Tag: philosophy

Issues in the Philosophy Profession

What Explains Female Under-Representation Among Philosophy Majors?

July 2, 2015

Evidence from a new study seeking to explain why women are under-represented among philosophy majors suggests that they are not discouraged by introductory philosophy courses, but rather come…
Publishing

Should Philosophy Articles Be Shorter?

June 30, 2015

“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.” This line is attributed to several authors, but probably originated with Pascal.…
News, philosophy

Philosophers on the Supreme Court’s Gay Marriage Ruling

June 29, 2015

On Friday, June 26th, the Supreme Court of the United States announced its ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, holding that the Fourteenth Amendment of the…
Philosophy and Culture, Public Philosophy and Outreach

If You Want to Do Good, Should You Get a Philosophy PhD?

June 28, 2015

Suppose you wanted to choose a career based on how much good it will allow you to do. Assessing careers with that in mind…
Guest Post, philosophy

Metaphysics as Intellectual Ergonomics (guest post by Elijah Millgram)

June 25, 2015

This is the fifth in a series of guest posts* by Elijah Millgram (Utah) based on themes from his new book, The Great Endarkenment: Philosophy for…
Data, Publishing

“Sleeping Beauty” Papers in Philosophy (updated)

June 24, 2015

“Sleeping Beauty” papers “lie dormant for years before experiencing a sudden spike in citations as they are discovered and recognized as important.” A recent…
Awards Grants Honors

Philosopher Awarded $5.1 Million for Study of Happiness

June 23, 2015

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…
Data

Philosophy Placement Data Analysis Project

June 23, 2015

A new research project to collect and analyze job placement data in academic philosophy, funded by the American Philosophical Association (APA), is underway. The…
Philosophical Resources

Help Save Mill’s Library

June 22, 2015

There are efforts afoot to preserve John Stuart Mill’s personal library, currently housed at Somerville Library at Oxford University. It is “an extraordinary collection…
News

Philosophers on the Charleston Massacre

June 22, 2015

About 9 p.m., the Bible study concludes. As the group prepares to share a concluding prayer, Roof suddenly stands, pulls out a .45-caliber semi-automatic…
philosophy, professionalism

“Dirty Tricks” for Seminars and Talks (guest post)

June 19, 2015

The following guest post was authored by Josh Parsons, and originally published here on June 19th, 2015. Parsons died on April 11th, 2017. At…
Issues in the Philosophy Profession

Critical Thinking Chair Goes to HAZMAT Specialist

June 18, 2015

A few years ago, the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) received a donation to create the Eugene H. Fram Chair in Applied Critical Thinking (previously).…
Guest Post, philosophy

Metaphysics by Forgetting (guest post by Elijah Millgram)

June 17, 2015

This is the fourth in a series of guest posts* by Elijah Millgram (Utah) based on themes from his new book, The Great Endarkenment: Philosophy for…
Teaching

Diversity Reading List for Philosophy

June 17, 2015

A new website sponsored by the School of Philosophy, Religion, and History of Science at the University of Leeds offers philosophers a way to…
Philosophy Websites

Cogito: A New Group Philosophy Blog

June 17, 2015

Cogito, a new group philosophy blog, has launched. It currently has a roster of nine philosophers, all based in Australia: Matthew Beard (Australian Defence…
Issues in the Philosophy Profession

APA Issues Letter on Sexual Harassment

June 16, 2015

The Board of Officers of the American Philosophical Association (APA) has published an open letter on sexual harassment. It is addressed ” first and…
News

Philosophers on Rachel Dolezal (updated)

June 15, 2015

Rachel Dolezal, “in recent years… has portrayed herself physically, and on social media platforms, as a woman of black African-American heritage. However, her parents, Ruthanne…
News

The Philosophy of Passing

June 13, 2015

The story of Rachel Dolezal’s outing as a white woman (insert whatever scare quotes you think appropriate there) is being widely discussed all over…
Publishing

Moratorium and New Editors at Mind

June 12, 2015

Thomas Baldwin (York), the current editor of Mind, writes that the journal will cease accepting new submissions for several months, starting in July, so…
philosophy

What Kinds of Things Count as Philosophy?

June 11, 2015

Academic philosophers in Anglophone Ph.D.-granting departments tend to have a narrow conception of what counts as valuable philosophical work. Hiring, tenure, promotion, and prestige…

Heap of Links

Is there anything to the concept of “intrinsic human dignity”? — yes, says Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, and "it names a burden as much as a distinction"
“Intuition is the cognitive means by which the conceptual structure of a situation is revealed to us” — whether that situation is a stylized thought experiment or a real world experience, says Marc A. Moffett
“Professors can’t fix the problem on their own” — Victor Kumar on what university administrators need to do address AI's threat to higher education
“The wall between jus ad bellum and jus in bello, which had sustained his theory for almost half a century, was no longer sturdy” — a profile of Michael Walzer, focusing on his thoughts about just war theory and the Israeli-Palestine conflict
We may think that we lose something significant when AI beats us to a discovery — if we do, Daniel Greco says, that seems to imply we gained something significant, too
“Once upon a time there were a couple of handsome naturalistic philosophers working in and around the philosophy of fiction” — thoughts on new directions in philosophy of fiction, from several philosophers
What is the debate over whether trans women are women even about? — Katie Zhou argues that it's about which facts are granted "the cross-contextual significance and stickiness characteristic of gender"
We’re putting human brain cells into mice brains — One moral risk of this, says Mackenzie Graham, is a decrease in our ability to interpret what mice behavior tells us about their experiences and welfare
The Rawls Game — with instructions, background, advice, and downloadable character cards
“The central question would shift from ‘How do we maximize shareholder value?’ to ‘How do different forms of organization distribute power, risk and reward — and which should we strengthen?'” — Chris Marquis on the case for abolishing, or at least radically changing, business schools
Asking “How did I get here?” may help us reflect on the nature of personal identity in ways that asking “Who am I?” cannot — Marya Schechtman's 2024 Central Division Meeting Presidential Address
“Collecting is a game, but what kind of game? It is an imperfect information game of acquisition” — a theory of collecting, from Steven Hales
“A general human tendency: to overestimate how far we have come in the progress of human knowledge” — a lengthy interview with Thomas Nagel
“Many couples do not survive trauma like this” — A profile of Susan Brison—who was brutally attacked in 1990, and who wrote about it in Aftermath—and her husband, Thomas Trezise, who has now written his own book stemming from those events
“Bad AI Consciousness Takes” Bingo Card — Henry Shevlin's area of specialization is becoming a popular topic in popular discourse, and he can't stand the "cavalcade of terrible takes"
Does the principle of sufficient reason imply panpsychism? If it does, do we then ponens or tollens? — Sam Kimpton-Nye on these questions and the "demand for intelligibility"
PTSD flashbacks may be harmful, but they may also be helpfully “resupplying phenomenal experience” to those who, owing to trauma, are “grasp alienated” — Michaela McSweeney on trauma and "madness-as-strategy"
A look at the very first issue of Mind — Brett Mullins surveys its articles on the occasion of the journal's 150th anniversary
The most bizarre plagiarism-related story ever — featuring: a death, an investigator, a dissertation, a mysterious red book, and more
New data on earnings by major and university — though not all universities

All Links →

Latest Comments

Matthew Hammerton on Coordinating the Philosophy Profession’s Response to the Use of AI in Research
Given the description of the conference, I think the title of this post needs a small correction: "Coordinating the US Philosophy Profession’s Response to the Use of AI…
Hey Nonny Mouse on Coordinating the Philosophy Profession’s Response to the Use of AI in Research
Like the situation in Palestine, this looks like the sort of issue on which individual philosophers should offer opinions rather than something on which philosophers should take an…
HotWheelReggie1991 on Coordinating the Philosophy Profession’s Response to the Use of AI in Research
I think we might have an easier time of things getting the field of academic philosophy to develop a coordinated response to the problem of free will.
Kenny Easwaran on Coordinating the Philosophy Profession’s Response to the Use of AI in Research
I am skeptical that coordination on something like this is either possible or desirable for an entity as large and diverse as the philosophical community. But I do…
Rollo Burgess on Linguistic and Conceptual Justice in AI
I saw a great lecture from some researcher one of the labs about this: it's much more interesting. The LLM isn't fundamentally working in any language; the patterns…
Patrick Lin on Linguistic and Conceptual Justice in AI
Signed! The Conversation had published several articles that speak to or are related to this important but hidden concern, e.g.: https://theconversation.com/large-language-models-often-prioritize-western-moral-values-overlooking-other-cultures-285660 https://theconversation.com/ais-fluency-in-other-languages-hides-a-western-worldview-that-can-mislead-users-a-scholar-of-indonesian-society-explains-276865 https://theconversation.com/ai-systems-are-built-on-english-but-not-the-kind-most-of-the-world-speaks-249710 https://theconversation.com/how-generative-ai-could-change-how-we-think-and-speak-267118
Patrick Lin on Coordinating the Philosophy Profession’s Response to the Use of AI in Research
Very timely. Best of luck, Barry and team!
Filippo Contesi on Linguistic and Conceptual Justice in AI
Not English-only but English is superdominant and so most LLMs default to English. China's LLMs might be different…
philatetelist on Linguistic and Conceptual Justice in AI
This is all news to me. So, is it true that most LLM's are trained on a corpus that is English-only, and then generate non-English output only at…
Matthew Duncombe on Timothy Smiley (1930-2026)
Very sorry to read about this. I only met Tim Smiley a handful of times, but his erudition, intelligence and kindness, and interest in ancient logic made a…
James Mackay on Calls for Papers / Grants / Etc.
Byung-Chul Han and Contemporary Culture. Online (hosted by European University Cyprus). 19 March 2027. Abstracts due 18 January 2027. https://byungchulhanstudies.org/call-for-papers/An online symposium putting Byung-Chul Han’s concepts – burnout,…
Student Philosopher on Where Intuitions Conflict
But the history of philosophy shows us no cases in which adept questioners left their interlocutors in aporia Mad Max – That's Bait
Vinicius Rodrigues on Where Intuitions Conflict
One of my main concerns with your answer to x-phi studies is that it makes having an intuition a difficult thing to pick out in the stream of…
philatetelist on Where Intuitions Conflict
This is a startling hypothesis, because if one and the same individual can have conflicting intuitions about cases, then a philosophically adept questioner should be able to elicit…
Patrick Lin on Death Just Got Out of This Truck (guest post)
“You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the world, and there's still going to be somebody who hates peaches.”— Dita Von Teese, American philosopher