public philosophy
American Philosophers Should Condemn the War in Gaza (guest post)
“American academic philosophers should speak out to condemn the Israeli assault on Gaza.” (more…)
Lawrence Pasternack (1967-2024)
Lawrence Pasternack, professor of philosophy at Oklahoma State University, has died. (more…)
Philosophers, Should You Pay to Publish Your Paper? (guest post)
“In a survey of 27 philosophy of science journal editors we conducted in 2023, many, if not most of them, did not know that they were working in a transformative journal.” A what now? (more…)
Diversity Reading List Dollar-Matching Fundraiser
The Diversity Reading List (DRL), which gathers and organizes philosophical texts written by authors from groups that have typically been underrepresented in philosophy so as to make it easier for others to make use of them, and puts together reading group blueprints on various topics, is currently running a fundraiser with the Marc Sanders Foundation. (more…)
Philosophical Norms & Cancel Culture
There are “certain norms that prevail in the discipline of philosophy that are threatened by the new communication environment,” according to Joseph Heath (Toronto). (more…)
The Demand for Philosophers
Last week I was part of a panel invited to discuss “The State of Philosophy: Challenges, Threats, and Strategies” at the Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association (APA). (more…)
Lenz from Groningen to Hagen
Martin Lenz, currently professor and chair of philosophy at the University of Groningen, will be moving to the Institute of Philosophy at FernUniversität in Hagen, where he will be professor of philosophy. (more…)
Abdollah (Omid) Payrow Shabani (1962-2023)
Abdollah (Omid) Payrow Shabani, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Guelph, died last month. (more…)
Philosophia Introduces Outstanding Referee Award
Philosophia is now offering an annual Outstanding Referee award, and has just announced the inaugural co-winners. (more…)
Shein from Ben-Gurion to Hebrew
Noa Shein, previously a tenured senior lecturer in philosophy at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, has moved to Hebrew University, where she is a tenured senior lecturer in philosophy and director of the university’s Edelstein Center for the History and Philosophy of Science, Technology and Medicine. (more…)
Nicholas Rescher (1928-2024)
Nicholas Rescher, professor of philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh, well-known for his work on logic, metaphysics, and epistemology, has died.
Mini-Heap
Recent additions to the Heap… (more…)
Potsdam & the Future of Liberal Arts Education
The administration at the State University of New York (SUNY) Potsdam decided earlier this year to discontinue its philosophy major, and has now moved to cutting faculty. (more…)
JPP Still Accepting Submissions Despite No Editorial Team
Several months after the entire editorial team departed from the Journal of Political Philosophy owing to the decision of its publisher, Wiley, to fire the journal’s founder and longtime editor-in-chief, Robert Goodin (see here), its website says that the journal is “edited by renowned international scholars from world-leading centres of thought” and is still accep..
Disproportionate and Intended Harm to Innocents in Israel’s War in Gaza (guest post)
“Experts on just war disagree on what precisely counts as permissible proportion. But clearly this is grossly disproportionate.”
New Editors for JESP Announced
The current executive editor of the Journal of Ethics & Social Philosophy (JESP) is stepping down, and the journal will be getting a new pair of editors and new institutional home. (more…)
The Questions a Referee Should Ask of the Paper They’re Reviewing
Concerned that referees for philosophy journals too often recommend a paper be rejected merely because they can think up objections to it, Richard Yetter Chappell (Miami) suggests a set of questions they should focus on instead. (more…)
Gifts You Would Want: A Crowd-Sourced Gift Guide with a Prize (4 Updates)
Alas, I did not have time to put together a new gift guide this year, but I have an idea: suggest a gift and get a chance to win a gift.
Mini-Heap
New links… (more…)
Philosophical Uses for LLMs: Modeling Philosophers
Now that OpenAI has made it possible for members of the (paying) public to customize its large language model (LLM), ChatGPT, with special instructions, extra knowledge, and particular combinations of skills, the prospects of using it to create useful, interesting, and maybe even insightful “model philosophers” have improved. (more…)
Philosophers Against Malaria: Fundraising Competition Across Departments
What good can philosophers do? Let’s see. (more…)
The Appropriateness of Appropriateness
A journal’s editorial team conditioned the acceptance of an article on the removal of two footnotes they said were “distracting,” its author reports. Distracting how? The author thinks the editors judged the footnotes to be salacious, and thus inappropriate for the journal, though it’s not clear that was their reasoning. (more…)
Proportionality, Psychic Harm, and the Day After (guest post)
“Once we count psychic harm, it looks like Israel’s war might be proportional. But it could be proportional only if the Israelis aren’t imposing on basically all Gazans a greater psychic burden than the psychic burden that Israelis hope to avoid,” which could be the case “if Israel takes it upon itself, as soon as possible, to reassure the Gazans that Gaza will not ..
Mini-Heap
More interesting stuff for the Heap… (more…)
Condemnations, Moral Guidance, and Gaza (guest post)
“The absence of moral guidance by philosophical condemners conveys that they do not think of Israelis as friends whom they want to morally improve. Perhaps, worse, it reflects the sense that there is something morally improper about providing Israelis with guidance and advice…” (more…)
Mini-Heap
Latest links… (more…)
John Lachs (1934-2023)
John Lachs, professor emeritus of philosophy at Vanderbilt University, has died. (more…)
Philosopher Chosen to Lead Center on “Computation and Just Communities”
Dartmouth University earlier this fall launched its Susan and James Wright Center for the Study of Computation and Just Communities, and named philosophy professor Susan Brison as its inaugural director. (more…)