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    Category: Improving the philosophy profession

    • Some thoughts on tutes

      Next week, I will be teaching my first tutorials at Oxford University (the subject is philosophy of cognitive science). For those unfamiliar with the format, tutorials are one of the forms of teaching at Oxford that every undergraduate has. A lecturer and a student (or a small group of students, maximum 4) convene every week,…

    • An important essay (and Special Issue) on “Introducing Feminist Philosophy of Disability”

      Shelley Tremain has authored a document that should be read with care by all members of the profession.  URL: http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/3877/3402. Standard ref: "Introducing Feminist Philosophy of Disability," Disability Studies Quarterly 33.4 (2013).  The article is the Introduction to a Special Issue on "Improving Feminist Philosophy and Theory by Taking Account of Disability" of which Tremain is the…

    • Results of my qualitative study of religious attitudes and motivations of philosophers of religion

      (X-posted on Prosblogion) My last blogpost for this year will be a preliminary report on the qualitative survey I launched last month. In this open survey, I asked professional philosophers of religion (including graduate students) about their motivations and personal belief attitudes, and how their work relates to these beliefs. I am very grateful to…

    • Notes on conference and essay volume organizing

      [UPDATE, 1 Jan 2014, 12:10 pm CST: Here is the narrative form of the talk.] I've been invited to take part in a panel on inclusivity in conference and essay collection organizing, to be held at the 2013 APA Eastern. Session GVIII-1, Sunday 11:15 am. Here are my notes. (Comments welcome to me by email too.)…

    • A plea to end informal interviews at the APA reception

      Republishing this post from 14 December 2011, as it's that time of year again. —- There has been a fair bit of discussion lately about the practice of APA interviews.  A growing body of empirical work suggests that implicit biases play a large role in interviews, especially shorter interviews in unusual social situations.  Some take…

    • New Blog: “Philosophical Spaces: Answering questions about how to improve the professional environment of philosophy”

      Here's the URL: http://philosophicalspaces.wordpress.com/ The self-description:  This is a blog that discusses and advises people about how to make the climate in their philosophy department and other professional spaces more hospitable.  Some have argued that the norms of behavior in philosophy departments are part of what explains why Anglophone philosophy is not as diverse as other…

    • Aristotle’s notion of dialectic as a model for philosophical debate and inquiry

      This week, we’ve had a new round of discussions on the ‘combative’ nature of philosophy as currently practiced and its implications, prompted by a remark in a column by Jonathan Wolff on the scarcity of women in the profession. (Recall the last wave of such discussions, then prompted by Rebecca Kukla’s 3AM interview.) Brian Leiter…

    • Is it possible to engage in ethical career networking?

      Next week, I will be speaking at a career development workshop for female Oxford graduate and masters students. One of the things I want to focus on is the importance of building out a broad, strong, supportive professional network. Academia is built on trust and personal relationships. Rarely are people invited as speakers at conferences,…

    • Should Departments Be Promoting From Within?

      In the discussion that followed Anca Gheaus' guest post on the gender situation in the German academy, there was some mention of the fact that in many European job-markets, faculty searches are not truly 'open,' so that internal candidates are strongly preferred to those from outside the hiring institution. Clearly, when taken to an extreme—institutions…