public philosophy
Former Student Donates $5 Million to St. Andrews To Endow Chair in Philosophy
Christopher C. Davis studied moral philosophy and practical theology at the University St. Andrews, graduating in 1987. Nearly 30 years later, he has just donated $5 million to his alma mater to create a “Chair in Philosophy and Public Affairs” as well as endowed lectureship in American Literature, according to a press release from the university. (more…)
The Philosophy Bubble
In her interview at What Is It Like To Be A Philosopher? (a part of which we discussed here), Sally Haslanger (MIT) draws attention to three problematic tendencies in philosophers. The first concerns the idea of multiple intelligences:
To be honest, I think most philosophers are pretty limited in their intelligences. They may be amazing along a certain dimension ..
Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update
December is here. What the hell? Anyway, forthwith, the weekly report on what’s new at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy(SEP), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), and Wi-Phi, plus some extra links at the end. (more…)
Interdisciplinarity and Marginalization in Philosophy
When asked whether some of the work in experimental philosophy would be better characterized as psychology, Joshua Knobe (Yale) tells Pendaran Roberts (Warwick):
First off, it should be emphasised that analogous issues arise for just about any area of philosophy that pursues interdisciplinary research. (more…)
Faculty on Strike at Public Universities and Colleges in Pennsylvania
Faculty at 14 public institutions of higher education in Pennsylvania are on strike owing to a failure in contract negotiations. According to Inside Higher Ed, the faculty had been working without a contract in place for 477 days. (more…)
Publishing Scam Mimics Legitimate Philosophy Journal
When Chris Kramer, associate professor of philosophy at Rock Valley College in Illinois, learned that a paper of his had been accepted to the International Journal of Philosophy and Theology, he was excited. And then suspicious. (more…)
APA Awards Philosophy of Law Prize
The American Philosophical Association (APA) has awarded the 2017 Berger Memorial Prize to Patrick Tomlin (University of Reading). The Berger Prize is awarded every other year, in odd years, to “an outstanding published article in philosophy of law” written by an APA member. (more…)
New Media in Psychology and Philosophy
The focus here at Daily Nous is on the philosophy profession, but the following dispute down the street caught my attention. (more…)
The Changing Role of Philosophers As Public Intellectuals
Via a chock-full-of-philosophy-links post at the wonderful Omnivore blog at Bookforum comes “The Philosopher As Public Intellectual” by Patrick Baert, a sociologist at Cambridge University. The essay is part of a forthcoming collection, Public Intellectuals in the Global Arena: Professors or Pundits? (more…)
How To Teach Philosophy In Comedy Clubs (Guest Post by Michael Connell)
The following is a guest post* by Michael Connell, an Australian comedian. Connell has a thing for philosophy, especially Stoicism, which he incorporates into his act (e.g., “How you think shapes how you feel. What I’m saying is that if you don’t enjoy this show, it’s your fault.”). I asked him to talk about his work and conveying philosophical ideas to non-philosop..
Diversity in Philosophy: Is the Problem Lack of Pre-College Exposure?
Recall these figures from “What is the State of Blacks in Philosophy?” by Tina Fernandes Botts, Liam Kofi Bright, Myisha Cherry, Guntur Mallarangeng, and Quayshawn Spencer: though blacks in the U.S. make up over 13% of the general population, they make up just 1.32 percent of the total number of people professionally affiliated (as grad students or faculty) with U.S..
Philosophy Placement Data: An Update on APDA
Academic Placement Data and Analysis (APDA), a project funded by the American Philosophical Association (APA) and headed by Carolyn Dicey Jennings (UC Merced), aims “to make information on academic job placement useful to prospective graduate students in philosophy.” The project has just been updated to include new data, which Professor Jennings describes in a post ..
In Development: Philosophy Archive & Journal with Crowd-Sourced Peer Review
Imagine a website philosophers can join to post their papers for reading, reviewing (on a wiki), and upvoting/downvoting by other members, and which will periodically publish a journal comprised of a selection of these papers (ones that make it through a review process they qualify for by getting enough upvotes). That’s what Populus will be once it is up and running..
Why Philosophy? (Guest Post By Ken Taylor)
The following is a reposting of a piece that originally appeared at Philosopher, a site run by Meena Krishnamurthy (University of Michigan). The author is Ken Taylor, the Henry Waldgrave Stuart Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University, cohost and co-creator of the nationally syndicated public radio program Philosophy Talk, and current president of the Pacific ..
Graded Assignments in Philosophy MOOCs
Philosophy professors generally like to assign papers to students. The format of a paper allows the student to exercise certain skills of careful exposition and argumentation in ways that quizzes and timed exams don’t. Massive open online courses (MOOCs) often do not include graded work—and certainly not graded papers. The massiveness and openness (inexpensivenes..
The Where, What, and When of Philosophy Jobs
Mark Alfano (Delft), one of today’s more data-driven moral philosophers, has taken information from PhilJobs regarding the location and types of advertised jobs and placed it on a map at Tableau Public. Here’s where the jobs are: (more…)
How To Treat Your Fellow Philosophers In Public
Jason Brennan (Georgetown) thinks that facts about public ignorance haven’t been sufficiently appreciated by political philosophers and political theorists. Such facts should temper our enthusiasm for democracy and make us more sympathetic to epistocracy (rule by the knowledgeable). The self-described “bleeding heart libertarian” recently published a book, Against D..
The Success Story of a High School Philosophy Club (guest post by Kirk Wolf)
Last year, I posted about the efforts of the Philosophy Club at Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy to raise money for used textbooks. The club’s advisor, Kirk Wolf (Delta College), has now written an update about the club which he thought Daily Nous readers would appreciate.
Those interested in starting or maintaining philosophy clubs (not just at high schools) wi..
Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update
For your consideration, the past week’s updates to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), and Wi-Phi, plus some bonus material… (more…)
Philosophy Department at IPFW Under Threat (guest post by Charlene Elsby)
The Philosophy Department at Indiana University – Purdue University, Fort Wayne (IPFW) is facing an ominous-sounding “restructuring,” owing to financial concerns. The university faces a $2-3 million revenue shortfall in next year’s $110 million budget, according to the News-Sentinel. (more…)
The Philosophy Twitterverse
What, if anything, should philosophers do on Twitter? The Blog of the APA has an interesting interview with longtime Twitterphile Kelly Truelove (@TrueSciPhi), who, among other things, keeps statistics on philosophers and their followers on Twitter, and he addresses this question. (more…)
Philosophy Talk’s Fundraising Troubles
During its last fundraiser, Philosophy Talk, the weekly radio show hosted by Stanford University’s John Perry and Kenneth Taylor, failed to make it more than 4% of the way to its $150,000 goal, according to The Stanford Daily. (more…)
Philosophy on Instagram
A philosopher who wishes to remain anonymous thinks philosophy needs more of a social media presence, and so created a philosophy-related Instagram account. She writes:
New Journal: European Journal of Japanese Philosophy
The inaugural issue of the European Journal of Japanese Philosophy is out. It’s a publication of the European Network of Japanese Philosophy (ENOJP). (more…)
The Biggest Problems Facing Science — How Different is Philosophy?
A few reporters at Vox conducted an unscientific survey of scientists to unpack the sense they’ve been getting that “science is in big trouble.” The result is a list of the seven biggest problems facing science, based on responses from 270 scientists. (more…)
Australasian Association of Philosophy Awards
The Australasian Association of Philosophy (AAP) has announced the winners of several of its 2016 awards. The list of prizes and winners is below. But first, notice that the AAP issues an award to non-philosophers: its Media Professionals’ Award. (more…)
Friendly Fire & Fiery Friendship: the Tenor of Philosophy Conversation (guest post by Joshua A. Miller)
The following is a guest post* by Joshua A. Miller (Loyola University Maryland). It is slightly edited version of a post originally published at his blog, Another Panacea, partly in response to the post here by Nomy Arpaly (Brown), “Is Polite Philosophical Conversation Possible?“
Competition: Philosophy Through Short Story
To encourage philosophical engagement with the public, the American Philosophical Association (APA) is funding a “Philosophy Through Fiction” short story competition. (more…)