AAPT Members American Association of Philosophy Teachers

From Delaware online:
Delaware professors fear plan doesn't value liberal arts, social sciences | delawareonline.com | The News Journal

Philosophy professor Kate Rogers and philosophy department Chairman G. Fred Schueler say their department has dropped from 17 faculty members in 2007 to 10 this year. The university has not authorized them to fill the openings.

And the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Pa. state universities consider eliminating some majors

At Indiana University of Pennsylvania, faculty in the philosophy department are being asked to explain why their bachelor's program should not be eliminated. They must show that Pennsylvania's largest state-owned university can still afford to graduate young adults versed in the works of Socrates and Nietzsche.

If you aren't familiar with his work, Pascal Boyer is a significant figure in the nascent Cognitive Science of Religion. According to Pascal, religious concepts are those concepts that, as a function of our memory mechanisms, are particularly memorable. They are what he calls 'minimally-counter intuitive concepts', which means that they tend to violate the template of a concept (such as TREE) in a minimal way (TREE THAT WALKS). Our cognitive mechanisms are such that these sort of concepts are more likely to be remembered and survive cultural transmission better than concepts that either do not violate the template, or maximally violate the template.

In a recent blog entry, he seems to be applying this analysis to academic fashions: that they tend to be introduced by 'gurus' who make a counterintuitive claim, e.g. 'Madness is not brain dysfunction,' and then unpack it into relatively innocuous claims.

Boyer's thesis is polemical, but the underlying position is interesting: can there be a Cognitive Science of Philosophy?  Can we explain the attraction to philosophical theses in terms of the cognitive mechanisms at work in our brains?  He concludes, incidentally almost, that:  read more »

I have absolutely no interest in contemporary French Philosophy. But I do have a certain distaste for public intellectuals who tend towards hyperbole at the cost of precision. So I find it delightful when these eruptions occur. Does that make me a bad person?

Charles Bremner - Times Online - WBLG: Bernard-Henri Lévy comes a cropper with fake philosopher

In his latest book, published this week amid the traditional adulation in the media, Lévy, 61, attacks Immanuel Kant, the 18th century philosopher. He calls him "raving mad" and cites as his authority Jean-Baptiste Botul, a 20th century philosopher.

The trouble is that Botul never existed. He was invented as an elaborate joke in 1999 by Frédéric Pagès, a literary journalist, who wrote works in his name.

Bernard-Henri Lévy a laughing stock for quoting fictional philosopher - Times Online  read more »

I've kept an eye out for coverage of our non-discrimination petition from last spring--you'll find previous entries here and here. But this one is useful as an example of loaded rhetoric as well:
American Philosophical Association and Christ-Centered Colleges « Academic Freedom File  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 »

You'll no doubt remember that Austin College hired Marjorie Hass (formerly of Muhlenberg) as President last July. Today, we get another - this time Mount Holyoke!

Mount Holyoke College Names New President - NYTimes.com

Ms. Pasquerella, who graduated from Mount Holyoke in 1980 before earning her Ph.D. in philosophy from Brown University, spent almost two decades as a professor of philosophy at the University of Rhode Island, before becoming associate dean, then dean, of the graduate school there.

Here's some more coverage:
Mount Holyoke College names new president - Local News Updates - The Boston Globe

wbur.org » News » Lynn Pasquerella To Lead Mount Holyoke College

Lynn Pasquerella Named 18th President of Mount Holyoke College | Reuters

And E. Brister has a list of women philosophers in high administrative positions:

Knowledge and Experience: Women Philosophers and Administrative Leadership  read more »

A common theme on this blog is the perception of Philosophy from others in the academy. Here's PZ Myers take on a talk by William Wimsatt:

William Wimsatt—Why Development is Crucial to Cultural Evolution : Pharyngula

He seems to be saying some interesting stuff (or stuff that should be interesting), but it all seems to be built on air.

While I have a huge amount of respect for Wimsatt's work in Phil Biology (who doesn't?), he does tend to be long-winded. That's just his style.  Maybe PZ should have read a little of his work first to know what he was getting into? (may I suggest a visit to http://philosophy.uchicago.edu/faculty/wimsatt.html)

And don't worry PZ, there are other Philosophers out there who (a) respect empirical data and (b)  make points quickly.

Chinua Asuzu has an opinion peice on NEXT, which appears to be a paper for Nigerian Ex-pats, on the proposed law to define a 'philosopher' and thereby limit the practices of those not so defined:

The Oracle at Delphi

There is a foolish bill in the National Assembly to prescribe appropriate knowledge and skills for philosophers in Nigeria. The bill seeks to set up a National Institute of Nigerian Philosophers.

The bill would empower this proposed institute to register philosophers and to prohibit those not registered with the institute from "practising" philosophy.

I agree with Asuzu that this is an "idiotic formulation." In part because, as he says, how can one limit the practice of philosophy? At the same time, however, it is common practice for an academic group's professional association to have a technical definition of their membership - for example, the American Psychological Association defines a 'psychologist' as: About the American Psychological Association

"Psychologists have a doctoral degree in psychology from an organized, sequential program in a regionally accredited university or professional school."  read more »

It is only 20% women. Actually, this is really not news at all. It's been at that level for a generation.

A Dearth of Women Philosophers - Idea of the Day Blog - NYTimes.com

Evelyn Brister over at 'Knowledge and Experience' is all over the statistics and analysis, so there is no need for me to repeat her here.

My real complaint here is that the NY Times used an image of Ayn Rand as a Woman Philosopher! You've got to kidding me. For an article about academic, professional philosophy, nonetheless. I mean, seriously. How hard is it to find a photo of a woman philosopher? Let's choose one at random - say, the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago Martha Nussbaum? Oh, 1 click on google. Difficult. She even has a fairly detailed page on wikipedia. The third hit for google search on "Woman Philosopher" is a gallery of images of various suitable choices. And if they really had the energy, the first link is to an alphabetical list of women in philosophy. Many philosophers have their pictures right there on their web pages: Ruth Millikan has her picture on her public web site. And she's in Connecticut, so it isn't even a long drive for an interview.  read more »

The state of Pennsylvania has a unique system of small, regional state colleges. The 'big' universities are actually not controlled by the state, but are 'affiliated' with the state. But that system is often deemed inefficient--and when politicians start looking for inefficiency in academia, they often look at Philosophy first.

The Chronicle today lead with a story about a movement to 'consolidate' philosophy instruction across the 14 regional campuses via video conference links.  There is apparently already a system in place for 'sharing' foreign language instruction, which is shared between Clarion, Edinboro, Mansfield and Slippery Rock campuses.  read more »