APP Editors’ Note: JV is a graduate student in philosophy at a public university somewhere in North America; Ishmael is a tenured associate professor of philosophy at a small private university somewhere in North America; and L_E is a PhD student in philosophy at a public university somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere. This conversation refers … [continue reading]
How the Journals are Making Me Lose the Philosophical Will-to-Live.
This essay describes my own personal take on certain aspects of what Z has called the Publication Racket. When philosophy journals contact me to request that I referee an article, they typically request that I submit my review within two months. Some journals request that I submit my review in as little as six weeks, … [continue reading]
Philosoflicks 1: You are Not a Machine!
WHAT IS A PHILOSOFLICK? In “Let’s Make More Movies,” the epistemological anarchist Paul Feyerabend wrote this: The separation of subjects that is such a pronounced characteristic of modern philosophy is … not altogether undesirable. It is a step on the way to a more satisfactory type of myth. What is needed to proceed further is … [continue reading]
Philosophy Leiterized: How We Reduce Vermeers to Cow Plops, and How A Measure Colonizes Our Behavior.
APP EDITORS’ NOTE: THE 2017-2018 PHILOSOPHY GOURMET REPORT RANKINGS ARE HERE. No, I’m NOT going to attack Brian Leiter— That’s been done many times before. What I’m interested in are these two paragraphs from Leiter’s Wikipedia article: Philosophical Gourmet Report In 1989, while he was a graduate student, Leiter made a list of what he … [continue reading]
APP’s Readers Talk Back! 1
Why Anonymous? Why “Against”? APP Editors’ note: M is a 30-something woman philosopher who is currently teaching in a non-TT position at a public university somewhere in Europe. M: Is this you? I find it a bit strange to talk to someone who apparently prefers to communicate as … anonymous. I hadn’t been aware of … [continue reading]
What is It All About? Some Reflections on Applying to Graduate School in Philosophy from Outside the USA.
APP Editors’ Note: L_E is a 20-something philosophy PhD student at a public university somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere. This post is mainly about my experience as a non-traditional student applying to graduate school in philosophy in the USA, from outside the US. Before I proceed, a few words regarding my background might be helpful. … [continue reading]
Can Real Philosophers Survive Outside Professional Philosophy?
By real philosophy, we mean synoptic, systematic, rational reflection on the individual and collective human condition, and on the natural world in which human and other conscious animals live, move, and have their being. Real philosophy fully includes the knowledge yielded by the natural and formal sciences; but, as we see it, real philosophy also … [continue reading]
Why Does Conscience Make Cowards of Us All? The Tenure-&-Promotion System as an Extremely Effective Device for Thought-Control.
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pitch and moment With this regard their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action. Hamlet, act III, scene 1 I. THE ESSAY Why are contemporary … [continue reading]
Weapons of the Weak Revisited: The Problem of Contingent Faculty and Everyday Forms of Philosophical Resistance.
I. THE ESSAY 1. In 2014, there were roughly 140 philosophy departments with graduate philosophy programs in the USA and Canada. I would conservatively guess that on average, each such program has roughly 20-25 graduate students. So that’s roughly 3000 people, at least. Therefore, assuming that enrolment in philosophy graduate programs is relatively constant, then … [continue reading]
“Analytic” Philosophy vs. “Continental” Philosophy: WtF? Why Does It Still Matter So Much?
Quarrels between professors are never entirely disconnected from larger quarrels. There was a hidden agenda behind the split between old-fashioned “humanistic” philosophy (of the Dewey-Whitehead sort) and the positivists, and a similar agenda lies behind the current split between devotees of “analytic” and of “Continental” philosophy. The heavy breathing on both sides about the immorality … [continue reading]