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The Relevance of Analytic Philosophy

This paper holds that philosophy is and has always been relevant to life. The history on this matter is against the likes of Kripke and Soames who claim otherwise, even when it comes to the recent Analytic tradition. But, even more importantly, we argue that even if this history is not quite right, that philosophers have both moral and instrumental reasons for makin..

No Idea Whether Americans Want Philosophy, According to New Survey

A survey based on 115 forums held around the United States brought some seemingly good news about what the public thinks of philosophical education in college:

Nearly 9 in 10 of those returning questionnaires strongly or somewhat agreed that college should be “where students learn to develop the ability to think critically by studying a rich curriculum that includes..

Teaching Philosophy in Prisons

Currently over two million people in the United States are in prison, and about nine million worldwide. There are many questions worth asking about the systems of criminal justice that lead to that result. The focus of this post, though, is quite narrow. It concerns just one thing academic philosophers can do, as academic philosophers, in light of this: teach prison..

When Others Philosophize in Public

Today’s column by economist Gregory Mankiw in the New York Times provides an occasion to reflect on a problem for public philosophy. In the column, Mankiw contrasts a rudimentary form of utilitarianism with a thoughtless version of the precautionary principle. Even if you agree with the policy prescriptions that he concocts from this mix of ingredients, no philosoph..

“We shouldn’t attempt to fit ‘outreach’ or ‘engagement’ into one of the existing three categories . It doesn’t fit neatly into those categories. And, more importantly, all of us should be doing it as part of our jobs, not just a few of us. We are in an all-hands-on-deck situation.” (more…)

Barry Lam, who until recently was Associate Professor of Philosophy at Vassar College, and who is well-known as the creator of the popular philosophy podcast Hi-Phi Nation, is now Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Riverside. (more…)

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