment

The Board of Officers of the American Philosophical Association (APA) has published an open letter on sexual harassment. It is addressed ” first and foremost to victims of sexual harassment within the profession of philosophy, and secondly, to all members of the APA.”

We are committed, both personally and as the primary governing body of the association, to comba..

Conference Anti-Harassment Wiki

The Geek Feminism Wiki, a site aimed primarily at people involved in computing and technology, has a “Conference anti-harrasment” page. Brought to my attention by Maarten Steenhagen (thanks!), the site has a sample conference anti-harassment policy, a resource page with suggestions and answers to frequently asked questions, and other information.

In answer to the..

Lockwood v. Tooley on “Sexual Assault on Campus”

Heidi Lockwood (Southern Connecticut) and Michael Tooley (Colorado) met at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) earlier this month for a debate sponsored by VCU’s Department of Philosophy. The subject was “Sexual Assault on Campus.” A video of the event was kindly provided to me by Mikhail Valdman, who moderated the event and cleared its release with the relevant ..