data
TagPrestige, Career Paths, and Job Satisfaction Among Recent Philosophy PhDs (guest post)
Philosophy PhDs whose family backgrounds are higher in socioeconomic status are more likely to earn their doctorates from more prestigious programs. The graduates of more prestigious PhD programs are more likely to prefer academic employment to non-academic employment, and to obtain it. (more…)
AI in the Philosophy Job Market (guest post) (updated)
A few weeks ago, I was contacted by a reporter working on a story about the extent to which AI, as a topic of research and an area of specialization demanded by employers, was becoming dominant in philosophy. (more…)
Philosophy Majors’ Job Prospects and the Spread of AI Technology
A study by The Economist looked at how the employment prospects of college graduates have changed over the past few years as AI use by potential employers has increased. (more…)
Slight Decrease In US Philosophy Majors Continues
The number of students earning an undergraduate degree in philosophy in the United States declined for the third year in a row. (more…)
Where Should I Publish My X-Phi? A New Resource (guest post)
Some philosophy journals seem friendlier to work in experimental philosophy (x-phi) than others. (more…)
Who Wins Fellowships in the Arts & Humanities?
“Unfortunately, the types of people for whom such fellowships might represent the greatest departure from their everyday experience—and whose career trajectories might be most dramatically shifted given freedom from their usual constraints—are infrequently their beneficiaries.” (more…)
Publishing, Teaching, and the Philosophy Job Market (guest post)
How many publications do early career job applicants in academic philosophy have? How many courses have they taught? How have the answers to these questions changed over the past decade? (more…)
Philosophy: More Empirical Than Ever
“In the early 1970s, fewer than 10% of articles cited any empirical sources. However, by the 2020s, this grew to over 50%.” (more…)
QS 2026 “World University Rankings” in Philosophy
The 2026 “QS World University Rankings” have been published. These contain rankings by subject matter, including philosophy. (more…)
How Old Philosophers Are When Their Influence Peaks?
Philosophers of the past 100 years or so have tended to reach “peak influence” between their early 50s and late 60s, according to a new analysis from Eric Schwitzgebel (UC Riverside). (more…)
Philosophy, Especially, Should Welcome Demographic Diversity
“Philosophy is a dialectical discipline that thrives in the clash, reconciliation, and creative synthesis of diverse views; and our views are profoundly shaped by our cultural backgrounds and life experiences. Uniformity dulls our collective philosophical thinking. A fair and flourishing discipline would treasure rather than repel those who have historically been ex..
Discussion Arcs for Topics and Philosophers (guest post)
When over the past 85 years have certain terms and persons been more or less frequently discussed in the philosophical literature? (more…)
Crafting a Critical Thinking Course that Sticks with Students (guest post)
A forthcoming study shows that a critical thinking course focused on a few good, relatively easy to learn, and useful reasoning strategies can impart lessons that remain effective long after the course has ended. (more…)
How Much Reading Do You Assign? Poll Results
Last week, I asked philosophy instructors to let us know how much reading they assign in their undergraduate courses. (more…)
Placement, Program Ratings, Student Comments, and Keywords: an APDA Update (guest post)
What’s the latest data about philosophy graduate programs? (more…)
The Dangers of Data on Teaching in Higher Education
“The dirtiest secret in higher education is that there is no good data on the quality of teaching and teachers on college campuses.” (more…)
Current & Recent Philosophy Grad Students: APDA Is Reaching Out
If you’re a current philosophy PhD student or received your PhD within the past decade, Academic Philosophy Data and Analysis (APDA) wants to make sure you’re counted in its 2025 survey, which is running until the end of the year. (more…)
The Plummeting Philosophy Major in the US (guest post)
Just a few years ago, the philosophy major seemed on the rise. Now, the data reveal a different picture. (more…)
The Hidden Costs of Being a Non-Native English Speaker in Philosophy (guest post)
Last year, a group of scholars launched an international survey of philosophers on the dominant language of philosophy today—“academic English”—and the challenges faced by native and non-native speakers of everyday English as they work in this language. (more…)
Women’s Share of US PhDs in Philosophy Increased by about One-Third Over Past Decade (guest post)
Women earned 37% of US Philosophy Doctorates in 2024, up from 28% ten years ago. But what explains the change? (more…)
Human vs. AI in Logic Tasks: a Study
Philosopher-turned-software developer Brian Rabern is conducting a study comparing human and artificial intelligence (AI) performance on logic problems, and he is looking for student volunteers to take a short online survey. (more…)
How the Public Sees Philosophy: Insights from a National Survey in the Czech Republic (guest post)
What do ordinary people think philosophy is for? (more…)
How to Show that Studying Philosophy Improves Thinking Skills
How would you determine whether studying philosophy improves critical thinking?
Studying Philosophy Makes People Better Thinkers: Further Data
A new study “offers the strongest evidence to date that studying philosophy does indeed make people better thinkers.” (more…)
Are Human Reasoning Abilities Declining?
In a piece at the Financial Times (and in a Bluesky thread about it), John Burn-Murdoch, the chief data reporter for the newspaper, goes over some of the worrying findings that might support a conclusion that human capacities to reason and understand are “deteriorating,” especially since the early-to-mid 2010s. (more…)
Author Gender in Elite Philosophy Journals (guest post) (updated)
What percentage of the authors in elite philosophy journals are women? (more…)
A Trove of Data about Philosophy Departments in the US
How many philosophy departments are there in the United States? How many people do they employ? How many students are there in philosophy courses each year? How many people major or minor in philosophy? How many are working on graduate degrees in philosophy? (more…)
How Many People Applied for Academic Philosophy Jobs in 2024? (guest post)
How many people applied to academic philosophy jobs last year? Which types of institutions had the most applicants? Which types of jobs? (more…)