public philosophy
The Publication Emergency (guest post by J. David Velleman)
The following is a guest post* by J. David Velleman, professor of philosophy at New York University. It discusses the problems that arise from graduate students publishing more and more, and presents a pair of suggestions for how to improve matters. (more…)
Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update
Here’s the latest from some key online philosophy resources. (more…)
A Semantic-Network Approach to the History of Philosophy (guest post by Mark Alfano) (UPDATED)
What can we learn from constructing semantic networks of familiar works in the history of philosophy? A fair amount, according to Mark Alfano, a philosopher at Delft University of Technology and Australian Catholic University, as he explains in the following guest post*—such as which concepts tend to get more attention from readers than might seem appropriate give..
Philosophy Time with James Franco (guest post by Eliot Michaelson)
The following is a guest post* by Eliot Michaelson, Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at King’s College London, about Philosophy Time, a series of philosophy videos he created with actor James Franco. (more…)
Philosophy In Germany: Too Popular For Its Own Good?
An article in the current issue of Foreign Policy,“German Philosophy Has Finally Gone Viral. Will That Be Its Undoing?” describes the surge in philosophy’s popularity in Germany and asks whether it comes at too high a cost. (more…)
A Case For Co-Authorship In Philosophy (guest post by Joshua A. Miller and Eric Schliesser)
The following is a guest post* co-authored by Joshua A. Miller (Georgetown) and Eric Schliesser (Amsterdam). A version of it was previously published at both of their blogs: Miller’s Another Panacea and Schliesser’s Digressions & Impressions. It includes information about the frequency of co-authorship in different disciplines, discusses varieties of co-authorship a..
An Anonymous Peer-Reviewed Philosophy Journal?
Are some philosophical positions so controversial that we should have a journal that publishes peer-reviewed essays about them anonymously?
An Excellent Public Philosopher
“Philosophy always causes offense—perhaps it should cause offense,” says philosopher Peter Singer, Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University, in a recent interview, below. (more…)
Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update
Here’s the latest from some key online philosophy resources.
We check the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), Wi-Phi, and 1000-Word Philosophy for updates weekly and report them right here. (more…)
New “Thought Trust” to Continue Mission of Northern Institute of Philosophy
The mission of the Northern Institute of Philosophy, which was created in 2009 at the University of Aberdeen by Crispin Wright (NYU, Stirling) and which ceased operations there in January of 2015, will be continued by a new entity, the Thought Trust. (more…)
Philosophy Journal Relaunches With New Name
The journal formerly known as Philosophy & Theory in Biology has relaunched with a new name, Philosophy, Theory, and Practice in Biology (PTPBio), and has just published its first articles under the new title. (more…)
Skepticism About Philosophy’s Capacity To Improve Thinking
Philosophy departments often include in their pitch to undergraduates the claim that studying philosophy can improve one’s thinking skills. But does it? (more…)
New International Peer-Reviewed Open-Access Philosophy Journal
Philosophers at the Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM) in Tehran, along with philosophy professors at other Iranian philosophy institutions and some Iranian faculty in the United States and Europe, have collaborated on the launch of a new peer-reviewed open-access philosophy journal called Eshare: An Iranian Journal of Philosophy. (more…)
Israeli Philosophy Community Calls For Rejection Of Proposed Ethics Code
Over 80 Israeli philosophers—the vast majority of the Israeli philosophical community—have issued a statement urging their government’s Council for Higher Education to reject a proposed academic ethics code. (more…)
Quality Control, Methodological Bias, and Persistent Disagreement in Philosophy
Recently, mainstream philosophy journals have tended to implement more and more stringent forms of peer review (e.g., from double-anonymous to triple-anonymous), probably in an attempt to prevent editorial decisions that are based on factors other than quality. Against this trend, we propose that journals should relax their standards of acceptance, as well as be les..
Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update
Here’s the latest from some key online philosophy resources. We check the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), Wi-Phi, and 1000-Word Philosophy for updates weekly and report them right here. (more…)
Why Progress Is Slower In Philosophy Than In Science
“Since science took its modern form in the seventeenth century, it has been one long success story.” By contrast, we philosophers “don’t seem to have progressed much in the two and a half millennia since Plato wrote his dialogues.” That’s the conventional wisdom, as described by David Papineau (King’s College London) in The Times Literary Supplement. But if there’s ..
How We Created A Philosophy Major (guest post by Matthew Brown)
The following is a guest post* by Matthew J. Brown, associate professor of philosophy and history of ideas at the University of Texas, Dallas, about how, in an era in which it seems that a different philosophy department is under threat of closure each week, he and his colleagues were actually able to create a philosophy major at their university. Excellent news! (m..
Women in Philosophy Journals: New Data
There are new findings on the presence of women in academic philosophy journals:
- Though approximately 25% of philosophy faculty in the United States are women, only 14-16% of the articles that appear in the discipline’s top journals are by women.
- Journals which do not use anonymous review seem to have a higher percentage of women authors than journals which ..
Notre Dame Philosophers Issue Statement On Threats To Philosophy at Univ. of St. Thomas Houston
In response to news that philosophy programs at the University of St. Thomas in Houston may be shut down and tenured philosophers relieved of their positions, members of the University of Notre Dame Department of Philosophy have issued the following statement, which was sent in to Daily Nous by Professor Thérèse Cory: (more…)
Student Loans for Graduate Study in Philosophy: a Poll
Don’t get a PhD in philosophy if you have to pay for it.
That is standard advice for those considering doctoral study in philosophy. An inability to obtain a funded position as a PhD student might be evidence (early and incomplete evidence, of course) of one’s later prospects; jobs are hard to come by, and even if you end up employed in a way directly related to ..
Feminist Philosophy and Its Controversies (guest post by Laurie Shrage)
…I expect there will be deep and lasting tensions going forward among feminist philosophers. Most of the tensions have to do with perceptions of harm: harm to the author, the journal, communities of people who are marginalized and threatened, and to feminist philosophy. I hope feminist philosophers will explore and critically discuss questions about the harms caus..
Philosophy Under Threat at Univ. of St. Thomas Houston (updated)
It is standard operating procedure at the University of St. Thomas (Houston) for faculty to receive and return their renewal contracts for the following academic year by May 15th. May 15th has come and gone, and not one of the 11 members of the university’s Department of Philosophy has received their contract (neither has anyone in the English Department there). (mo..
What Philosophy Journal Decisions Look Like
Sometimes a picture is worth a million words, or at least a number of numbers. Writer Natasha M. Frost has created a visual representation of publication decisions made at a number of academic philosophy journals, as reported by authors at the Blog of the APA’s new journal survey site: (more…)
Philosophy Professor Receiving Death Threats (updated with transcript, letter from colleagues)
Tommy Curry, professor of philosophy at Texas A & M University, has been receiving racist hate mail and death threats in the wake of an opinion piece at a conservative website that frames remarks of his in a misleading way—and among those apparently misled, it now appears, is Texas A & M president Michael K. Young. (more…)
Hypatia’s Editor And Its Board President Defend Publication of Tuvel Article
“I firmly believe, and this belief will not waver, that it is utterly inappropriate for editors to repudiate an article they have accepted for publication… Editors must stand behind the authors of accepted papers. This is where I stand. Professor Tuvel’s paper went through the peer review process and was accepted by the reviewers and me.” (more…)
The Latest Philosophy Papers
A new website has been launched that lists new philosophy articles as they are published. The site, called The Philosophy Paperboy, is the creation of Andrea Raimondi, graduate student in philosophy at the University of Nottingham, with web design by Lorenzo Cataldi. It’s searchable, and currently tracks over 400 journals. (more…)
“Philosophy Does Not Compel, Threaten, or Mock”
This past Monday, Martha Nussbaum, Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, delivered the 2017 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Jefferson Lecture at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. (more…)