AAPT Members

David Kyle Johnson, of King's College in Wilkes-Barre, PA, had an op-ed Dec 13th in the Baltimore sun arguing that parents should not deceive their children about Santa Claus. His arguments are pretty simple: children crave reliable information, parents are seen as the most reliable source of information, so this practice violates their natural trust. It discourages critical thinking, leads to a gullible populace, and the various excuses fall flat.  All in all, pretty straight-forward stuff:

Sorry, Virginia ... -- baltimoresun.com

I didn't blog about it before because it just seemed so obviously correct.  But it has touched a nerve. It's a hobby of mine to track these kind of debates in the public sphere for use in CT courses. Here's the start:

The American Spectator : The Gift Delusion - a good example of poisoning the well by introducing the Johnson as a 'grinch' who is a 'liberal arts professor at a prestigious east coast college' who might 'give you a grade-inflated A plus'. The argument appears to simply to critique Johnson for not doing what the author believes to be a philosopher's job: talk Kant and the Ontological argument.  read more »

Jonah Penne - a freshman at Stevenson University (formerly Villa Julie) outside of Baltimore - wrote an op-ed for the Baltimore Sun discussion the implications of the behavior of game players in massively multi-player role playing environments (like 'World of Warcraft') for state of nature arguments.  There is, of course, much to do here: his evidence should be backed up with real empirical work, and his understanding of Locke's system in the state of nature seems pretty simplistic:

Philosophers and video games -- baltimoresun.com

Thomas Hobbes, a 17th-century English philosopher, believed that without the restraints of civil society, people's lives would become savage - in his famous words, "solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short." John Locke, the British philosopher who influenced many of America's Founding Fathers, was more optimistic about this state.

But hey - he's a 1st year - and how often do we see novel applications of ideas in the classroom to experiences in the individual students' lives? Stevenson is just down the road. Maybe I can get him to come up for one of my classes!

This video has just started becoming viral, so I thought I'd post it here.

The new HP computers have 'face tracking' software that appears unable to track people with dark skin. One might think that it is unlikely that global corporation would put a product out that wasn't tested on people with various complexions, but having worked with engineers at global technological companies (not HP, notably), I'm not so easily duped. There is little doubt in my mind that this was just never tested thoroughly - a simple oversight that demonstrates a severe lack of critical thinking and social awareness. Engineering ethics are often thought of in terms of the utilitarian calculus required for any major construction project - but this f***-up by HP shows the complexity of that field. Engineering a product for public consumption requires significant ethical reflection, and this may be an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the depth of that challenge.

YouTube - HP computers are racist

HP computers are racist  read more »

Here's an oddity:
The Associated Press: Vatican paper says 'The Simpsons' are okely dokely

Without Homer Simpson and the other yellow-skinned characters "many today wouldn't know how to laugh," said the article titled "Aristotle's Virtues and Homer's Doughnut."

L'Osservatore Romano's english edition site (here) has only the 1st page of this edition publicly available, so we don't have access to the original. Still - it might be worth a look for an intro classes using popular culture to introduce Philosophy.

According to the website GEN: Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology news, the American Academy for the Advancement of Science has announced that Dennett has been selected as a fellow for "transformational contributions to philosophy of the cognitive sciences and philosophy of biology, which have become the most rapidly advancing fields in philosophy of science."  I have not yet confirmed this on the AAAS website, so stay tuned!
News: Tufts University Professor Daniel Dennett selected as 2009 Fellow by AAASA.

My google alert caught this a couple of days ago, and there's no official memorial up at Syracuse's Phil Department site. But the story has been republished in a number of papers, so I'm going to go ahead and link it from here:

Syracuse University emeritus philosophy professor identified as accident victim | News from The Post-Standard -

A professor emeritus in the philosophy department at Syracuse University was killed Friday night when he was hit by a pickup truck as he attempted to cross Erie Boulevard.

Here's his profile at Syracuse: http://philosophy.syr.edu/FacKidder.htm
According to Phylo.info, his PhD was from Pitt in 1968, and he advised three PhD's while at Syr: http://phylo.info/joel-h-kidder

I'll keep an eye out for any more memorials, and post them as they arrive.

The story quotes Appiah extensively, although not 'ex officio'. It does make mention of the petition (about 1/2 way down: search 'Hermes' to find the relevant paragraph). It only requotes Paul Corts, president of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities from the previous 'Insidehighered.com' article (here).
APA pushes for hiring equality - The Daily Princetonian

UPDATE 12-11
The Daily Princetonian comes out in support of the APA:

Editorial: In support of the APA - The Daily Princetonian

USC is announcing that Stephen Toulmin died earlier today at 87. I'll post more memorials as they come in.
In Memoriam: Stephen E. Toulmin, 87 - USC News

UPDATE 12-11:

Stephen Toulmin, a Philosopher and Educator, Dies at 87 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com

PRI's 'The World' interviewed Michael Walzer about Obama's Nobel acceptance speech and the concept of a 'just war.' The transcript is here:
President Obama's peace prize | Homepage Feature | PRI's The World

USC is announcing that Stephen Toulmin died earlier today at 87. I'll post more memorials as they come in.
In Memoriam: Stephen E. Toulmin, 87 - USC News

The Salt Lake Tribune has a touching tribute to Westminster College's Philosophy Prof. Doug Wright, who died of cancer last Sunday at 57.
Westminster loses revered professor - Salt Lake Tribune

FT.com has an interesting essay on the relationship between Danto and Warhol. Useful, if you're teaching PhilArt in the Spring.
FT.com / Books / Essays - Triumph of the ordinary

The story quotes Appiah extensively, although not 'ex officio'. It does make mention of the petition (about 1/2 way down: search 'Hermes' to find the relevant paragraph). It only requotes Paul Corts, president of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities from the previous 'Insidehighered.com' article (here). So, in the end, there is very little new.
APA pushes for hiring equality - The Daily Princetonian

The Royal Society has been getting a great deal of press lately for its new 'trailblazing' website. The site provides an interactive timeline with links to major works that appeared in their 'Philosophical transactions', interspliced with some historical events.  The timeline is cool, and probably useful for teaching. But all of this was already freely available via Jstor - and browsable here: http://rstl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/by/year

Don't get me wrong: I love the RS. I live in their debt, as a professor at a small college, my research life has evolved to depend almost entirely on these public archives.  And I'm not one to get down on the coverage either, as any coverage of primary source articles in the history of science cannot be a bad thing. 

Royal Society - trailblazing

But still. Something about all the coverage annoys me. Maybe I'm just irritated that the secret is out. Now everyone will be writing about John Locke's observations on a French kid with really long fingernails:  read more »

This story has been passed around amoungst the philosophical twitterati over the past few days, but I'm posting it here because we Americans need to know what might be coming down the pike on this end. 
Times Higher Education - Being philosophical may be limited to 'leisured' classes

Philosophy is in danger of becoming the preserve of "leisured gentlemen" as post-1992 universities scrap courses because of dwindling student numbers.

The British Higher Education system is very different from ours, with most of their institutions relying heavily on state funding.  Moreover, individual programs and departments admit students, rather than the college as a whole. At the same time, UK universities do not have the tradition of 'liberal arts' and general education we do. The term 'post-1992 university' is a euphamism invented by Major's government to give credibility to the class of schools previously called 'polytechnics'.  read more »

In case you haven't seen it yet:
Philosophy and carbon emissions: what should you think?

Australia doesn't have a right to continue to harm other nations,” Professor Singer said.

“[We], along with other industrialised nations, [have] taken a far bigger slice of the pie than [we have] any claim to. The pie in this case being the atmosphere's capacity to absorb greenhouse gases.

“By taking that big slice of pie we're … actually actively harming, by our continued emissions, other countries … who have much less capacity to cope with it than we do.”

Andrew McCall, Truman State:
Parkway South graduate selected as Rhodes scholar - STLtoday.com

Andrew McCall Of TSU Named Rhodes Scholar : Sports : KTVO3

Geoffrey C. Shaw, Yale:
Yale Daily News - Two Elis garner Rhodes

A Branford College senior from Belvedere, Calif., Shaw will graduate this year with a bachelor's degree in philosophy and plans to pursue a bachelor of philosophy (a graduate degree) at Oxford, with a focus on legal philosophy, the Rhodes Trust said.

Also:

Yale student from Belvedere among Rhodes Scholars - ContraCostaTimes.com

Wesleyan grad, Yalie named Rhodes scholars

UPDATE 12-3:

Profile of Truman State's Andrew McCall.  read more »

Riva Gold, phil major from McGill, has a highly entertaining commentary on the gender gap in Philosophy. While I don't want to minimize the concerns she is expressing, I just can't pass up some of these quotes, like the one in the title.

The Patriarchy of Philosophy: Women in philosophy departments find themselves pushed to the margins

Philosophy is one of those rare majors that, when declared, simultaneously elicits looks of reverence and contempt from others. Philosophy majors are often seen as meek hipster wannabes who emit foul odours and begin every sentence with “it is the case that.” And with good reason.

It took me nearly three months to learn what Hegel meant by “ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny” and I assure you, it was not fascinating.  read more »

I've been tracking reviews of this movie here, but since it has just opened in the UK, adn a whole new flock of reviews has arrived, I'll start a new post:

Examined Life Movie Review (2009) from Channel 4 Film

Examined Life, review - Telegraph - short blurb

Brain food: philosophy hits the big screen | Science | The Guardian

I thought I saw a bad review at one point, but I can't find it again. All of these are positive.

Congratulations to Tom Nickles, UNevada, Reno

Nevada News | University of Nevada, Reno

University of Nevada, Reno Philosophy Professor Tom Nickles has been named Nevada Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and its partner in the awards program, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education