Daily Nous

News for & about the philosophy profession

  • 2014 Lenssen Prize Winners

    The American Association of Philosophy Teachers awarded their 2014 Lenssen Prize to Ann J. Cahill and Stephen Bloch-Schulman, both of Elon University, for their…

  • Measuring “Meaning & Purpose” in Students’ Lives

    Wake Forest University is looking into ways to assess the quality of life of its students and alumni. Among the things the university would like…

  • Anything I Can Do For A Better Grade?

    It is that time of the year when the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, the semester is ending, and the students are…

  • 8-Bit Plato

    Platonic forms explained in an animation in the style of an old-fashioned video game. No, I don’t know why.

  • Philosophers Attempt Pictionary

    “I’m sorry Bentham, but the thing-in-itself is bit harder to depict than a goddman panopticon!” Well done, Existential Comics.

  • Top Philosophical Songs

    “Rock and Roll Philosopher” Grant Maxwell has compiled a list of the top 15 philosophical songs. I suspect many philosophers would give this list the…

  • Student Files Complaint Against University of Miami

    The female student who last year accused Colin McGinn of sexual harassment has now filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission…

  • The Issues Behind the Gossip

    The other day, a graduate student in philosophy posted her account of an affair she has had with an older, prominent philosopher who works…

  • Collegiality in Hiring

    In the end, the Happy Hour Test depends on affability, but its consequence goes beyond likability. If one “passes” the Happy Hour Test, I’d…

  • James Higginbotham (1941-2014)

    James Higginbotham, most recently Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California, has died. He worked mainly in philosophy of language, prior…

  • Heap of Links

    1. Wittgenstein and cricket. 2. The ethics of fashion. 3. A book of 33 interviews on the relation between science and religion 4. The…

  • Update on Rutgers-Newark Criminal Sexual Assault Case

    Judge in the Stubblefield case: “Even if you found D.J, has the ability to communicate, you can’t overturn 20 years of his being determined…

  • A Searchable Lewis

    You can now search all of the writings of David Lewis for specific words and phrases. The results show up listed by publication, with…

  • Color Commentary from Marcus Aurelius

    Stan Sloane: Welcome back everyone to Mile High Stadium. We’re here near the end of a very tense fourth quarter, with the score tied…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • The Kinds of Beings We Are: Curing Deafness Edition

    “We’re just trying to tweak the mammalian system a little bit to do what a lot of other species do naturally.” Those are the words…

  • Radical Suffering Reduction & Virtual Killings

    The Foundational Research Institute says that it “brings together researchers from diverse fields to examine how humanity can best reduce suffering in the future. We…

  • 4.5 Million Rea$ons for Optimism

    Andrew Chignell (Cornell) and Samuel Newlands (Notre Dame) are the recipients of a $4.5 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation for their project,…

  • Winners of the 2014 “World Thinker” Competition

    You may recall that 14 philosophers were among the candidates in Prospect Magazine’s 2014 World Thinker competition. The competition is over and the results are in.…