templeton
$2.6 Milllion Grant for “The Geography of Philosophy”
Philosophers Edouard Machery (Pittsburgh) and Stephen Stich (Rutgers) and anthropologist H. Clark Barrett (UCLA) have been awarded a $2,569,563 grant from the John Templeton Foundation to fund their project, “The Geography of Philosophy: An Interdisciplinary Cross-Cultural Exploration of Universality and Diversity in Fundamental Philosophical Concepts.” (more…)
Scientism’s Threat To Philosophy
So, just as naturalism-as-opposed-to-apriorism succumbs to scientism when it falsely assumes that whatever isn’t a priori must be science, naturalism-as-opposed-to-supernaturalism succumbs to scientism when it falsely assumes that whatever isn’t religion must be science. Granted, theological “explanations” don’t really explain anything; but it doesn’t follow, and it..
Large Grant To Support Pre-College Philosophy In Australasia
The Federation of Australasian Philosophy in Schools Association (FAPSA) has been awarded $281,656 AUD (roughly US$224,000) to fund a project that brings philosophy to pre-college students. (more…)
A Case For Co-Authorship In Philosophy (guest post by Joshua A. Miller and Eric Schliesser)
The following is a guest post* co-authored by Joshua A. Miller (Georgetown) and Eric Schliesser (Amsterdam). A version of it was previously published at both of their blogs: Miller’s Another Panacea and Schliesser’s Digressions & Impressions. It includes information about the frequency of co-authorship in different disciplines, discusses varieties of co-authorship a..
For The First Time, A Philosopher Is Named “University Professor” In The UC System
Forty-one professors hold the title of “University Professor” across the ten-school University of California system. The title is “reserved for scholars of international distinction who are also recognized as teachers of exceptional ability.” The latest scholar to be named a University Professor is also the first philosopher to be given the honor: John Martin Fische..
$2 Million in Fellowships for Improving Public Discourse
Humility and Conviction in Public Life, an interdisciplinary endeavor at the University of Connecticut directed by philosopher Michael P. Lynch and funded by the John Templeton Foundation, has awarded a total of $2 million to ten scholars engaged in various projects to improve public discourse. (more…)
Charles Taylor Wins Million Dollar Berggruen Prize
Charles Taylor, professor emeritus of philosophy at McGill University, is the winner of the inaugural Berggruen Prize. (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…)
Big Philo and Distortions in the Philosophical Research Agenda
In a post at Digressions & Impressions, Eric Schliesser (Amsterdam), discusses the influence of big money on academic research, with a focus on “displacement effects.”
The contestation of ideas is costly in time and effort. This matters because time and effort are scarce resources. All other things being equal, it follows that if some ideas X are being discussed/..
Happiness and Well-Being Grant Winners
Last summer, Daniel Haybron (St. Louis University) was awarded $5.1 million for a three year project on happiness and well-being, most of it from the John Templeton Foundation. The project launched an interdisciplinary grant competition, the winners of which were just announced. Of three hundred applicants, twenty-one teams received awards together totaling $3.3 mil..
Nearly $1 Million To Study Ethics of Gene Editing
The Hastings Center, an independent, interdisciplinary bioethics research institute in upstate New York, was recently awarded nearly $1 million from the John Templeton Foundation for a three-year project to study the ethical and social implications of gene editing methods (like Crispr-Cas9) on germline cells (changes to which would be passed down to future generatio..
$5.75 Million for Philosopher-Led Interdisciplinary Project on Public Discourse
Michael Lynch, professor of philosophy at the University of Connecticut, has been awarded a $5.75 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation for The Public Discourse Project: Balancing Humility and Conviction in Public Life, an interdisciplinary research and engagement project. Historian Brendan Kane is the co-principal investigator on the grant. It is the sin..
Thanks to This Month’s Advertisers
Daily Nous thanks March’s advertisers. See the ads in right side bar for:
- The Public Discourse Project at the University of Connecticut’s Humanities Institute
- Academic Cross-Training Fellowships at the John Templeton Foundation
- The George Washington University’s Masters Programs in Philosophy
- Eidyn, the Edinburgh Centre for Epistemology, Mind, and Normativ..
Four Philosophers of Biology Win $2.1m
Alan Love (Minnesota), C. Kenneth Waters (Calgary), Marcel Weber (Geneva), and William Wimsatt (Minnesota, Chicago) have won a $2.1 million grant from the Templeton Foundation for their project “From Biological Practice to Scientific Metaphysics”. The funding will support, among other things, summer institutes, lectures, post-docs, and graduate students. More infor..
18 “Hope & Optimism” Projects Receive $2m Funding
Hope and Optimism: Conceptual and Empirical Investigations, an interdisciplinary initiative headed by Andrew Chignell (Cornell) and Samuel Newlands (Notre Dame) which last year received about $4.5 million from the John Templeton Foundation, has just announced $2 million in funding for 18 projects. Philosophers receiving funding in this round include:
- Matthew Ben..
Projects Funded by New Directions in the Study of Mind
New Directions in the Study of Mind, a project headed by Tim Crane (Cambridge) and funded primarily with a £1.25 million grant from the Templeton Foundation, has announced the initiatives it will be supporting:
- “Attention, Not Self: The Nature of the Conscious Mind” — Jonardon Ganeri (NYU)
- “Primitive Colours and Non-reductive Minds” — Derek Brown (Brandon)
- “..
$3.9 Million for “Moral Superstars” Search
The Beacon Project is a new three-year initiative in psychology and philosophy “to find and define the morally exceptional and better understand how to improve moral character,” according to a press release from Wake Forest University. The project is led by professor of psychology William F. Fleeson (Wake Forest) and includes philosophers Christian B. Miller (Wake F..
$2.1 Million for the Meaning of Life
Jennifer Frey (South Carolina) and Candace Vogler (Chicago) have received a $2.1 million grant for their project, “Virtue, Happiness, and Meaning of Life.” The project will be jointly hosted by the Neubauer Family Collegium for Culture and Society at the University of Chicago and the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of South Carolina and is funded prim..
Experience Project Fellows Announced
The Experience Project, a Templeton-funded, $4.8 million, three-year initiative at the University of Notre Dame and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, has announced its Fellows for the 2015-16 and 2015-17 projects.
The project has two parts, one on Religious Experience and one on Transformative Experience. The Religious Experience Fellowship winners a..
Al Mele Interviewed at “What Is It Like…?”
Clifford Sosis (Coastal Carolina) continues his series of interviews at “What Is It Like To Be A Philosopher?” (previously) with Florida State University’s Al Mele. A synopsis:
In this interview, Al Mele talks about his early love of sports (especially football), games and reading, being an East Detroit greaser, getting a football scholarship, being disinterested..
Philosopher Awarded $5.1 Million for Study of Happiness
Philosopher Daniel Haybron (St. Louis University) has won a $5.1 million for a three year project on happiness and well-being. Most of that funding—$4.6 million— is coming from the John Templeton Foundation, with the remaining $453,000 coming from St. Louis University. From a press release from SLU:
Titled Happiness and Well-Being: Integrating Research Across..
Over $1m for the Philosophy of Quantum Gravity
Nick Huggett (UIC) and Christian Wüthrich (Geneva) have won a $1.1 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation to support their project, “Space and Time after Quantum Gravity,” on the philosophical implications of theories of quantum gravity (a continuation of their “Beyond Spacetime” project).
Professor Wüthrich writes:
The premise of the project is that..
Lack of Philosophical Progress Owed to Procrastination, Study Hopes to Find
Historians of philosophy and experimental philosophers have teamed up to determine why there has been so little progress in philosophy. “Socrates asked ‘what is the nature of the good life?’ a couple of thousand years ago,” says Jeffrey McDonough (Harvard), “and now, in 2015, my department is stuffed full of people still—supposedly—working on this question and o..
Arizona’s Freedom Center Wins $2.9m Grant
The John Templeton Foundation has awarded a $2.9 million grant to the University of Arizona’s Center for the Philosophy of Freedom, which is directed by David Schmidtz.
According to press release from the university:
The gift to the center, part of the UA’s College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, will be used to help the center to collaborate with the colle..
More on Funding & Philosophy
A couple of weeks back we discussed questions related to funding and philosophy in the context of Daniel Dennett’s review of a recent book by Alfred Mele (original post; Mele’s reply). Matthew Brown, a philosopher of science (UT Dallas), thinks that one of the central questions raised there should get more attention. He wants us to “think past the specific details o..
Funding and Philosophical Results (Updated w/ Replies by Dennett)
Suppose you were reviewing a scientific report that drew the conclusion that a diet without fat was in fact unhealthy, and that butter and cream and even bacon in moderation were good for you, and suppose further that the science was impeccable, carefully conducted and rigorously argued. Good news! Yes, but the author acknowledges in fine print that the research was..
Duke Philosophers Receive $1.8m Grant
Felipe De Brigard and Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, both at Duke University, have received a $1.8 million dollar grant from the John Templeton Foundation to conduct yearly Summer Seminars in Neuroscience and Philosophy (SSNAP) starting in May, 2016. Each SSNAP will be a 15 day long seminar in which neuroscientists and philosophers will learn about each other’s disciplin..
Varieties of Understanding – Grant Winners
“Varieties of Understanding: Perspectives from Psychology, Philosophy, and Theology” is a project funded with $4.2 million from the Templeton Foundation, and which is lead by philosophers Stephen Grimm (Fordham), Michael Strevens (NYU), Gordon Graham (Princeton Theological Seminary), and others. They recently announced the winners of their grant competition, which i..