APA Blog

Organization

While having dinner tonight, something slightly upsetting happened. I was sitting with another teacher, talking about a variety of topics, when the conversation moved to politics. She mentioned how much she likes Donald Trump, saying he seems thoughtful and is willing to take a global perspective when making decisions. After inquiring into what led her to these conclusions, I mentioned that I find him to have strong ideological commitments to the free market, small government, and self-aggrandizement. [ 337 more words ]

http://blog.apaonline.org/…/what-are-you-reading-on-dialog…/

The American Philosophical Association is pleased to announce that the board of officers has selected Professor Peggy DesAutels (University of Dayton) as the recipient of the 2017 Philip L. Quinn Prize, the APA’s highest honor for service to the profession. The prize memorializes Philip L. Quinn, a former president of the APA Central Division and former chair of the APA board of officers. [ 231 more words ]

http://blog.apaonline.org/…/peggy-desautels-university-of-…/

APA Member Interview: Debra Nails

http://blog.apaonline.org/…/apa-member-interview-debra-nai…/

By Henrik Lagerlund: Very few things are so important to our lives as food, but most of us don’t think much about it. Sure, we think about what to eat every day and, even more so, what not to eat, but we don’t really think about food. Where does it come from? Who produced it? Who picked these tomatoes or apples? [ 2,269 more words ]

http://blog.apaonline.org/…/philosophy-in-the-contemporary…/

The American Philosophical Association is pleased to announce that Professor Timothy Williamson (New College, Oxford) will deliver the 2018–2019 Sanders Lecture at the 2019 Central Division meeting in Denver, CO. The Sanders Lecture was established in 2013 to honor a distinguished scholar in philosophy of mind, metaphysics, or epistemology who engages the analytic tradition. It is generously funded by the Marc Sanders Foundation. [ 163 more words ]

http://blog.apaonline.org/…/oxfords-timothy-williamson-to-…/

To Gift or Not to Gift by Skye Cleary & John Kaag

http://blog.apaonline.org/2017/12/05/to-gift-or-not-to-gift/

The American Philosophical Association is pleased to announce that Professor Lynne Rudder Baker (University of Massachusetts Amherst) will give the 2018–2019 Romanell Lecture at the 2019 Eastern Division meeting in New York City. The Patrick Romanell Lecture is presented annually at a divisional meeting of the APA on the topic of philosophical naturalism. The lecture comes with a monetary award of $1,200 plus travel costs, and the lecture will be published in the APA… [ 131 more words ]

http://blog.apaonline.org/…/lynne-rudder-baker-to-give-the…/

This week I saw a disturbing report on CNN about the developing migrant crisis in Libya. Because Libya is a convenient gateway to Europe, and because the Libyan government is highly disorganized, slave traders have begun operations. According to the reports I read, these traders will attract victims by claiming they will take them to Europe, then hold them for ransom. [ 302 more words ]

http://blog.apaonline.org/…/what-are-you-reading-on-migran…/

APA Member Interview: Branden Fitelson @fitelson

http://blog.apaonline.org/…/apa-member-interview-branden-f…/

By Vincenzo Di Nicola The first piece in this two-part series is here. What will philosophy say to us? It will say: “We must think the event.” We must think the exception. We must know what we have to say about that which is not ordinary. We must think change in life. —Alain Badiou, Polemics (2006, p. [ 2,566 more words ]

http://blog.apaonline.org/…/badiou-the-event-and-psychiatr…/

The American Philosophical Association is pleased to announce that it will provide grants to eight philosophy-related projects for 2017–2018. For more information on these programs, visit the previously funded projects page of our website. Small Grant Program Each year, the APA Eastern Division provides $25,000 for the APA’s Small Grant Program. This year’s grant application process was quite competitive, with twenty-four proposals requesting a total of $103,052 from our $25,000 grant fund. [ 1,291 more word ]

http://blog.apaonline.org/…/apa-awards-grants-to-eight-pro…/

By Ram Neta Lots of people bemoan the incivility of public discourse. But what I find even more dispiriting than its incivility is its predictability and its tedium. Public discourse feels boring to me in three ways. First, it tends to focus on the same menu of topics; second, it tends to feature the same menu of views; and third, it proceeds according to the increasingly fixed rules of an increasingly competitive sport. [ 349 more words ]

http://blog.apaonline.org/…/enlivening-the-public-discours…/

By Rosemere Ferreira da Silva In 2009, I interviewed a group of black intellectuals in the United States while I was researching for my doctoral degree on a study of the writings of Abdias Do Nascimento and Milton Santos in Brazil. Now an Associate Professor of Literature, I recently returned to the United States to continue that additional research. As some of the intellectuals were philosophers, I’ve decided to devote part of the project to discussing the unique challenges they face in the production of their work. [ 3,916 more words ]

http://blog.apaonline.org/…/black-issues-in-philosophy-an-…/

Today the American Philosophical Association, along with more than 30 other learned societies, issued a joint statement in opposition to the proposal to tax graduate school tuition waivers as income, a provision included in the tax reform bill recently passed by the US House of Representatives. The statement reads as follows: We, the undersigned organizations, stand together in opposition to the proposal to tax graduate school tuition waivers as income, a provision included in the tax reform bill recently passed by the US House of Representatives. [ 340 more words ]

http://blog.apaonline.org/…/apa-joins-30-organizations-to-…/

International Women's Day has become an occasion for philosophers to edit and contribute entries on Wikipedia. I asked Ege Yumusak about the edit-a-thon she organized with the Women in Philosophy group at the University of Cambridge. She points out that many Wikipedia entries could "benefit from philosophers' attention", including those entries that fail to even mention work done by women. She also gives some useful advice, explaining the role editors play on the site today. [ 724 more words ]

http://blog.apaonline.org/…/women-and-philosophy-on-wikipe…/

by Naomi Zack Administrators in higher education are often ahead of faculty in understanding the need for greater demographic diversity on campus. However, often their efforts do not have practical results because of the lack of connections with scholarly work. As scholars, we live in our disciplines (e.g., English, Anthropology, History, Philosophy) and as teachers we live in our departments. Often, departments already have courses related to issues of diversity in race and gender that are regularly taught and such courses may even be required by the institution or for department majors. [ 360 more words ]

http://blog.apaonline.org/…/a-bright-idea-from-philosopher…/