archive

Philosophy when considered

Alessandra Tanesini (Cardiff): Doing Philosophy. Timothy Williamson (Oxford): Model-Building in Philosophy. James Andow (Reading): Abduction by Philosophers: Reorienting Philosophical Methodology. Massimo Pigliucci (CUNY): The Nature of Philosophy: How Philosophy Makes Progress and Why It Matters. Susan Haack (Miami): The Fragmentation of Philosophy, the Road to Reintegration. Brian G. Henning (Gonzaga): Philosophy in the Age Fascism: Reflections on the Presidential Addresses of the American Philosophical Association, 1931-1940. Patrick Baert (Cambridge): The Philosopher as Public Intellectual. Aili W. Bresnahan (Dayton): Dancing Philosophy: What Happens to Philosophy when Considered from the Point of View of a Dancer. Daniel Dennett says much of philosophy today is “self-indulgent”. Why philosophy? Ken Taylor on how philosophy is in quite a state.

For all our technological breakthroughs, we’re still wrestling with the same basic questions as the Enlightenment philosophers: Adam Kirsch reviews The Dream of Enlightenment by Anthony Gottlieb. Is this a portrait of one of the world’s most influential philosophers? One Dutch art dealer is convinced that he owns the only portrait that Baruch Spinoza sat for. Should the ban on Spinoza be lifted? Steven B. Smith wonders. Why David Hume is so hot right now: Cody Delistraty interviews James Harris, author of Hume: An Intellectual Biography. A few kind words about the most evil man in mankind’s history: George H. Smith explains some fundamental features of Immanuel Kant’s moral and political theory. You can take Jeremy Bentham’s mummified head through airport security, but please don’t.

From the Journal for the History of Analytical Philosophy, Sean Morris reviews The Historical Turn in Analytic Philosophy, ed. Erich Reck. Marc Champagne on analytic philosophy, continental literature? Dan Zahavi (Copenhagen): Analytic and Continental Philosophy: From Duality through Plurality to (Some Kind of) Unity. David Spurrett (KwaZulu-Natal): Why I am Not an Analytic Philosopher. Meena Krishnamurthy on decolonizing analytic political philosophy. David Owen (Southampton): Reasons and Practices of Reasoning: The Analytic/Continental Distinction in Political Philosophy. Might and right in the Pioneer Valley: Political philosophy is an urgent — and fun — adventure. Jonathan Floyd on why we need to teach political philosophy in schools.

What is it like to be a philosopher? Clifford Sosis interviews Kwame Anthony Appiah. Separating the philosophy from the philosopher: After an alleged harasser holds on to a powerful academic position, professors try to limit his influence, in part by excluding his work from their syllabi — is that the right strategy? A life of meaning (reason not required): If philosophy is to stay relevant, it must bridge the gap between feeling and thought. Alastair Horne interviews Bloomsbury’s Liza Thompson on philosophy’s audiences: “Very different animals”. Michael Connell on how to teach philosophy in comedy clubs.