Should Philosophy Articles Be Shorter?
“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”
This line is attributed to several authors, but probably originated with Pascal. Writing shorter is hard, as anyone who has tried to cut several thousand words from a paper in order to submit it to an APA meeting will attest. Yet, when stripped of most non-essential material and organized as efficiently..
Al Mele Interviewed at “What Is It Like…?”
Clifford Sosis (Coastal Carolina) continues his series of interviews at “What Is It Like To Be A Philosopher?” (previously) with Florida State University’s Al Mele. A synopsis:
In this interview, Al Mele talks about his early love of sports (especially football), games and reading, being an East Detroit greaser, getting a football scholarship, being disinterested..
SEP, IEP, NDPR, Wi-Phi Weekly Update
Each week, the folks at Philosophical Percolations put together a massive list of philosophically relevant links they call the “Saturday Linkorama.” These include updates and new additions to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), and Wi-Phi Wireless Philosophy, which app..
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 United States Constitution guarantees the recognition and provision of same-sex marriage. It requires each of the 50 states in the US to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples seeking them, and to recognize legi..
If You Want to Do Good, Should You Get a Philosophy PhD?
Suppose you wanted to choose a career based on how much good it will allow you to do. Assessing careers with that in mind is one of the aims of 80,000 Hours, a non-profit organization co-founded by philosopher Will MacAskill. The group looks at four aspects of a job: (1) Role Impact — the extent to which the career enables you to help others; (2) Career Capital — ..
What Would Be in a Philosophy Museum? (updated)
How can we introduce those outside of higher education to philosophy? One little-used means is the museum.
I was not aware of any philosophy museums, but a recent news item on the Empathy Museum, ” the world’s first museum dedicated to helping visitors develop the skill of putting themselves in others’ shoes” put the idea in mind. (The Empathy Museum is the crea..
Metaphysics as Intellectual Ergonomics (guest post by Elijah Millgram)
This is the fifth in a series of guest posts* by Elijah Millgram (Utah) based on themes from his new book, The Great Endarkenment: Philosophy for an Age of Hyperspecialization. (Here are the first, second, third, and fourth entries.) (more…)
“Sleeping Beauty” Papers in Philosophy (updated)
“Sleeping Beauty” papers “lie dormant for years before experiencing a sudden spike in citations as they are discovered and recognized as important.” A recent article in Nature discussed scientific papers that have slumbered for decades, as well as a way of assigning a “beauty coefficient” to papers.
The coefficient, B, is “a value based on the number of citations..
Journal Editor Resists University “Vetting” of Content
A Northwestern University professor who edits a bioethics magazine has shelved the publication over a dispute with administrators, who demand that public relations staff approve content. Katie Watson, a professor in the university’s Medical Humanities and Bioethics program who edits the journal Atrium, said the demand followed recent controversy over the school’s ce..
A New Structure for Philosophy PhD Programs? (updated)
Under the so-called 5+2 program, humanities graduate students at Irvine will receive additional funding designed to push them through course work and their dissertations within five years. Those who finish within that time frame are eligible to apply for an up to two-year, teaching-intensive postdoc. Assistant adjunct professors, as they’re called, will receive rela..
Philosopher Awarded $5.1 Million for Study of Happiness
Philosopher Daniel Haybron (St. Louis University) has won a $5.1 million for a three year project on happiness and well-being. Most of that funding—$4.6 million— is coming from the John Templeton Foundation, with the remaining $453,000 coming from St. Louis University. From a press release from SLU:
Titled Happiness and Well-Being: Integrating Research Across..
Philosophy Placement Data Analysis Project
A new research project to collect and analyze job placement data in academic philosophy, funded by the American Philosophical Association (APA), is underway. The project is currently at the information gathering stage, with a target completion date of August 31st, 2015. The final results will be posted at placementdata.com.
The task is being carried out by Carolyn ..
Help Save Mill’s Library
There are efforts afoot to preserve John Stuart Mill’s personal library, currently housed at Somerville Library at Oxford University. It is “an extraordinary collection of about 2,000 volumes, many of which record irreplaceable annotations that are currently a hidden treasure largely unknown to academics.” Somerville College acquired the library in 1905 as a gift fr..
Philosophers on the Charleston Massacre
About 9 p.m., the Bible study concludes. As the group prepares to share a concluding prayer, Roof suddenly stands, pulls out a .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol and says he has come to kill black people. He shoots the Rev. Pinckney first, at near point-blank range. Simmons tries to protect the pastor, a father of two young children, but Roof shoots him multiple time..
SEP, IEP, NDPR, Wi-Phi Weekly Update
Below are last week’s updates and new additions to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), and Wi-Phi Wireless Philosophy. They appear here via special arrangement with Philosophical Percolations, where they were first posted, along with many other goodies, by Jon Cogburn,..
“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 the time of this post’s original publication, he was an associate professor of philosophy at Oxford University. He described the post as “a slightly jokey collection of what I called ‘dirty tricks for seminars’ (including some..
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 the Harvard Philosophy Department. The lectures were delivered at Harvard in the spring semester of 1984. There were eleven lectures. The first three are already up—one, two, and three. What was the first day of c..
3 Senior Appointments at KCL
Kings College London (KCL) has made three senior appointments in philosophy—one full-time and two part-time:
- David Owens, currently at Reading, will join KCL in September. He works in moral philosophy, political philosophy, and epistemology.
- Peter Adamson, currently at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, will re-join KCL in September part-time. He works ..
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..
“Learning to Think” — A Virtue Approach
“If earnings are not a good measure of educational value, then what is? Colleges can’t get away with smug silence on that question any longer. Society demands an answer.”
So says Barry Schwartz (Swarthmore) in “What ‘Learning How to Think’ Really Means” in The Chronicle of Higher Education. His answer is that colleges teach people how to think, but he recognizes ..
New Effort to Oust Peter Singer
“Disability activists have launched a petition demanding Princeton University professor Peter Singer resign over his outspoken support for euthanasia and infanticide,” according to an article in The Washington Times.
The petition, which currently has 823 signatories, makes the following demands:
- That Princeton University officials should immediately call for..
$190k in Grants on “The Self, Motivation, and Virtue” Awarded
Metaphysics by Forgetting (guest post by Elijah Millgram)
This is the fourth in a series of guest posts* by Elijah Millgram (Utah) based on themes from his new book, The Great Endarkenment: Philosophy for an Age of Hyperspecialization. (Here are the first, second, and third entries.) (more…)
Diversity Reading List for Philosophy
A new website sponsored by the School of Philosophy, Religion, and History of Science at the University of Leeds offers philosophers a way to find “high-quality texts in philosophy, written by authors from under-represented groups. Its aim is to promote the work of such authors and facilitate finding and using their texts in teaching.” It’s called Diversity Reading ..
Cogito: A New Group Philosophy Blog
Cogito, a new group philosophy blog, has launched. It currently has a roster of nine philosophers, all based in Australia: Matthew Beard (Australian Defence Force Academy), Russell Blackford (Newcastle), Laura D’Olimpio (Notre Dame Australia), Clive Hamilton (Charles Sturt U.), Duncan Ivison (Sydney), Greg Restall (Melbourne), Matthew Sharpe (Deakin), Patrick Stokes..
Mark Alfano from Oregon to Delft
Mark Alfano, currently assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Oregon, has accepted an offer from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, where he will become associate professor of philosophy, starting September 2015. Professor Alfano works in moral philosophy, epistemology, Nietzsche, philosophy of mind, and experimental philosophy.
SEP, IEP, NDPR, Wi-Phi Weekly Update
Below are last week’s updates and new additions to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), and Wi-Phi Wireless Philosophy. They appear here via special arrangement with Philosophical Percolations, where they were first posted, along with many other goodies, by Jon Cogburn,..
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..