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SEP, IEP, NDPR, Wi-Phi Weekly Update

This is where I’d normally post the past week’s additions and updates to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), and Wi-Phi Wireless Philosophy, yet, owing to winter break and Christmas, there isn’t anything to report except for some changes at the SEP. They were first pos..

“Reputation Traps” in Philosophy

In an essay at Aeon, Huw Price (Cambridge) writes about “reputation traps.”

His example of this is scientific research on cold fusion, or low-energy nuclear reaction (LENR), “the controversial idea that nuclear reactions similar to those in the Sun could, under certain conditions, also occur close to room temperature.” Cold fusion held out the promise of clean an..

SEP, IEP, NDPR, Wi-Phi Weekly Update

Here are the past week’s additions and updates to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), and Wi-Phi Wireless Philosophy, appearing here via special arrangement with Philosophical Percolations. They were first posted in PhilPercs’ “Saturday Linkorama” along with many other..

The Job Market: Shifts in the Schedule?

With the increased use of video calls in place of first-round conference interviews, as well as the inauguration of the January scheduling of the Eastern Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association, some philosophers on the market are curious about how this has been affecting the timing of the process. We discussed some aspects of this back in August,..

The Value of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Research (guest post by Brian Robinson and Michael O’Rourke)

Brian Robinson and Michael O’Rourke, both at Michigan State University, lead The Toolbox Project, an initiative which provides “philosophical yet practical enhancement to cross-disciplinary, collaborative science.” It is a fascinating and innovative use of philosophy to facilitate interdisciplinary research, and has been up and running for over a decade. I asked the..

Essex Drops Year-End Philosophy Exams

The University of Essex Department of Philosophy will no longer be requiring its second- and final-year undergraduate students to take formal, year-end written exams, as departments at most other British universities still do. In an essay in The Guardian, department head Fabian Freyenhagen writes:

We realised, in response to feedback from students and employers, ..

For example:

Members of the hiring committee should confine themsel..

Citation Problems in Philosophy—and Some Fixes

Philosophers widely violate the academic norm to “cite work that is clearly relevant to the topic at hand,” claim Meena Krishnamurthy (Michigan) and Jessica Wilson (Toronto), in a post at the What’s Wrong? blog.

They identify some varieties of citation failure, and argue that it’s a problem worth taking seriously. Failure to cite people’s relevant work deprives ..

College of St. Rose Cuts Philosophy BA

The College of St. Rose, a Catholic liberal arts college in Albany, NY, is eliminating 27 programs, including philosophy, and 23 faculty positions, according to an article at Inside Higher Ed. IHE reports: “Many faculty members are speaking out against the cuts, saying that the plan was made without sufficient faculty input and questioning the elimination of the job..

Philosopher Wins €2.5million Leibniz Award

Dag Nikolaus Hasse, professor of philosophy at the Institute for Philosophy at the University of Würzburg, is one of ten winners of the 2016 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize. The prize, which includes 2.5 million euros, is awarded by the German Research Foundation. Begun in 1985, it “aims to improve the working conditions of outstanding scientists and academics, expa..

2015 Sanders Prize Winners

The Marc Sanders Foundation, which “aims to stimulate renewed appreciation for traditional philosophy by encouraging, identifying and rewarding excellent research in metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, metaethics, political philosophy, and philosophy of religion” has announced the winners of its 2015 prizes. They are:

Epistemology: Sophie Horowitz (Ric..

Remember: “Philosophy’s the thing”

A pair of essays in Times Higher Education—one by Simon Blackburn (Cambridge, UNC) and the other by Mariana Alessandri (Texas, Rio Grande Valley) and John Kaag (UMass, Lowell) —aim to defend the value of studying philosophy.

Each has interesting bits worth considering. Blackburn talks about progress in philosophy:

philosophy has indeed both changed and imp..

Academic Employment Numbers: A Closer Look

Articles about employment in higher education sometimes mention that 75% of today’s college instructors are adjuncts. That number—or at least the idea that there are very many adjuncts employed by universities—seems to inform various discussions about academic training and employment (such as whether there are too many philosophy PhDs — here and here, for examp..

Philosophers On Climate Change

The 21st Conference of the Parties (“COP 21”), a major international climate negotiation involving representatives of nearly every country in the world, and organized through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, is currently taking place in Paris.

One of the central goals of this year’s conference is “to achieve a legally binding and univers..

Against Reducing The Number of Philosophy PhDs

Here’s our situation: for many professions—actor, artist, astronaut, athlete, musician, novelist, philosopher, just to name a few—there are more people who aspire to enter them than succeed in doing so.

How bad is this? There are some problems with it, of course: mainly the disappointment of and opportunity costs borne by those who are unable to join what is ..

No Women Philosophers in the British A-Level OCR Philosophy Courses? (updated)

A reader brought to my attention a petition from 17-year-old Zishi Zhang claiming that there are currently no women included in the A-Level OCR Philosophy and Ethics syllabus, and calling to change this . (A-levels are the course and exam requirements students in the UK and elsewhere must typically meet in order to graduate from high school and attend college. “OCR”..

SEP, IEP, NDPR, Wi-Phi Weekly Update

Are There Too Many Philosophy PhDs? It’s Complicated

In light of the previous post, we might ask, are there too many philosophy PhDs? Some people think so, and take that as a reason to think that some departments should stop offering PhDs. Let’s talk about this.

First, a general point: though the number of PhD studentships is not the result of an open market, there are still good Hayekian reasons for caution about ..

Slight Decline in Number of Philosophy PhDs

451 PhDs in philosophy were awarded in the United States in 2014, marking a modest decrease from the 494 of the previous year. Here are the numbers for the period from 2004-2014:

These numbers are from the U.S. federal government’s Survey of Earned Doctorates. (Thanks to Robert Townsend, Director of the Washington Office of the American Academy of Arts & Scie..

Do You Act As You Argue? Or Do You Argue for How You Act? (Guest Post by Rivka Weinberg)

“Everybody is somebody’s fault.”

That’s the first line of the introduction to The Risk of A Lifetime, the new book by Rivka Weinberg (Scripps), on “how, when, and why procreation may be permissible.” Those who’ve had the opportunity to talk with Professor Weinberg will recognize in the book her frank style, sardonic wit, and critical eye, which she now, in the f..

Nearly $15m For Philosopher-Led Artificial Intelligence Center

The University of Cambridge has received a £10 million (approximately $14.9 million) grant from the Leverhulme Trust to create a new interdisciplinary institution on artificial intelligence and its implications for humanity, called the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence. Huw Price, the Bertrand Russell Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge, will be the ..

Books for the Philosophy Newbie

A Daily Nous reader asks:

What books would you recommend to someone who’s new to philosophy? What would be your Philosophy 101 book recommendations?

I would imagine that many readers will take these two questions as requiring different answers. The books one might use in a class, when there is an instructor to help guide the students through them, may be diffe..

APA’s Grad Program Guide Overhauled

The American Philosophical Association (APA) has overhauled its graduate program guide. It used to be an annual publication. Now it is a regularly updated searchable website. Mike Morris, the APA’s communications and marketing manager, writes:

The Grad Guide now offers the ability to search by multiple criteria, including areas of specialization, degrees offered,..

Nussbaum Wins Quinn Prize (updated)

Martha Nussbaum, Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, has won the American Philosophical Association’s Quinn Prize. The prize, named for Philip L. Quinn, is “awarded in recognition of service to philosophy and philosophers, broadly construed.” The award includes $2500 and an engraved plaque.

UPDATE ..

Best Philosophy Blog Post of the Year

3 Quarks Daily has opened up nominations for the 2015 edition of its best philosophy blog post or online-only writing contest. The judge this year is John Collins (Columbia). You can check out who won the prize in previous years at links from here.

The editors at 3QD write:

As usual, this is the way it will work: the nominating period is now open. There will ..

SEP, IEP, NDPR, Wi-Phi Weekly Update

Below are the past week’s additions and updates to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR), and Wi-Phi Wireless Philosophy, appearing here via special arrangement with Philosophical Percolations. They were first posted in PhilPercs’ “Saturday Linkorama” along with many othe..