AAPT Members

Here's an odd one. The Phil department at SF Austin State has been moved from the department of English to the department of 'Global Media and Contemporary Culture'. 
Philosophy moves to new department - News

The philosophy faculty, formerly housed in the department of English and philosophy have joined with faculty members in journalism, radio and television to form a new program in Global Media and Contemporary Culture.

Here are some of the quotes from faculty from the article:

"Philosophy is a natural discipline to be included in this program," said Dr. Owen Smith, assistant professor of philosophy. "The manner in which philosophy investigates fundamental questions lends itself naturally to interdisciplinary work, and we will have many such opportunities in the new program."

Dr. Anne Collins Smith, assistant professor, who taught Philosophy in "Harry Potter" last year, is planning a course for the Spring 2010 Semester on philosophy in cyberspace; in a true union of form and content, the course will be taught online.

And

"I'm especially interested in offering courses concerning philosophy and advances in technology such as nanotechnology, space exploration, and transhumanism," Salsbery explained.  read more »

From the UC Berkeley News:
04.23.2009 - Plugging away at the riddle of consciousness

Also from UC Berkeley.
04.23.2009 - Obituary

Two articles written after the fact:

The Independent - Regents call for UL philosophy program termination

UL Philosophy Program Cut - KATC.com

The Hartwick.edu site has a profile of their Assistant Professor, Jeremy Wisnewski:
Hartwick - Jeremy Wisnewski, Assistant Professor of Philosophy

And here's another about full Professor, Stanley Konecky:
Hartwick - Stanley Konecky, Professor of Philosophy

Minnesota has a profile of Duncan Jones, along with a review of his new movie 'Moon'. That review contained this little nugget:

MPR: Director Duncan Jones takes philosophy to the moon

Jones, who is the son of pop icon David Bowie, told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr that before he made movies, he studied philosophy for many years as an academic.

The student newspaper at the UNevada, Reno has a profile of Nicholas Delhanty, instructor of Philosophy and 'post-punk' musician:
The Nevada Sagebrush » Philosophy professor delves into the arts

MSU's TA assistant center has a document reporting the most irritating behaviors by professors. The data is pretty unreliable--it is based on a survey of 50 students at the HUGE Michigan State U, (45K students according to Carnegie), and doesn't rank-order the results. However, the traits that show up MORE than 20% of the time are:

(1) Show up late for class.
(7) Don't show up for office hours.
(8) Make students feel stupid. ("Put down", "Inferior", "Dumb", "Lack of respect")
(10) Write on the board but block the information (Also, talk to the board).
(14) Don't get to know students.
(22) Don't follow the syllabus.

Here's the link:
http://tap.msu.edu/PDF/thoughts/tt10.pdf (application/pdf Object)

I'll finish this with one of my standard pithy comments: that's why students shouldn't go to schools of 45K. They should go to small colleges, where the professors are (1) always in class, and if not, just across the hall, (7) Pretty much always in their offices. (8) Rarely make students feel stupid (unless they deserve it), (10) don't use board (much) (14) know our students (how could we not?) and (22) vary wildly from the syllabus frequently. Well, that last one is universal, I suspect.

It's actually a review of a biography by S. Malka, but that isn't mentioned until paragraph 6:
The loneliness of the ethical philosopher - Haaretz - Israel News

The Lawrentian (Lawrence U, Appleton, WI) has a memorial profile of William Broadman:

William Boardman Professor Emeritus of Philosophy 1939-2009 - News

...joined the philosophy department at Lawrence in 1965 following graduate school at the University of Minnesota. He retired in 2002 and devoted his life to his family and to leisurely reading, a pursuit he did not have time for when he was teaching.

I've always suspected that bad economic and political situations yield more interest in Philosophy. The same, I believe, holds for cartooning, but that's a side note. [The Far Side / XKCD?] Anyway, the sundayherald from scotland seems to have the same analysis:

When The World Just Doesnt Add Up Pupils Turn To Philosophy (from Sunday Herald)

In contrast to the flagging fortunes of economics and accountancy, Higher Politics is up 138%, Higher Music has grown by 16%, and the number taking the Philosophical Studies Higher has grown by 25% over five years.

Oddly enough, this is actually the last line of the article. The rest is all about the cuts to funding by the SNP. Your guess as to why this became the headline is as good as mine...

I thought I had started a blog post tracking the reviews of this one, but I can't find it. It certainly looks like this could be an useful introductory text for undergrads:

The philosopher and the wolf Mark Rowlands Mark Vernon TLS - 12/31/08

Jess’s Book Pick for May: The Philosopher and the Wolf: Lessons in Love, Death, and Happiness by Mark Rowlands. - Monsters and Critics - 5/1 (short) (contains link to interview with Rowlands before the publication: http://www.cosmoetica.com/DSI14.htm).

We should care because humans and animals are different | Mark Vernon | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk 5/8 (some analysis)

The Philosopher and the Wolf: Lessons From the Wild, By Mark Rowlands - Reviews, Books - The Independent - 5/10 (v. short)
 

   read more »

The Kansas City Star has a review of Professor of Philosophy Clancy Martin's recent novel 'How to Sell'. It looks promising:

After a lifetime of 'mistakes,' UMKC philosopher Clancy Martin emerges on the literary scene - Kansas City Star

UPDATE 5/21:

Art of the Deal - NYTimes

Clancy Martin's debut novel, How to Sell,' attempts to tell the truth about deception - SanLuisObispo.com

Erasmo Clazadilla, a self-described 33-year old teacher of Phil at the University of Havana tells of the difficulty of teaching Philosophy in Cuba today.  While the story is certainly not complete here, he claims that one of the problems motivating and/or excusing his dismissal from the University was that his students couldn't tell what Philosophy was. Of course, we all know that Philosophy is:

...a science, the mother of all others, studying the most general laws of reality and thought, and that it establishes the relationship between being and thinking. This science, they say, is above all concerned with establishing whether the material or the spiritual is primary, and that true philosophy-ours, Marxist and revolutionary, confirmed by the advances of science-establishes that being determines thought.

The Philosophy that I Liked to Teach (I) - Havana Times.org

Even without knowing the full details of the story, I have to say that I stand by Clazadilla.

For anyone teaching Phil. of Perception, Metaphysics or just the primary/secondary quality distinction:

The 5th annual 'Best Visual Illusion of the Year' contest has some seriously cool illusions this year. The best of which is a great motion illusion:
The break of the curveball « Best Visual Illusion of the Year Contest - curveball [Shapiro, Lu, Knight and Ennis]
Make sure you try 'reversal' as well. Who knew that spatial contrast effects could cross the 'modality' boundary between color and motion. Won't Berkeley be happy!

The others / runners up are here:
http://illusioncontest.neuralcorrelate.com/

I've been seeing some buzz in the British press about the Cannes premier of 'Agora', a movie about the ancient philosopher Hypatia (Wikipedia entry). The reviews have largely been about the real-life Hypatia, rather than the movie, but it is worth keeping an eye on:

Alejandro Amenabar's Agora: a gift for classicists | Culture | guardian.co.uk

AFP: Spain's Amenabar brings Cannes toga-clad philosophy flick

Leiter is reporting that a former UT Austin PhD is one of the first four women elected to the Parliament in Kuwait:
Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog: Philosopher Aseel al-Awadi One of First Four Women Elected to Parliament in Kuwait!

Next time a student asks you what you can do with a Philosophy degree: just refer them here!

NY Times coverage of the election:

First Women Win Seats in Kuwait Parliament

The Herald.ie has an odd short story about a convicted murderer studying for his Philosophy PhD:

Philosophy exam for wife killer - National News, Frontpage - Herald.ie

Wife killer Joe O'Reilly has hit the books ahead of exams which will help him earn a doctorate in philosophy.

O'Reilly (36) below, who murdered his wife Rachel in the family home, is studying hard in the Midlands prison where he is serving a life sentence.

We should probably resist the temptation to spew forth all those bad jokes that we welling up... What is it that we always say about ethicists?

I all seriousness, this case is worth thinking about: like many of my colleagues in Phil, I believe that studying Philosophy has a kind of transformative power in the life of those who study it. This case seems to be the ultimate test of that naive belief.

Shelia J Curran, consultant and "former executive director of the Duke University Career Center and served in a similar role at Brown University", has an article in Business week titled:

Philosophy Majors: Get a Job - BusinessWeek
She concludes, roughly, that experience in the work-world is more important than intellectual achievement when it comes to hiring decisions, and hence:  read more »