Let’s Nominate a Philosopher (updated)
The National Endowment for the Humanities is now accepting nominations for the National Humanities Medal, which “honors individuals and organizations whose work has deepened our nation’s understanding of and engagement with history, literature, languages, philosophy, and other humanities subjects.” This particular prize, which goes to up to twelve people each year, ..
Dismissal of Undergrad’s Suit Against Northwestern Upheld
The February 2014 lawsuit filed by a Northwestern University undergraduate claiming that the university “didn’t respond adequately after she reported being sexually assaulted by philosophy Prof. Peter Ludlow,” dismissed in November, had its dismissal upheld this past Thursday in response to a motion by the undergraduate to reconsider the decision. The Daily Northwe..
Karyn Freedman Wins Non-Fiction Award
Karyn Freedman, associate professor of philosophy at the University of Guelph, has won the 2015 British Columbia National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction for her book, One Hour in Paris: A True Story of Rape and Recovery. The award includes a C$40,000 prize. The prize jury said:
Karyn L. Freedman’s One Hour In Paris is a book about rape, but, more than that, it’s ..
Times Higher Ed University Rankings
Times Higher Education has released its 2015 “World Reputation Rankings” of universities. As its title suggests, this a reputational survey, so, subject to many of the same concerns and cautions that all such surveys raise. THE site says:
Some 10,507 senior scholars took part in this year’s invitation-only Academic Reputation Survey. They provided their time and ..
We Can Do This (updated)
Most of us believe it would be better for students to be exposed to philosophy before starting college, for various reasons. A public high school in the town of Saginaw, Michigan is trying to accomplish that, but it needs our help.
Kirk Wolf is professor of philosophy at Delta College and advisor to the Philosophy Club at the Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy. Th..
Joseph Heath Wins Political Writing Prize
Joseph Heath (Toronto) has been awarded the 2014 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing for his book, Enlightenment 2.0: Restoring Sanity to Our Politics, Our Economy, and Our Lives. The prize, which includes C$25,000, is awarded by the Writers’ Trust of Canada
for a book of literary nonfiction that captures a political subject of relevance to Canadian rea..
Ludlow’s Defamation Suit Dismissed
Judge John P. Callahan of the Cook County, Illinois Circuit Court has dismissed Peter Ludlow’s defamation lawsuit against a Northwestern University undergraduate who had accused him of sexual assault (previously; related material here). Ludlow’s lawsuit claimed that “the student knowingly made false statements to news media and Northwestern professors after rebuffe..
Alyssa Ney from Rochester to UC Davis
Alyssa Ney, currently associate professor of philosophy at the University of Rochester, will become associate professor of philosophy at UC Davis, starting this July. Professor Ney works in metaphysics, philosophy of physics, and philosophy of mind.
David Wallace from Oxford to USC
David Wallace, currently professor of philosophy at Oxford University, has accepted a position as professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California, starting this Fall. Professor Wallace works in philosophy of physics. (via Christian Wüthrich)
Advice on Refereeing Papers
Three professors have published a brief guide to refereeing papers. Though based in business schools, Jonathan Berk (Stanford), Campbell Harvey (Duke), and David Hirshleifer (UC Irvine) have produced a document that provides good general advice for referees across the disciplines.
Some excerpts:
The main job of the referee is not:
1) To help write the paper ..
John Arras (1945-2015) (updated)
John Arras, professor of biomedical ethics and philosophy at the University of Virginia, has died. Professor Arras was known for his work in bioethics. Prior to moving to Virginia, he taught at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine-Montefiore Medical Center and Barnard College. In addition to his research an teaching, Arras was known for his public service. He was..
The Lost Women of Modern Philosophy
A new website aims to provide comprehensive information about women philosophers from the modern era (roughly 1600-1800). Called Project Vox, “the website will be the virtual hub for an international network of scholars to work together in expanding our research and teaching beyond the traditional philosophical ‘canon’ and beyond traditional narratives of modern phi..
Children and the Flexibility of the Job
Professors generally enjoy quite a bit of flexibility regarding when they are on campus or in their office. This flexibility—and the expectation that professors aren’t around all the time—is one of the perks of the job, but what are the limits of the appropriate use of this flexibility? The question is prompted by the following query (by a philosophy professor a..
Promotions 2014-15
It’s that time of the year when many colleges and universities are beginning to announce who has received promotion to associate or full professor, or to a named chair or other special position. If you have received a promotion during the 2014-2015 year, or you are in a position to make announcements about who in your department has done so, please list that informa..
Credit Where Credit is Due
The Campaign for Better Citation and Credit-Giving Practices is a new site aimed at “providing a forum for individuals in academic philosophy to bring to light general instances of work not receiving due credit or citations.” It offers a forum in which to “(A) argue that particular works or authors have been unfairly neglected (i.e. not adequately cited or otherwise..
Daily Nous Turns One
Tomorrow, March 7th, Daily Nous will be one year old. I’m putting this up today as I hope to spend most of tomorrow away from the computer.
“How are things going?” you probably aren’t wondering. I’ll just pretend you asked.
Well, it’s a lot of work, but the site is doing really well. Thanks for asking. And thanks for reading, thanks for taking part in the disc..
The Philosophy Shop
The Philosophy Foundation, an educational charity in the UK, is trying to set up a community space in South-East London to bring philosophy to younger students and the broader community, to be called “The Philosophy Shop.” A lot of their work is done in school classrooms, but they would like to be able to continue their work after the school day is done, as well as..
Jan Boxill Resigns
Jan Boxill has resigned from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, effective February 28th, 2015. Dr. Boxill, who had been implicated in an academic fraud scheme largely involving student athletes at the school, and whose appointment the university had initiated steps to terminate, had been a teaching professor in the department of philosophy, director of..
Reputational Cost of Public Philosophy?
In his guest post the other day, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong wrote:
many top departments today view colleagues with suspicion when they choose to write accessible books instead of technical journal articles. Philosophers often risk their professional reputations when they appear on television or write for newspapers or magazines. How can they be serious about philos..
Georg Kreisel (1923-2015)
Georg Kreisel, known for his work in philosophy of math, has died. Prior to his retirement in 1985, Kreisel held appointments at Stanford, the University of Paris, the University of Reading, and the Institute for Advanced Study. He was a student of Wittgenstein, who is reported to have said that Kreisel was the “most able philosopher he had ever met who was also a m..
Live Twitter Chat w/ Timothy Williamson
Timothy Williamson’s new book, Tetralogue: I’m Right, You’re Wrong, is a philosophical conversation that takes place on a train between four characters. As Catarina Dutilh Novaes describes in her review of the book in Times Higher Education:
We meet Bob, who represents those who subscribe to “ancestral” modes of thinking, including superstition, belief in witchcr..
“How could someone be so devastatingly exacting and kind?”
If your father is a philosopher, then you should expect to lose many arguments. You will never lose “because life isn’t fair,” or because your dad “says so.” You will always lose on strict logical grounds… If your father is a philosopher, your premises must support your conclusion. Then, maybe once or twice in a childhood filled with lost arguments, you will win. ..
Hilail Gildin (1928-2015)
Hilail Gildin, professor of philosophy at Queens College, has died. Gilden worked in political philosophy, publishing books on Mill, Spinoza, and Rousseau. He was one of the founders, with his teacher, Leo Strauss, of Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy, and served as its editor-in-chief. (via Moti Mizrahi)
Freiburg Ditches “Heidegger” Chair (2 updates)
The University of Freiburg, the academic home of Günter Figal—who recently stepped down from the leadership of the Martin Heidegger Society in the wake of the publication of Heidegger’s Black Notebooks—has decided to convert the faculty chair long dedicated to the Heideggerian tradition to one dedicated to philosophy of language. It has also downgraded the line ..
Creativity and Criticism (guest post by Patricia Marino)
Patricia Marino is associate professor of philosophy at the University of Waterloo. She works in ethics, epistemology, the philosophy of sex and love, and the philosophy of economics. She also has a blog, The Kramer is Now, full of amusing and insightful thoughts about philosophy, culture, economics, politics, and various aspects of life. Below is a guest post* by h..
Research Advice for Non-Native English Speaking Philosophers
A graduate student in philosophy asks:
I really enjoyed the daily habits of routine research post. I am wondering if you could open up a new discussion that addresses the related issues with regards to philosophers who use English as their second language. In my own experiences, doing research in a non-native language often comes with unique challenges that call ..
The Prime Directive & Microbes
In the world of Star Trek, a rule called the “prime directive” prohibits our heroes from interfering in the development of alien cultures. I don’t think they had in mind the kind of “cultures” that could be grown in a Petri dish, but, as it turns out, NASA has predicted that we will find extraterrestrial life within the next 20 years, and that the life in question w..
Shafer-Landau from Wisconsin to UNC (updated)
Russ Shafer-Landau, currently professor of philosophy and chair of the philosophy department at the University of Wisconsin, has accepted an offer from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Starting this summer, he will be professor of philosophy there and director of UNC’s Parr Center for Ethics. Shafer-Landau is known for his work in metaethics.
UPDA..