Category: philosophy
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Philosophical Education and Constructive Imagination
As we’ve discussed before, most of our students are not heading off to become philosophers. Increasingly, students already have jobs and are saddled with time-consuming…
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Thought Experiments and Philosophical Method
In an interview at 3:am Magazine, Richard Marshall presses Philip Kitcher (Columbia) on his criticism of a priori, thought-experiment-driven approaches to philosophy. Marshall says that…
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Keeping it Real in Philosophy: an Exchange
This summer has seen a series of guest posts by Elijah Millgram (Utah) on his new book, The Great Endarkenment: Philosophy for an Age of…
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What Contemporary Philosophy Should the “Greats” Read? (Updated)
Suppose you could go back in time to hand a relatively recent work in philosophy to a pre-20th Century philosopher. Who would you visit,…
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The Dualism of Philosophy’s Purpose
Professional philosophers don’t present themselves as particularly wise or as people to turn to for advice about how to live. And why should we?…
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Humility in Philosophy
Because the views we espouse are always open to objections and disagreement, our practice at its best nurtures in the philosopher a capacity to…
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Philosophy “Changes the Subject”
Much of philosophy simply changes the subject when it brings the world under its analysis. That is Nellie Wieland (CSU Long Beach) in her…
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Survey on the Value of Philosophy
Andrew Mills (Otterbein) is conducting a survey about what philosophers think is distinctively valuable about philosophy. I’ve reproduced his note about it, below, and I encourage…
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Philosophers on the Supreme Court’s Gay Marriage Ruling
On Friday, June 26th, the Supreme Court of the United States announced its ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, holding that the Fourteenth Amendment of the…
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“Dirty Tricks” for Seminars and Talks (guest post)
The following guest post was authored by Josh Parsons, and originally published here on June 19th, 2015. Parsons died on April 11th, 2017. At…
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Audio of Rawls Lectures Released
The audio of lectures given by John Rawls to students in his course “Philosophy 171: Modern Political Philosophy” are being made available on YouTube by…
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What Kinds of Things Count as Philosophy?
Academic philosophers in Anglophone Ph.D.-granting departments tend to have a narrow conception of what counts as valuable philosophical work. Hiring, tenure, promotion, and prestige…
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A Problem With Studying One’s Own Oppression (updated)
Joseph Heath (Toronto) describes an obstacle to inquiry: The problem is that, when you’re studying your own oppression, and you’re obviously a member of…
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On Trolley Problems (updated)
Robert Paul Wolff, at his blog The Philosopher’s Stone, objects to the use of trolley problems and other stylized thought experiments in which various complications are…
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An Exchange on Disgust
Many of you will remember Nina Strohminger‘s amusing review of Colin McGinn’s book, The Meaning of Disgust. The review, written with the kind of frankness McGinn’s…