Tag: taxpayers

Teaching

Answering the Taxpayers

April 9, 2015

I am a professor of philosophy at a public university. What is the value of philosophy to the taxpayers who subsidize my teaching? Philosophy…

Heap of Links

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
“AI poses two different existential threats to [our] valuing practices” — Jordan MacKenzie offers an account of why negative judgments about AI taking over our creative and caring activities are justified
“Submission” is a humorous clicker-style game about starting a career in academic philosophy (or not) — created by Nat Hansen
“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

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Latest Comments

Mathieu Rees on AI for Philosophy: Progress through Capital-Intensive Philosophy (guest post)
Thanks David. This has given me lots to think about!
Felix on Your One Piece of Philosophy Grad School Advice
I think there's probably a distinction to be drawn between incompetence and bad ideas. It seems that bad ideas, and those holding them, can get pretty far. Whether…
David Wallace on Your One Piece of Philosophy Grad School Advice
'I’m not sure what you mean by the “telepathic” point.' You said that "nowadays, in academic philosophy, you need to “implement” [your ideas] by writing them down, publishing…
Student Philosopher on Those OpenAI Math Results
What gets me is so much of what AI optimists promise AI might bring us is possible *now* or not possible with AI at all. Can AI solve…
Student Philosopher on Those OpenAI Math Results
I worry that too few philosophers are working on alignment in ways that are influencing the frontier AI labs.I share this concern. What do you think contributes to…
David Strohmaier on AI for Philosophy: Progress through Capital-Intensive Philosophy (guest post)
I didn't mean to say that these abilities on their own are sufficient to solve problems in philosophy. You are right that these abilities are available and some…
David Strohmaier on AI for Philosophy: Progress through Capital-Intensive Philosophy (guest post)
I am not sure we disagree on the core claims. I agree that philosophy becoming a capital-intensive field raises a variety of issues, especially if incentives are not…
Student Philosopher on Your One Piece of Philosophy Grad School Advice
I think students should be encouraged to lean into their dismissiveness with curiosity. If a student is having a strong reaction to a philosopher's argument, seems like a…
Student Philosopher on Those OpenAI Math Results
I don't doubt the purity of the researchers at Anthropic and OpenAI. I just don't think we should see that as mutually exclusive with the financial interests of…
Cameron Buckner on Those OpenAI Math Results
This disanalogy with RLVR is the most important point. They can train to fit the prior dispositions of particular philosophers, they can train in argument validity, but neither…
Preston Stovall on Your One Piece of Philosophy Grad School Advice
Thanks, Mark. I'm sure it's not done this way everywhere, but I've had a couple of people on committees for jobs I've applied to tell me that the…
Michael D Johnson on Mini-Heap
That first link is bonkers
Vincent Carchidi on AI for Philosophy: Progress through Capital-Intensive Philosophy (guest post)
What you describe in the first paragraph – tool use, web search, collaboration with other systems – is not only possible, but practically the norm for people using…
Mark van Roojen on Your One Piece of Philosophy Grad School Advice
Thanks. That's helpful. FWIW, I agree that some strong publication helps get a committee to look further at a file, but I'm pretty sure it extends beyond the…
Eric Steinhart on AI for Philosophy: Progress through Capital-Intensive Philosophy (guest post)
Yes. But I think AI is going to learn how to write proofs well. We’re in the early messy stages.

Tag: taxpayers

Answering the Taxpayers