Category: philosophy

On Armchairs and MRIs

In today’s New York Times Magazine, Kwame Anthony Appiah comments on the newborn philosophy movement of experimental philosophy, or “x-phi,” in which philosophers are turning to MRI machines and other laboratory technologies to help unravel philosophical quandaries. This new movement, he reports, has rudely challenged the way professional philosophers like to think of themselves. Not… Continue reading On Armchairs and MRIs

Philosophy and the City

My friend and colleague in philosophy, Sharon Meagher, is starting up a really great project on philosophy and the city. The premise is that philosophy is at its best bound up with the public affairs of a particular place. Meagher argues that the philosophical pretense to adopt a “view from nowhere” ignores the ways in… Continue reading Philosophy and the City

Women, Children, and Philosophy

Why are women only 21% of faculty in philosophy compared to 41% in the humanities overall? See links on the SWIP page for thoughts on this question as well as a post on Lemmings. Here’s an additional possibility: Might it be that conventional philosophy in America styles itself more like the sciences than like the… Continue reading Women, Children, and Philosophy

Sally’s Links

MIT’s Sally Haslanger, professor of philosophy and feminist theorist, has some terrific links on her website for anyone interested in philosophy on the Internet (including philosophy blogs), feminist theory, or adoption matters. Check them out here.

More on the ESF Rankings

In my last post I expressed concern about the European Science Foundation’s ranking of philosophy journals, a reputational ranking that seems skewed toward a narrow spectrum of philosophy journals. The Feminist Philosophers blog has information on how to weigh in on this ranking.   The blog reports that the ESF welcomes feedback and that it has… Continue reading More on the ESF Rankings

GIGO or the new rankings of philosophy journals

It was a philosopher, Charles Babbage, who first coined the term “garbage in, garbage out,” a term invaluable in understanding that computers only work as well as what is plugged into them. And now the term is coming back full circle to philosophy, at least if one wants to make sense of the latest misbegotten… Continue reading GIGO or the new rankings of philosophy journals

The Bad Boy of Philosophy

Last Friday, at age 75, Richard Rorty died. Yesterday both the New York Times and the Washington Post ran nice obituaries, highlighting his youth in a socialist family and his adulthood as a renegade philosopher who’d splashily divorced analytic philosophy in order to embrace American pragmatism. The break-up began in the 60s. “He was a… Continue reading The Bad Boy of Philosophy

Bob Solomon, Happy Warrior

I’ve been at the Central American Philosophical Association meeting these past two days. I gave a paper on public philosophy yesterday, a subject for another post. This afternoon I attended a memorial session for Robert Solomon, who died suddenly, in the Zurich airport, in January from a heart condition. Bob Solomon was on my dissertation… Continue reading Bob Solomon, Happy Warrior

Continental Kantianism

Is the following secret or common knowledge? Many continental philosophers (including Levinas, Foucault, Derrida, Lyotard) are Kantians, at least with respect to morality. This may be surprising given that none of them cares much for concepts such as autonomy and reason, two concepts that seem central to Kant’s moral philosophy. But I think they all… Continue reading Continental Kantianism

Shortcomings of the FSP Index

I’ve learned this morning,  from a comment to my last post and from an e-mail from a friend, about a problem with Academic Analytics’ Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index.  In putting together the data for the index, Academic Analytics used the database company, SCOPUS, which bills itself primarily as covering life science, health science, physical science… Continue reading Shortcomings of the FSP Index