colorado
Support for Cheryl Abbate (updated w/ statement from Marquette Pres.)
As reported a few days ago, Marquette University philosophy graduate student and instructor Cheryl Abbate has been the subject of defamatory and hostile politically-motivated blog posts by Marquette associate professor John McAdams. The story has predictably spread across the internet, and has now appeared on the Fox News website with a lying headline, typical slant..
Video Interview Do’s & Don’ts
Many departments are turning towards the use of Skype and other forms of video-conferencing for first-round interviews, and such interviews are sometimes among the first times candidates and search committee members have used such technology. Noting this, Professor Mitzi Lee, placement director at the University of Colorado, writes in with a request to discuss some ..
Panel Set for Barnett’s Hearing
An article in the Daily Camera reports on the composition of the faculty panel who will meet on December 4th and 5th to hear the University of Colorado’s case for firing associate professor of philosophy David Barnett (previously). The panel includes six faculty from the University of Colorado, none of whom are from the philosophy department. From the article:
Ac..
Barnett Sues CU-Boulder for $2m (updated)
David Barnett, whom the University of Colorado is moving to fire (previously), is suing the university for $2 million, claiming that university Chancellor Phil DiStefano and philosophy professor Alison Jaggar made defamatory statements about him. From The Daily Camera:
In his notice of claim, Barnett says the statements made by CU officials have damaged his reput..
Philosopher’s Article Inspires Charity Challenge (M.A.D. Philosophy)
Last month, Ben Hale (Colorado) published an article in Slate, “The Most Terrifying Thing About Ebola,” that emphasized how the disease piggybacks on human impulse to physically express care and affection for the sick and dying. Inspired by this article, Karin Tamerius, M.D., created a A Day Without Touch, a fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Front..
Scam Journals and Publishers
Scholarly Open Access is a website run by Jeffrey Beall, a librarian at Auraria Library at the University of Colorado Denver, that provides “critical analysis of scholarly open-access publishing.” In other words, it lists and discusses journals and publishers that look highly suspect, some of which may just be scams. (via David Boonin)
Asking some basic questions a..
Ebola and Humanity
We must find a method of caring without touching, of contacting without making contact. The physiological barriers are, for the time being, necessary. But we cannot stop people from caring about one another, so we must create, for the time being, mechanisms for caring. Since we will never be able to beat back humanity, we must coordinate humanity, at the family leve..
What’s Wrong with Oxford Scholarship Online?
Oxford Scholarship Online (OSO) is the digital imprint for Oxford University Press, making available electronic versions of OUP books. According to Bob Pasnau (Colorado), they are terrible. His library started an OSO subscription and stopped purchasing hard copies of OUP books, and he has not been very happy.
For a great many purposes, I prefer to read material on s..
Update on Barnett
David Barnett, whom the University of Colorado is attempting to fire based on claims that he retaliated against a graduate student for her accusations of sexual assault by fellow graduate student (previously), “has been given relief from teaching duties, with pay, until he is given a hearing on the allegations against him,” according to his attorney. Barnett, an ass..
More on the Barnett story
The story about the University of Colorado beginning the steps of firing associate professor of philosophy David Barnett (previously) has been on the radio and television news here in Boulder.
Here is some further info on the story:
· Some philosophy students have come to Barnett’s defense.
· Barnett will be challenging the decision by appealing to the universi..
Heap of Links
1. The Good Society jounal is providing open access to its new special issue, “Democratic Theory and Mass Incarceration,” with articles by Elizabeth Anderson (Michigan), Christopher Bennett (Sheffield), and a number of political theorists and law professors.
2. Philosophy of extra-terrestrials? Carol Cleland (Colorado), Iris Fry (Technion), and Clément Vidal (Free U..
Philosopher to Head NEH
William D. “Bro” Adams, a philosopher who taught at Santa Clara University, UNC Chapel Hill, and Stanford, has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate to become the 10th Chairman for the National Endowment of the Humanities. Here is some background about him:
Adams earned his undergraduate degree in philosophy at Colorado College and a Ph.D. from the University of Califo..
Immortality Project Grant Winners Announced
The Immortality Project at UC Riverside, headed up by John Martin Fischer, has announced the winners of grants totaling $1.5 million. The winners include a number of philosophers working on a variety of projects.
Philosophers among the winners include Yuval Avnur (Scripps), Christopher Belshaw (Open University), Stephan Blatti (Memphis), Ben Bradley (Syracuse), Mik..
Pasnau on Critiques of Philosophy
In dismissing philosophy as an antiquated relic of our prescientific past, the scientist is making a very large and dubious assumption: that the abstract methods of philosophy, despite the discipline’s string of successes over recent centuries, have nothing more to contribute to our developing understanding of the world. Perhaps scientists think they already have th..
PIP #1: Huebner Interviews Maffie
A “pip” is defined variously as a small fruit seed, a dot on dice or dominoes, an exemplar. It is a verb meaning to crack or chip a hole in a shell. Wonderfully evocative, no? (It’s also the name of a disease which causes a crust on the tongues of birds but let’s ignore that for now as it is gross and doesn’t really work for what I’m going for.) For here, PIP stands..
Philosophy in 1000 Words or Less
Andrew Chapman, a philosophy graduate student at University of Colorado, has started a website called 1000-Word Philosophy, a collection of introductory philosophy essays, each 1000 words or less. From the site’s about page:
Professional philosophy can seem abstract, esoteric, and hyper-specialized. But we all ask and try to answer philosophical questions myriad time..
Trolley Problem Solved (Daily Mousse)
After years combing through the details and knotty issues of the Trolley Problem, Judith Jarvis Thomson has come up with what she says is a novel solution. In a new article appearing in the journal Capillus, she first irons out what the problem is:
A trolley is speeding down the track towards five people who are stuck to it and will be killed if the trolley hits th..
Philacronyms (Friday Fun)
This week’s Friday Fun comes courtesy of David Boonin (University of Colorado). Thank you, David, for your suggestion, and for inspiring others to send in their contributions to this occasional series (seriously, be inspired people, or this series may not last).
David writes, “The idea is to come up with a single sentence that summarizes the most important thing(s)..
Philosopher App Store (Friday Fun — an occasional series)
It’s Friday, and it is apparently a slow news day in the world of philosophy, so let’s make some fun. The Philosopher App Store is an idea some FB friends and I had a good time with several months back. At the time, one of them said, “someone needs to to post this on a blog.” Who am I to disagree? Here are some of my contributions from the first iteration of the sto..