AAPT Members American Association of Philosophy Teachers

Giles Fraser, Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral in London*, has been writing a series of articles from the Guardian on Wittgenstein.  The articles are getting significant attention in the form of comments at least, and are worth considering bringing into the classroom - at least, if you're teaching Wittgenstein:

Investigating Wittgenstein, part 1: Falling in love | Giles Fraser | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Investigating Wittgenstein, part 2: Meaning is use | Giles Fraser | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Investigating Wittgenstein, part 3: Religion as a language game | Giles Fraser | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Investigating Wittgenstein, part 4 | Giles Fraser | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk  read more »

No, you don't want to know:
Q&A: Slavoj Žižek, professor and writer | Life and style | The Guardian

What is the worst job you've done?

Teaching. I hate students, they are (as all people) mostly stupid and boring.

Isn't that everything that is wrong with our discipline? Public intellectuals have this way of starting out as 'original and interesting promoter of the discipline' and ending as 'embarrassing caricature hell-bent on destroying the discipline' but has anyone made that transition more quickly than Zizek?  Gandhi was more violent than Hitler. Students are stupid and boring.

Maybe it's time we stop calling him a 'philosopher' and start using title for which he's most qualified: 'psychoanalyst.' "The most dangerous psychoanalyst in the west" has a bit of a different ring to it doesn't it?

I blogged about coverage of this practice last November, but it's back in the press, so:
Philosophy Slam takes philosophy out of the classroom // Current

Containing this nugget:

‘First they called me a joker, now I am a dangerous thinker’ - All That Matters - Sunday TOI - Home - The Times of India

A lot of people will find it ridiculous to even imagine that Gandhi was more violent than Hitler? Are you serious when you say that?
n Yes. Though Gandhi didn’t support killing, his actions helped the British imperialists to stay in India longer. This is something Hitler never wanted. Gandhi didn’t do anything to stop the way the British empire functioned here.
For me, that is a problem.

It's hard to take this kind of hyperbole seriously, esp. from someone who claims the title 'philosopher.'  Public intellectuals need to speak carefully. Sure, it is worth considering Gandhi's actions critically, but he is not directly responsible for the slaughter of 6 million people. Don't stretch your equivocations and metaphors to the point of absurdity. It gives all of philosophy a bad name.

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.”

Did you know about this? It's all new to me.  UNESCO added 'World Philosophy Day' to their calendar in 2005. It is being celebrated in Paris, Moscow and St. Petersburg, but I don't yet know anywhere here. Here's a PR release from unesco.org:

World Philosophy Day 2009 - | unesco.org

UPDATE 11-15:Russia - MFA - UNESCO’s World Philosophy Day to Be Held in Russia

UPDATE 11-18:

Philippines - World Philosophy Day

Jacksonville University and University of N. Florida's 'Philosophy slam' got a write up in the Florida Times-Union. We've started a series of 'soapboxes' at McDaniel this fall, and it is going pretty well. As the article implies, these events are excellent opportunities to build bridges between Philosophy and other disciplines like Poli. Sci. One of these days, we'll get a video / audio recording of a soapbox up online.

Here's the link:
Jacksonville 'slam' takes philosophy out of the classroom | Jacksonville.com

Matt Reisz has a profile of Angie Hobbs, Warwicks professor of public understanding of philosophy, in the Times Higher Education supplement:
Times Higher Education - Philosophy - think about it, it's fun and it's for everyone

Thrilling news here, esp. following on the heals of that bullshit and insulting representation of our discipline in the NY Times. Warwick university in the UK has appointed Angela Hobbs a "senior fellow in the public understanding of philosophy.":

Philosophy and real life | Mark Vernon | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Warwick University is about to announce the first academic with an explicit brief to engage a wide audience with philosophy. Dr Angela Hobbs will be made senior fellow in the public understanding of philosophy.

Brilliant. Now maybe people will be able to distinguish between reasoned arguments and bad novels.

According to the NY Times, PBS will air Michael Sandel's Harvard 'Justice' Course (via WGBH).  Two of the episodes are available online via justiceharvard.org:
Justice with Michael Sandel - Home

It's hard to imagine a better opportunity for Philosophy clubs and departments to spark a discussion on campus.