Tag: professional development

Graduate Programs

APA Grad Council: How to Support Grad Students During the Pandemic

April 7, 2020

The Graduate Student Council (GSC) of the American Philosophical Association (APA) has issued a set of recommendations for how departments of philosophy and universities…

Heap of Links

“The best investment in education is to become the most human human—-a challenging, fulfilling, exciting pursuit that connects us across generations” — an interview with Christa Acampora, philosopher and dean of Arts & Sciences at UVA
“What would happen if we tried to live without the mythology of agency at all?” — It's worth pondering, since "agency is just an internal command hallucination," says Alexander Douglas
“Reading List” is a free Mac app for keeping track of papers to read — philosophy PhD student Hayden Kajercline created this productivity tool for researchers, with help from Claude
How should we react to scary predictions about AI? “First: by asking questions” — "If you believe predictions uncritically, it amounts to obeying in advance," says Carissa Véliz
“I feel unbelievably lucky that I was able to make philosophy my profession” — Karen Ng reflects on her path into philosophy, at #first-genphilosophers
The ordinary concept of knowledge “doesn’t work at all the way philosophers said it does” — a round-up of studies shows how weird the philosophers' version of the concept is
1000 or so psychiatrists were asked to diagnose standardized clinical case vignettes. “Two doctors agreed on the diagnosis only 55% of the time” — What does this tell us about psychiatry? Or about other fields in which experts disagree?
Where Aristotle taught Alexander — "this newest dig may be the most revealing yet, offering insight into the specifics of Alexander the Great’s education"
Over 4000 of the Justice Department’s lawyers have left their jobs since Trump’s second term began — The New Yorker on the moral dilemma facing some government employees: resign and avoid complicity, or stay and resist where one can?
Underappreciated philosophy published between 1970-2019 — some old posts to which you can still add works that should be better appreciated
The AI threat to independent student writing is not necessarily a threat to student learning — what's needed, says Joe Cruz, are courses "in which ideas are expressed in real time and analytical thought unfolds as a debate or an oral defense or a group discussion"—and small enough classes to make that work
Would you take a pill that allows you, with no ill health effects, to permanently forgo sleep? — Rebecca Lowe thinks you have no good reason not to, though she neglects to consider that sometimes it's the world that needs a break from you
Fifty essays in the philosophy of paleontology — by Max Dresow at the Extinct blog
“Asking whether [an AI] model ‘has a world model’ leaves much unresolved. Our findings point toward mechanistically studying its world modeling; uncovering the structures it learned [and] the world modeling capacities that recruit these” — further research on the internal representations of AIs
Sixty Years of Philosophy in America — Ernest Sosa's Dewey Lecture from the 2024 APA Eastern Division Meeting
“You’re responsible for other people’s learning of this material, so you better know it at a higher level yourself” — for 20 years, the Socrates Project at the University of Toronto has hired senior philosophy undergrads to run weekly tutorials for introductory students
“Suddenly, my problems stop being problems in the world. They become problems in my head. The problem is no longer: ‘my job is demoralizing, but I can’t leave it’… It’s: ‘I have a chemical imbalance that prevents me from enjoying life'” — Justin Garson on “the pathologizing tendency”
A political theorist and a comedian discuss the American presidency — "The Oath and the Office" is the podcast of Corey Brettschneider & John Fugelsang
An “evidence revolution” has taken place in medicine and other fields over the past 50 years — but, as Benjamin Santos Genta asks, there's still the question: "what counts as good scientific evidence?"
“Behind the scenes at Ethics” — editor Douglas Portmore shares how the journal works

All Links →

Latest Comments

Chris on A History of U.S. Philosophy Via APA Presidencies (guest post)
A couple mistakes: Atherton (2012) was not at UW Madison (instead: UW Milwaukee) and you missed Card (2010) president of APA from WU Madison
Ryan on Your One Piece of Philosophy Grad School Advice
Strongly consider moving from philosophy into clinical ethics consultation. The philosophy-to-bioethics pipeline is of course tried and true, but jobs in specifically clinical ethics are particularly desirable these…
philatetelist on Overwhelming Cheating
And do they cheat by using a forklift to lift the weights?
Patrick Fleming on Your One Piece of Philosophy Grad School Advice
Not finishing is not failure. Each year sincerely evaluate whether this is the right option for you. There is nothing wrong with leaving at any point.
Michael Gorman on Your One Piece of Philosophy Grad School Advice
If you don't have it already, develop the ability to work on long-term projects without clear deadlines. Learn how to make yourself get things done, rather than doing…
Keith Tipton on Overwhelming Cheating
The only mass cheating I can remember in the news involved our military's academies. Noplace else. I don't doubt groups of cheaters get tossed out now and then,…
Xxxxxx on Your One Piece of Philosophy Grad School Advice
I am a third year PhD student at a top university and successful by all possible metrics. The best advice that I repeatedly received and ignored was “don’t…
Kenny Easwaran on Your One Piece of Philosophy Grad School Advice
Another piece of advice: The people around you (generally) want to help you, but the professors in your department mostly completed their PhD in a different decade than…
Kenny Easwaran on Your One Piece of Philosophy Grad School Advice
Make sure you have some friends who are grad students in your department, some friends who are grad students in other departments at your same university, and some…
Meme on Your One Piece of Philosophy Grad School Advice
Respect. And, yeah, it’s gonna be rough…
Jared on Your One Piece of Philosophy Grad School Advice
Talk! Speak up regularly in seminars. Ask questions at conferences, colloquia and workshops. Start conversations with department faculty, or visiting faculty, whose work interests you. It's tempting to…
Zach Thornton on Your One Piece of Philosophy Grad School Advice
Piggybacking to offer my version of this advice: While in grad school, hours spent on writing is probably the biggest bottleneck to publishing. This is because your program…
historygrrrl on Your One Piece of Philosophy Grad School Advice
Get a hobby. (Nb. Drinking is not a hobby. Neither is online shopping.) There will be bad days in graduate school. Sometimes, there will be more bad days…
Ichabod Crawford on Your One Piece of Philosophy Grad School Advice
I'd suggest to tune out the noise and just focus on Top 5 publications. That will be the gold standard that can distinguish the wheat from the chaff…
Travis on Your One Piece of Philosophy Grad School Advice
If you have any interest at all in practical ethics, get some genuine multidisciplinary experience. There are a lot more jobs if you can both be a philosopher…

Tag: professional development

APA Grad Council: How to Support Grad Students During the Pandemic