An emerging trend over the last five years ago has been higher education’s increased emphasis on “assessment.” What I have in mind is not the assessment of students and the assignment of grades, but instead the evaluation of courses, departments, academic programs, and institutions. The general strategy is to develop “best practices” and “learning outcomes” … [continue reading]
“Mind the Gap”: How to Close Professional Philosophy’s Gender-Gap and Minority-Gap. With a Critical Postscript by X and Y.
I think it’s obvious that contemporary professional philosophy has a gender-gap and a minority-gap, no matter how one calculates the percentages of women or members of minority groups (ethnic and racial, economic class, sexual-orientation, disability, etc.) in the field: that is, whether it’s in relation to all current tenure-track faculty of any age-cohort (including emeritus/a … [continue reading]
The Schizophrenia of Authentic Philosophy, Part 1
There are authentic and inauthentic philosophers in the professional philosophical world. An authentic philosopher is one who, at the very least, does philosophy without regard for what the profession as a whole decides is right or correct simply by fiat. In other words, an authentic philosopher is one who does not let the prevailing biases … [continue reading]
“Under Submission”: 4 Radical Fixes for the Philosophy Publication Racket
I once had a colleague, now quite a well-respected person in his sub-field, and the holder of a prestigious professorship at one of The Fortune 500 Philosophy Club universities, of whom it was said that he loved refereeing because that way he could keep his enemies out of print. Indeed, after a few drinks, he … [continue reading]
FOOC the MOOCs.
The U.S. Supreme Court has declared that corporations are people, so I guess it’s not surprising that universities are corporations…. and College and University Presidents are much like CEOs. The main goal of higher education, then, must be to make a profit. At my home institution, online courses were developed as a means to boost summer … [continue reading]
If We’re So Smart, Then Why Are We Such Assholes?
This is a true story about my life, followed by a short argument. Last Saturday, Y sent to the APP circle the following bit of text, which in turn was excerpted from this article, which by now everyone in professional philosophy has either read or heard about: Scholars in all disciplines have disagreements. But philosophy … [continue reading]
JAPA the Hutt? Three Anticipatory Worries about the New Journal of the APA
The incomparable Wikipedia tells us that: Jabba the Hutt is a fictional character appearing in George Lucas’s space opera film saga Star Wars. He is depicted as a large, slug-like alien. His appearance has been described by film critic Roger Ebert as “Dickensian,” a cross between a toad and the Cheshire Cat. The equally incomparable … [continue reading]
Philosophical Anarchism, Political Anarchism, & Anarcho-Philosophy
Since this is my first diary entry, I thought it would be philosophically useful to distinguish between anarcho-philosophy, as I understand it, and other more familiar kinds of anarchism. Many very different political views, or attitudes, go by the scary label “anarchism.” By “anarchism” I certainly DO NOT mean either moral nihilism or political terrorism, … [continue reading]
“If you don’t have anything nice to say…”
When I was a kid, my parents used to tell me that if I didn’t have anything nice to say, I shouldn’t say anything at all. I do see some merit in that recommendation. For example, I think it probably would have been better for me and my siblings to stay quiet during dinner rather … [continue reading]