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CategoryVarieties of Empathetic Philosophers
“If I could, I would make it so that everyone in the world could genuinely understand the perspective of everyone else; why they are frustrated, when they are, as well as why they are satisfied, when they are. I would like to grant everyone the capacity to see the situation of everyone else, as someone occupying that other person’s viewpoint, and feel what one would..
Salaita Updates
Steven Salaita (previously) will be speaking at a press conference today at 12:30 pm at the University YMCA in Urbana, Illinois. Details here. UPDATE: The text of Salaita’s remarks are here.
The boycott of UIUC has been joined by over 5000 academics, and appears to be having some effect. At least one university trustee has broken ranks.
Gerald Dworkin has a thoug..
Guidelines for Philosophical Discussion
David Chalmers has, with the help of some crowdsourcing, put together a list of “guidelines for respectful, constructive, and inclusive philosophical discussion.” They are “intended primarily for oral philosophical discussion in formal settings: colloquia, conferences, seminars, classes, and so on.”
It is a work in progress, and suggestions and comments are welcome.
AAAS Philosophy Report
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences has released a second version of its Humanities Departmental Survey, the aim of which is to “fill critical gaps in our knowledge about the state of the humanities in higher education; specifically, about the number of faculty and students in the field and the role of humanities departments in their institutions and society” ..
The Purpose of Philosophy Class
It is not the purpose of a Philosophy class to transmit information or inculcate skills, however useful that may be. It is to introduce students to the life of the mind, with all the characterological as well as intellectual changes that requires. It is to welcome the young man or woman into a moral sphere in which argument, honesty, and a passion for ideas reign…
Heap of Links
1. Coseru on Pigliucci on Priest, i.e., what does Buddhism really have to say about contradictions?
2. A guide to Plato’s early and middle dialogues, with outlines, interpretive essays, and other supplementary material, has been created by Mark Anderson and Ginger Osborn (Belmont University), and is available for free here.
3. “Exercise. I’m sorry, you pasty, pale..
What Is “Continental Philosophy”?
In the comments to the last heap of links, dmf points to a post on Terence Blake’s blog, Agent Swarm, entitled “16 Traits of Continental Philosophy.” It’s a précis of a series of earlier posts defending the approach of Slavoj Žižek against critiques by Noam Chomsky. I think something like this list would be useful for overcoming certain philosophical prejudices, but..
Heap of Links
1. Human civilization is over, says Noam Chomsky.
2. But in case it’s not: a forum on parenthood and academia, at Times Higher Education.
3. Using statistics in your philosophical work? Need help? You can get free one-on-one stats consulting.
4. “Philosophy emerges in society when it loses meaning and fails to provide a unified and coherent picture of reality” — fr..
Six Month Status Report
Daily Nous began on the first Friday in March, and now it is the first Friday in September. It’s six months old, so still a baby, but nonetheless this seems like a good enough occasion to bore you with some blogging about the blog.
1. First things first.
THANK YOU! Daily Nous is still alive, and doing pretty well, as you’ll see, and of course that is owed to you: t..
Colorado Faculty in “Fear” of Administration?
A group of faculty members believes the University of Colorado administration has created a sense of fear on the Boulder campus with recent cases in the sociology and philosophy departments. The five-person faculty affairs committee within the Boulder Faculty Assembly condemned the university administration for its handling of cases involving now-retired sociology p..
Philososplainin’ #1: Reclining Airplane Seats
Maybe it started with Thales falling into a well, helped along by the trope of the absent-minded professor, and reinforced by, say, the difficulty of the “prof or hobo” quiz, but there is the general impression that philosophy is impractical. Yet, philosophy professors are often keen to emphasize the practical value of the philosophical skill set in navigating the w..
Updates on Salaita
For the most recent information about the efforts to reverse the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s decision to rescind Steven Salaita’s offer, see Corey Robin’s blog. According to him, six departments have voted no confidence in the university’s administration, seven professional associations have condemned the decision, and many scholars, including a num..
How White Is Philosophy Compared to Other Humanities?
Eric Schwitzgebel, inspired by the recent article “What is the State of Blacks in Philosophy?” by Botts, et al (previously), looked further into the figures on race and discovered that “overwhelming whiteness” is not unique to philosophy among the humanities. He provides some figures:
Latin American History: 50% white
Spanish Literature: 51% white
Asian History: 5..
Recurring Philosophy Conferences
Elizabeth Harman and Daniel Wodak (Princeton) have created a list of recurring philosophy conferences. It’s a Google document; if you know of any philosophy conferences that occur on a regular basis (annually, biannually, etc.) that are missing from the list, please add them. Note that the conferences are listed in order of submission deadline, so when adding a conf..
Heap of Links
1. Has a time travel simulation resolved the grandfather paradox? Philosophers of science, let us know (via Ben Stein, Manolo Martinez).
2. A philosopher defends Zionism.
3. Meanwhile, the rabbinical ruling refusing to reverse Spinoza’s excommunication from Judaism has been made public.
4. PBS Newshour discusses philosophy and athletics with Mark Edmundson (Virginia..
Salaita’s Contract to be Forwarded to Board – UPDATED
UPDATE : Ted Underwood, a professor of English at UIUC, tweets: “Regret to say that last night’s report from students appears premature. Faculty have since met with Wise, & report no change in position.” (via John Protevi, in the comments)
According to undergraduates who met with her today, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Chancellor Phyllis Wise “has f..
Philosophy that’s a Pleasure to Read
“People have been asking me: what will you acquire? In most cases I gave the obvious response about seeking new directions in these fields and at the same time furthering established dialogues scholars are already engaged in. And that answer is true, but it’s not the full story. What I’m actually looking for is clear, vivid thought.” That’s Jenny Gavacs, the new soc..
$1.5m for New Chair at University of Montreal
An anonymous donor has provided the University of Montreal with 1.5 million dollars (Canadian) to fund the Aesop Chair in Philosophy. It’s first holder is philosopher of science Frédéric Bouchard.
Heap of Links
1. “Sometimes a deepening of a view may go so deep as to change its character without actually changing its letter,” says Joseph Raz (King’s College, London), in a wide-ranging interview at 3am Magazine.
2. Huw Price (Cambridge) is part of “The scientific A-Team saving the world from killer viruses, rogue AI and the paperclip apocalypse.”
3. A Time Travel Dialogue b..
Irwin Goldstein (1947-2014)
Irwin Goldstein, who was a professor of philosophy at Davidson College for 31 years, and who wrote on topics in philosophy of mind, ethics, and philosophy of language, has died.
1st Round Interview Data
Jaded, Ph.D. one of the hosts of the Philosophy Smoker, is gathering data about first-round interviews in the philosophy job market. There is a short, two-question form here that job candidates and people on search committees can complete.
Heap of Links
1. Why are they so angry? Amia Srinivasan (Oxford) makes the case for anger, arguing that it can be a huge source of strength and power, particularly for the apparently weak and powerless, on the BBC. (via Aidan McGlynn)
2. When people who have been blind their whole life are given the power of sight, what do they see? — on the puzzle William Molyneaux posed to Joh..
The Morality of the Boycott
Over 500 philosophers have signed on to the boycott of University of Illinois, initiated after it rescinded Steven Salaita’s job offer. Already, the boycott has affected the university’s department of philosophy. David Blacker (Delaware), cancelled a talk he was to give there that was co-sponsored by the philosophy department. Eric Schwitzgebel (Riverside) reports t..
Blacks in Philosophy in the US
In “What is the State of Blacks in Philosophy?” a recent article in Critical Philosophy of Race, authors Tina Fernandes Botts (Michigan), Liam Kofi Bright (Carnegie Mellon), Myisha Cherry (John Jay College), Guntur Mallarangeng (San Francisco), and Quayshawn Spencer (San Francisco) “introduce into philosophical discussion the preliminary results of an empiri..
Philosophers’ Ethical Non-Monogamy Group
Carrie Ichikawa Jenkins (British Columbia) and Rebecca Kukla (Georgetown) have informed me that they have created a new, private, “Philosophers’ Ethical Non-Monogamy Group” on Facebook.
This is a group for the exploration of political, personal, disciplinary, and theoretical issues surrounding ethical non-monogamy. We welcome those who identify as professional phil..
Why Not Skype Interview?
Over the past few years more and more philosophy departments are moving to a model of hiring that ditches the interviewing of candidates at the Eastern Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association and replaces them with interviews over Skype or other video-conferencing technology. The case for doing so seems quite strong. It is less expensive for candi..
Heap of Links
1. A symposium at Boston Review called “Against Empathy,” featuring Paul Bloom, Peter Singer, Nomy Arpaly, Barbara Fried, Jesse Prinz, and others.
2. “Imagine that women are proportionately represented in the journals we are discussing…. Could there be any reason for ensuring that more papers by women are published in these journals? Possibly, yes, for two reasons..
Indie Film by Philosopher about Job Market
Shahin Izadi, who received his PhD in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin, must have decided that the academic job market was too easy and so decided to go for a sure thing — indie film-making. He is currently making a movie called Ironwood, about two candidates for an academic job who take a roadtrip to do their interviews and go camping. You can learn mor..