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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.

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 »

Jeff Maynes, a colleague here at McDaniel, brought this language log discussion regarding the Texan Constitutional amendment that was 'intended' to ban gay marriage:
Language Log » Does marriage exist in Texas?
There's a long history of discussion included on that post, including a link to a 10/29/2005 post covering Scalia's theory of meaning. It doesn't matter if you're teaching ethics, PhilLaw or PhilLanguage, all of this is good fodder for a discussion / illustrative example.

I caught a story a few weeks ago about "Moon", a new SciFi movie coming out next week.  The director, Duncan Jones, is a former Philosophy graduate student.  The reviews are starting to come in - and it looks like it might be very, very useful in future classes:

'Moon' Brings Philosophical Questions To Movie-Watchers - Starpulse Entertainment News

A profile from his hometown newspaper: "The Hour"
Westport native finds fame with 'Paranormal' - Norwalk News - The Hour - Norwalk's Newspaper

Insidehighered.com has a review / interview of a forthcoming movie that interviews 8 custodians who work at various colleges and universities. The premise - highlighting the stories and wisdom of people on the fringes of the academy - is interesting, but I'm not sure how useful it will be in any given course. But it might be worth keeping an eye on:
News: Unexpected Philosophers - Inside Higher Ed

Continuing the theme of Philosophy as practical advice, Alain de Boton (with others) has founded a 'School of Life' in London.  My favorite activity:

Classes in the School of Life - Globespotters Blog - NYTimes.com

“Philosophy by Bicycle” on June 13, led by the philosopher, Nigel Warburton, and the writer and broadcaster, Jack Thurston (£75.00; also sold out), will be a day combining rigorous thinking and gentle freewheeling through 24 miles of the back streets of East London. While negotiating a route that will meander through Hackney, the Isle of Dogs, the Thames Barrier and the Woolwich ferry, cyclists will be encouraged to contemplate “essential questions of identity, freedom, idealism and hedonism” with breaks to discuss issues such as climate change, the metaphysics of time or the inclination of long-distance cyclists towards existentialism.

I love the idea. But the 'inclination of long-distance cyclists towards existentialism'? I'm a cyclists, and no existentialist (but I shy away from such overarching worldview philosophies anyway). I don't know about my colleagues in the 'Philosopher cyclists' group on facebook, but I suspect that this claim is anecdotal.

Critchley's essay on the opinion page ruminating on what it means to be a philosopher has been making the rounds on twitter:
What Is a Philosopher? - Opinionator Blog - NYTimes.com

to philosophize is to take your time, even when you have no time, when time is constantly pressing at your back

The more interesting point here is that this is just the first in a series of pieces that will be moderated by Critchley, but written by various philosophers of note, including Nancy Bauer, Jay Bernstein, Arthur C. Danto, Todd May, Nancy Sherman and Peter Singer. The series is called 'The Stone,' and the RSS feed is here: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/the-stone/feed/.
We all look forward to equally compelling articles in the future!

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 »

The West Australian has an article interviewing a sex-working Philosophy student:
Perth philosophy student tells of life as sex worker : thewest.com.au

Interesting story from Afrikanet.info on a enlightenment thinker from Ethiopia, Zar'a Ya'aqob. While I've heard the rumors of Arno, the West African philosopher who may have inspired Kant, I haven't ever heard of this philosopher. Unfortunately, there isn't much in the article to build on, but it is still an interesting possibility:
www.afrikanet.info // KIDS & JUGEND

Superb article in the Times Higher Ed by Soran Reader (Durham University), a specialist in ethics, who is suffering from an inoperable brain tumor:
Times Higher Education - It is monstrously wrong that patients cannot ask for euthanasia

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!

First, for the Ancients out there:

The Star Online: For the romantically inclined
(The second review is "Socrates in Love")

And for the empirically-inclined:

Cognitive Daily: Casual Fridays: You think THAT is romantic?
Fascinating survey comparing the expected romantic value of a valentines gift as seen by the giver versus from the recipient. As it turns out, dinner at home is the hands-down winner, whether your male or female (they haven't done straight or gay yet).

Two of my Senior Philosophy Majors - Ryan Allnut and John Modica - were interviewed on local radio about their nonprofit 'First Global Visions'. They were even asked why their major in Philosophy was relevant to their work!

This section was a part of a large clip that interviewed Jim Hindman, one of our alumni, who is the founder of Jiffy Lube. Mr. Hindman is starting a new venture on energy efficiency:

http://www.1430wnav.com/jimhindman

(It's an Mp3, even though it doesn't like it from the URL)

Student group says McPhee should resign | www.tennessean.com | The Tennessean

Students Question MTSU Budget Cuts - Education News Story - WSMV Nashville

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 »

New worlds for thought Businesses hiring Phil majors in Oz, from Sydney Morning Herald.

Individual profiles of Philosophy student - An accidental path to philosophy From Sydney Morning Herald

The Hattiesburg American is reporting that operating cuts to make up a 15 million dollar shortfall this year will land particularly hard on Philosophy and Religion at the University of Southern Mississippi. From the article:

USM faculty, staff cuts begin

Philosophy and religion department hit hardest

Hit especially hard was the department of philosophy and religion, which saw three tenured professors let go. They are religion professor Daniel Capper and newly-tenured philosophy professors Morgan Rempel and Chris Meyers.

A follow up article this morning reprints the letter from the President announcing the cuts, but offers no real justification for the apparent targeting of Philosophy and Religion. The letter claims that:

29 USM Faculty cut today  read more »