public philosophy
Philosophy & Public Policy: Lessons from COVID-19 (guest post by James Wilson)
“Ethical advice will not make a difference to practice, unless it is received by the right people at the right time.” (more…)
Bad Publisher Behavior? Wiley and Philosophy & Public Affairs
Is there reason to be concerned about academic freedom and editorial autonomy at journals published by Wiley? (more…)
Publicly Engaged Philosophy: A Dispatch (guest post by Jennifer Morton)
“What I’m suggesting here is… doing philosophy with the public not just because of what we think we can offer with our expertise, but because of what we think the public can offer philosophy.” (more…)
A White Paper on Publication Ethics in Philosophy
A project that “seeks to foster greater awareness among humanities scholars and editors about ethical issues in publishing, with a focus on the discipline of philosophy” (previously) last week published a white paper with its initial findings and recommendations. (more…)
Brazilian Government To Defund Philosophy in Public Universities
Jair M. Bolsonaro, the current president of Brazil, has announced on Twitter his plans to stop government funding of philosophy and sociology in the nation’s public universities. (more…)
“Philosophy in Plain Arabic” Aims to Bring Philosophy to the Public in the Arabic-Speaking World
Bel Arabi Falsafa (“Philosophy in Plain Arabic”) is a new initiative at the American University in Cairo that aims to “democratize access to philosophy and change popular perceptions of it not just in Egypt, but also in the Arabic-speaking world as a whole.” (more…)
Bringing the Philosophy of Self-Knowledge to the Public with a MOOC
Mitchell Green, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut, has created an ambitious MOOC (massive online open course) that he will be teaching this year. It is free and open to anyone with an internet connection. (more…)
New Journal: “Precollege Philosophy and Public Practice” (corrected)
A new journal, “Precollege Philosophy and Public Practice,” will have its inaugural issue in winter 2019. It will be an annual, interdisciplinary, online and open-access journal. (more…)
Research on Public Attitudes Towards Philosophy & Philosophers
“Science communication is a profession in its own right with journals, higher degrees and careers paths,” notes philosopher Brendan Larvor (Hertfordshire). Yet there does not appear to be much of a “philosophy communication” analog. He notes, “so far as I know there is no research on public attitudes towards philosophy and philosophers.” (more…)
Philosophy Has High Rate of Uncited Publications
A discipline-by-discipline analysis of data from Elsevier’s Scopus database concering over 10,000 pieces of research published between 2012 and 2016 shows that a massive amount of scholarly work goes uncited, according to a report in Times Higher Education. (more…)
New Philosophy Podcast on Politics and Public Discourse
Why We Argue is a new, interview-based podcast “that explores the triumphs and disasters of American political conversation.” It is hosted by Robert Talisse, professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University and is part of the Humility and Conviction in Public Life project directed by Michael Lynch, professor of philosophy at the University of Connecticut. (more…)..
Philosophy for the Public: With or Without Gimmicks?
Freelance philosopher and writer Nigel Warburton, whom you may know from Philosophy Bites, is prompted by the occasion of a straightforward interview with a philosopher in the mainstream media (Daniel Dennett on BBC Radio 4) to observe how rare it is, and then, in a series of tweets, come up with increasingly ridiculous pitches for TV and radio producers about how ..
Philosophy, Mainstream Media, and the Public
If you are an optimist there is no crisis. Philosophy departments are thriving; even if television isn’t covering philosophical debates Radio 4 is; and the internet offers every kind of philosophy, past and present. Publishers still offer a spectrum of philosophical books. If you are a cultural pessimist, however, the picture looks different. Postwar, we could watch..
From Prison in Illinois to Publication in The New Yorker with Help from a Philosophy Professor
Fifteen inmates at Statesville Correctional Center in Illinois took a course on mass incarceration with Northwestern University philosophy professor Jennifer Lackey. It was an interdisciplinary course with a range of guest lecturers, including Alex Kotlowitz, a writer and a senior lecturer in journalism at Northwestern. He gave them an assignment to write about thei..
Publications by U.S. Black Authors in Top Philosophy Journals: The Numbers
Liam Kofi Bright, a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University, has produced a study on the number of publications by black philosophers in the U.S. (“US BIPs”) that have appeared in highly regarded philosophy journals from 2003-2012. The results appear in a guest post at The Splintered Mind:
In total there were 30 publications by US BIPs for all journals dur..
Philosophy and the Internet Public
Though the internet is, in a number of ways, good for philosophy, it isn’t always good to philosophers. The needless hostility, harassment and scary threats, personal insults, bullheadedness, impatient demands, etc., widely broadcast for all to see (and discussed a bit here) can be a deterrent to participation and a nasty “reward” for engaging with the public.
Ex..
Philosophy’s Public Relations Moment — Were We Ready?
The Republican Presidential Primary Debate earlier this week led to a spike in public attention to the study of philosophy. Various news outlets covered Marco Rubio’s claim that the United States needs “more welders and less philosophers,” as well as other disparaging comments about philosophy by John Kasich and Ted Cruz (see previous post), along with responses by ..
In-Person Philosophy Courses for the Public
Does your institution offer in-person philosophy courses for the public? The Sydney School of Continental Philosophy (School of the Arts & Media, UNSW Australia) and The Melbourne School of Continental Philosophy (University of Melbourne) do. Courses are run during school breaks and in the evenings, are relatively inexpensive, have no prerequisites and no assessment..
Making Philosophy Journal Statistics Publicly Available
Philipp Blum, one of the co-editors of the journal, dialectica, has a request for other journal editors:
I think it would be very helpful if philosophy journals would make
publicly available much more information on acceptance rates and
submission statistics.
He notes that dialectica has been doing this for 14 years; check out these charts and graphs, which could s..
Philosophy with the Public
The widespread perception is that most faculty members do not engage with the public—either because they don’t want to or because they know they won’t be rewarded for it.
In The Chronicle of Higher Education, historian David M. Perry (Dominican University) discusses obstacles to public engagement by academics. This is something that should be of concern to philosoph..
Columbia Philosophy Grad Students Condemn Campus Arrests
“We call for the reversal of student suspensions and for departments to refuse to comply with university investigations or sanctions of students and employees participating in non-violent political action.”
“Why Philosophy?” Amod Sandhya Lele
Amod Sandhya Lele is interviewed by Céline Leboeuf. (more…)
Does Cutting Philosophy Help A University’s Budget?
“More than a year after its faculty cuts, enrollment at Emporia State has fallen 12.5 percent even though enrollment at other public institutions in the state rose 2 percent.” (more…)
University Revokes Philosopher’s Visiting Professorship over Signing of “Philosophy for Palestine” Letter (updated)
The University of Cologne yesterday withdrew its invitation to Nancy Fraser (New School) to take up its 2024 Albertus Magnus Professorship, a visiting position that the university considers a “special honor,” because Professor Fraser had been one of several hundred signatories of the “Philosophy for Palestine” open letter published last November. (more…)
“Why Philosophy?” Kieran Setiya
A series of interviews with philosophers will be a new regular feature at Daily Nous. (more…)
Sanders Foundation Names 44 Philosophy in Media Fellows
The Marc Sanders Foundation has announced the names of forty-four philosophers selected to take part in its Philosophy in Media fellowship program this summer. (more…)
Political Philosophy Publishes Its First Article
Political Philosophy, the journal created by an editorial team consisting largely of former editors at the currently-in-limbo Journal of Political Philosophy, has published its first article. (more…)
Progress & New Ideas in Philosophy
“In what state do we find the research produced in academic analytic philosophy?… Things are better than they’ve been for eighty years or so.” (more…)