Recent links... “They don’t necessarily think their movements will make all the difference—at least not in the short term. But they believe they can make a difference to their movement” -- Michael Brownstein & Alex Madva on the civic value of losing loudly A fictional movie about sexual harassment, set in the Yale Philosophy Department, will| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
If versions of any of your books are on LibGen or similar online collections of pirated material, there is a chance it was used as training data for AI, and you may be able to join a lawsuit about it. Earlier this month, a group of authors sued Anthropic, the firm behind the Claude family| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
For the latest installment of the occasional academic equipment series, let's talk coffee. How is coffee done in your department? Is it every-coffee-drinker-for-themselves? Is there a communal coffee-making device of some sort? If there is an office coffee machine, what is it? What do you (realistically) wish it was? Why? Who pays for the coffee?| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
Harry Deutsch, emeritus professor of philosophy at Illinois State University, has died. Professor Deutsch was known for his work in philosophical logic and philosophy of language. You can learn more about his work here and here. Professor Deutsch spent most of his career at Illinois State. Before that, he held appointments at Indiana University Bloomington| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
At the end of last month, a petition was launched to move the Board of Officers of the American Philosophical Association (APA) to issue a statement about Gaza that would, "Unequivocally condemn the ongoing atrocities and war crimes against Palestinians" and "Express solidarity with Palestinian scholars, intellectuals, and students who are enduring immense suffering under| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
What will tell your students about whether and how they may use AI for work you assign? It depends on the students, right? That's the main idea behind today's guest post by Victor Kumar (Boston University). Professor Kumar is co-author (w/Richmond Campbell) of A Better Ape (OUP, 2022). In addition to his academic work, he writes| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
How would you determine whether studying philosophy improves critical thinking? Last October, Michael Prinzing (Baylor) & Michael Vazquez (UNC) produced an informal report for the American Philosophical Association arguing that, even though there are some selection effects, they had nonetheless found some “initial and suggestive evidence” in favor of the claim that majoring in philosophy makes students, in general, better thinkers. Prinzing and Vazquez| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
"Pity the poor reader" is one of philosopher Penelope Maddy's writing maxims. Maddy is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Irvine, and is interviewed about her writing by Nathan Ballantyne (Arizona State) at his site, The Workbench. What does she mean by it? She says: In philosophy especially, I figure the reader is nearly| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
Recent links... While much has been written about how current generations should wield the power they have to affect future generations, almost nothing has been written on whether that power is legitimate -- but there's a question there. Is it a good one? Emil Andersson thinks so To what extent is visual perception influenced by one’s| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
Which philosopher has a species of extinct horned armadillo named for him? Here's an illustration of the creature, in case you'd like to see one: Here's a hint: you might, because of the ears, be leaning towards Schopenhauer, and I can see that... ...but that's not correct. Here's another hint: fossils of the armadillo were| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
"You can choose to use AI to learn, or you can choose to use AI to avoid learning." That's the central message of a new a new first-year philosophy course created by Joshua "Gus" Skorburg (Guelph) called, “Digital Wisdom: How to Use AI Critically and Responsibly”. The course was prompted by Skorburg's observation that "students| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
Ryan Lake, associate professor of philosophy at Perimeter College at Georgia State University, has died. Ryan's philosophical interests were mainly on questions related to freedom and determinism. He joined the faculty at Perimeter College in 2016. Before that, he held appointments at Miami Dade College and Clemson University. He earned his PhD from the University of| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
Here's "an informational and best practices guide for people who are inviting and people who are being invited." It's by Barry Lam, professor of philosophy at UC Riverside, creator of the philosophy podcast Hi-Phi Nation, and author of the recent Fewer Rules, Better People. "Maybe it’s because I’m a first-gen college grad, but I didn’t really| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
"How much use of AI in our research is acceptable?" In a recent email, a professor of philosophy asked for a discussion about the ethics of using AI in philosophical research, and institutional policies about it. He adds: "My instinct is to hold my students to the same standards that I would expect of my| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
The new semester is upon us---at least some of us, yours truly included. Summer, you were good while you lasted. Before things ramp up to a more normal pace around here, I want to thank the authors who contributed to the Summer 2025 Guest Post Series. I very much appreciate them writing and giving us| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
The Royal Institute of Philosophy recently announced the longlist of books being considered for the 2025 Nayef Al-Rodhan International Prize in Transdisciplinary Philosophy. The £20,000 prize recognizes "books that transcend academic boundaries" that "further... our understanding of the key challenges facing the world today" in areas such as the future of humanity, disruptive technologies, global| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
Links you may want to check out... “They call it repugnant, this world Z of ours / Where zillions breathe beneath ordinary stars / But let me tell you of a lottery divine / Where existence itself is the prize on the line” -- Richard Chappell, in search of philosophically moving music, has cranked the bombast| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
The articles that made it into the latest edition of Philosophers Annual have been announced. The list aims to “select the ten best articles published in philosophy each year—an attempt as simple to state as it is admittedly impossible to fulfill.” This volume---the 44th---covers the literature from 2024. The selections are: Rosalind Chaplin (UNC Chapel Hill), “Kant| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
What are some practical work suggestions for philosophy PhD students who are seeking academic careers? Hugo Heagren, a student at King's College London who is currently finishing up his PhD, has compiled a list of "practical tips for philosophy PhD students." You can check it out here. Below are some of the things on his| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
Links added lately... “Combining economics with philosophy makes for an excellent and productive career” -- that's advice for graduate students from John Broome, but it might also be a summary of this in-depth interview with him about his education and work “The fantasy that you can just wipe away democratic traditions and get something in its| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
The President of Monmouth College, a private liberal arts college in Illinois, has recently announced that students at the school will no longer be able to major in philosophy, nor in a number of other subjects, starting in Fall 2026. "We stand firm to our commitment as a liberal arts college and embrace the traditions| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
“I don’t want to be a cop in the classroom. So, it’s... important for students to come to the same conclusion themselves and understand the rationale for this [AI] policy.” Recently, Patrick Lin, a philosophy professor at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, wrote a long essay for his students on the importance of explaining to why| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
Journal for New Narratives in the History of Philosophy (JNNHP) is a new, online, open-access, peer-reviewed journal. The journal's focus is "leading-edge research relating to new narratives in any period in the history of philosophy [and] discussion of and scholarship on diverse, underrepresented, and non-canonical approaches, themes, and figures in a wide variety of world philosophical| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
Philosophers Johan Gustafsson and Thomas Ward have been hired by the University of Texas at Austin. Johan Gustafsson was most recently senior research fellow at the University of York. He joins the UT Austin Department of Philosophy this fall as full professor. His research covers a range of topics in moral and political philosophy, and| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
The Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Society is the recipient of a $3.2 million award. The funds, from the John Templeton Foundation, will "establish an international grant initiative to support PPE research projects, host workshops for the award winners, and build an expansive catalog of research and teaching resources," the PPE Society announced. The grant initiative "will| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
The Stanford Daily, Stanford University's independently run student newspaper, and two of its student staff, are suing Marco Rubio, in his capacity as Secretary of State, and Kristi Noem, in her capacity as Secretary of Homeland Security, for violating their First Amendment rights. . The suit argues that the administration's reliance on the Immigration and Nationality Act| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
"We do not publish any work advancing views that are clearly contrary to the established teachings of the Catholic Church." That's in the submission guidelines for the National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly (NCBQ). Also in those submission guidelines: The NCBQ seeks to foster intellectual inquiry on moral issues by publishing articles that address the ethical, philosophical, theological, and| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
"Over the last decade, interest in ethical issues related to computing, especially concerning artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, has skyrocketed." Why should philosophers---as teachers, as researchers, as members and administrators of philosophy departments---care about this? And what should they do in response to it? The following guest post is by members of the Value| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
