I am still finding this story from last week’s New York Times really disturbing. JASPER, Ind. — At a candidate forum here last week, Representative Baron P. Hill, a threatened Democratic incumbent in a largely conservative southern Indiana district, was endeavoring to explain his unpopular vote for the House cap-and-trade energy bill. It will create… Continue reading Idiosyncratic Articles of Faith and Tea Party Discourse
Month: October 2010
Search the NRC Data on Grad Programs
To continue the theme of philosophy ranking on a positive note, it is indeed easy to see how different programs rank in terms of placement and grad student support. The website PhDs.org has the NRC data on its website in an easily searchable form. (NRC for the National Research Council which has released its pre-publication… Continue reading Search the NRC Data on Grad Programs
Ranking Continental Philosophy Programs
I just noticed Brian Leiter’s list of what he deems to be the top continental philosophy programs. Save for a few that obviously belong, the list is bizarre. The ones that seem most to belong here are those with asterisks or pound signs, meaning ones that had to be ad-hoc’d into the list. Group 1… Continue reading Ranking Continental Philosophy Programs
On Being Drawn to Philosophy (as a job)
People are drawn to philosophy possibly for fame but never for fortune. Perhaps the most famous philosopher of all time in the West was Socrates, and he left his family drachma-less (or whatever the equivalent of pennies were in those days), having been sentenced to death for the work that he did. Another highly famous… Continue reading On Being Drawn to Philosophy (as a job)
Political Cultures and the Culture of Poverty
“‘Culture of Poverty,’ Once an Academic Slur, Makes a Comeback” reports the New York Times this morning, referring to the debate that started with Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s 1965 report that described “the urban black family as caught in an inescapable ‘tangle of pathology’ of unmarried mothers and welfare dependency.” According to the story, written by… Continue reading Political Cultures and the Culture of Poverty
What it’s like to be a woman in philosophy
A new blog with a novel concept has started. WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE A WOMAN IN PHILOSOPHY? collects and posts a few anecdotes per day on the question. As the editors put it, This blog is devoted to short observations (generally fewer than 300 words) sent in by readers, about life as a… Continue reading What it’s like to be a woman in philosophy
gonepublic: philosophy, politics, & public life 