Thinking of a Ph.D. in the Humanities?

Here's a discussion about the amount of time it can take to get a Ph.D. in the humanities on Inside Higher Ed. There are also links to other similar pieces (and to data) within this article.

Short summary: it can take a rather long time (10+ years) to get a PhD in the humanities, and some would like to change this.

Reminder of Undergraduate Conference and Four Keynote Speakers

As the fall term comes to a close, please be reminded that Allegheny College will host a two-day conference on whiteness and racism titled "Examining Whiteness: An Academic Conference on White Privilege and Racism in America" on April 4-5, 2008. Keynote speakers will be Lucius Outlaw (Vanderbilt University), Shannon Sullivan (Pennsylvania State University), Charles Mills (Northwestern University), and Linda Martin Alcoff (Syracuse University). The presentations of these four eminent philosophers of race on April 4 will anchor the undergraduate conference held all day April 5. Undergraduate students are invited to present their own work either in the form of complete papers or as a part of panel discussions.

Please encourage your students completing term papers and projects related to this topic to submit their work for consideration in the conference schedule. The deadline for submissions is January 23, 2008.

Detailed information about the conference, including a call for papers and panels, registration forms and fees, biographies of the invited speakers, and an electronic version of the conference poster can be found at the conference homepage<http://www.allegheny.edu/warehouse/redirect.php?id=2&id2=166>. I invite you and your students to attend and participate in this exciting opportunity for our region. Direct all inquiries and questions to Eric Boynton<mailto:eboynton@allegheny.edu>.

Eric Boynton, Ph.D.
Allegheny College
Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies
520 N. Main St.
Meadville, PA 16335

eboynton@allegheny.edu<mailto:eboynton@allegheny.edu>
814/332-3621

3rd Annual Audrey-Beth Fitch Conference on Women's Studies

3rd Annual Audrey-Beth Fitch Conference on Women's Studies

Attention Faculty, Staff and Students

Call for Papers:
3rd Annual Audrey-Beth Fitch Conference on Women's Studies

"The Other Side of Beauty: Impact on a Woman's Sense of Self"

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

California University of Pennsylvania's Women's Studies Program is holding its third annual conference on March 27th, 2008. This year's theme is "The Other Side of Beauty: Impact on a Woman's Sense of Self". Dr. Linda B. Hall, author of Mary, Mother, and Warrior: The Virgin in Spain and the Americas, will be our keynote speaker and discuss the ways in which beauty served (and failed to serve) three foreign divas – Garbo, Dietrich, and del Rio – in the 1930's and 1940's as the war in Europe began to influence the U.S. and then became the central national focus. The conference is interdisciplinary, bringing together scholars employing a variety of approaches to understand patriarchy, inequality, and the experiences of women around the world, past and present. Papers on all topics of women's lives are welcome, however our focus will be on the construction of feminine beauty and its effects on women and men. We are especially interested in scholarship examining connections and contradictions between ideas of women's inner and outer beauty and the ways in which patriarchal constructions of beauty are used to control women. We encourage contributions from scholars of diverse disciplines and all levels. The conference includes a statewide art contest and exhibition. Panel submissions, roundtables, and individual abstracts are welcome. California University of Pennsylvania is located about 30 miles south of Pittsburgh. Please send a proposal (300 words or less) and a C.V. or resume. Please address all queries, submissions, and abstracts to either Dr. Andrae Marak or Dr. Marta McClintock-Comeaux at marak@cup.edu<mailto:marak@cup.edu> or mcclintock@cup.edu<mailto:mcclintock@cup.edu> (with the subject line 2008 conference).
The DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS January 15, 2008.

Midsouth Philosophy Conference cfp

     CALL FOR PAPERS

     M I D S O U T H  P H I L O S O P H Y  C O N F E R E N C E

     and Undergraduate Philosophy Conference

     The University of Memphis

     February 22-23, 2008

The thirty-second annual Midsouth Philosophy Conference is scheduled for
Friday afternoon and Saturday, February 22-23, at The University of Memphis.

PAUL BOGHOSSIAN (New York University) will deliver the keynote address at
the beginning of the conference on Friday afternoon.

There will be a $20 registration fee, payable by cash or check at the
conference.

Papers in any area are welcome. Papers must not exceed a length of 3000
words. On the first page of your paper, include the following nine items:

  (1) a word count - 3000 words maximum!
  (2) the author's name
  (3) academic status (professor, unaffiliated, graduate student)
  (4) institutional affiliation (if any)
  (5) mailing address
  (6) email address
  (7) telephone number
  (8) the paper's title
  (9) an abstract - 100 words maximum!

Submissions which do not include all nine items will not be considered.  No
more than one submission by the same author will be considered.

Email a copy of your paper, as an attachment, in Rich Text Format (RTF) or
Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) to midsouth@lclark.edu
Please title your paper as follows: YourLastName_YourFirstName.rtf - for
example, Locke_John.rtf

Papers must be received by JANUARY 7.  Papers will be reviewed by a
committee.  Notification of acceptance will be made via email in late
January.  Submissions whose authors cannot be contacted through email will
be rejected.

Each paper will have a commentator.  Those interested in commenting should
send a note to midsouth@lclark.edu by January 15 of availability and areas
of interest.  Persons whose papers are accepted will be expected to serve as
commentators if asked.

  The University of Memphis UNDERGRADUATE PHILOSOPHY CONFERENCE
  will have parallel sessions.  Please encourage students to
  attend and submit papers.  Papers in any area are welcome.
  Submissions must not exceed a length of 3000 words, and must
  include a cover letter stating the author's name, university
  or college, mailing address, telephone number and/or email
  address.  Send two printed copies to:  Undergraduate Philosophy
  Conference, Department of Philosophy, 327 Clement Hall,
  University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152.  Papers must be post-
  marked by January 14.  Direct questions about the Undergraduate
  Philosophy Conference to Pleshette DeArmitt <pdearmtt@memphis.edu>

Thomas Nenon has reserved rooms for Thursday (2/21) through Saturday (2/23)
nights at the Sleep Inn (901-522-9700) on 40 North Front Street, and at the
Comfort Inn (901-526-0583) on 100 North Front Street.  Make reservations
directly, and before February 9.  The airport shuttle goes to the hotels for
about $10, taxis for about $25.

http://www.lclark.edu/~midsouth/MPC.html





============================================================================

                       Midsouth Philosophy Conference

                            University of Memphis

                             22-23 February 2008

                  http://www.lclark.edu/~midsouth/MPC.html

============================================================================

Canadian PHIL Undergrad Conference

Western Canadian Undergraduate Conference of Philosophy

and SOPHIA XI

Call For Papers

Papers are now being accepted for the first Western Canadian Undergraduate
Conference of Philosophy.  It will be held at the University of Victoria,
Victoria BC, on March 7-8, 2008.

Additionally, SOPHIA -- the University of Victoria's Undergraduate Journal
of Philosophy -- is also accepting submissions for publication in our 2008
issue.  This year?s edition will feature an interview with Dr. Allen Wood
from Stanford University.

The submission deadline for both the conference and SOPHIA is January 21.
All papers submitted before December 21 will be entered in a draw for free
admission to the conference.

For full conference and submission information,
Visit http://www.theviriditas.net/ or email us
at sophiajournal@gmail.com


 

Political Attack Ad: Nietzsche/Kant

A couple of philosophy friends have brought this to our attention, in advance of the coming political season:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M-cmNdiFuI

"Experimental Philosophy" in the NY Times

Here's an article on a relatively new movement in philosophy called "experimental philosophy."

("The New New Philosophy" by Kwame Anthony Appiah)

Undergraduate Conference CFP Reminder

 

 

SOUTHEAST PHILOSOPHY CONFERENCE AT CLAYTON STATE

 

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS

 

 

CLAYTON STATE UNIVERSITY

 

FEBRUARY 16, 2008

 

 

CALL FOR PAPERS

 

 

The inaugural meeting of the Southeast Philosophy Conference is scheduled for Saturday, February 16, 2008, at Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia.  Papers in any area are welcome.  There will be a $15 registration fee, payable at the conference. 

 

 

Submissions must not exceed a length of 3000 words, and must include a cover letter stating the paper's title, author's name, university or college, mailing and email addresses, and telephone number.  Either email submissions to toddjanke@clayton.edu or send two printed copies to:

 

                       

Southeast Philosophy Conference

                        Department of Communicative Arts & Integrative Studies

                        Clayton State University

                        Morrow, Georgia  30260

 

 

Papers must be received by January 28, 2008.  Notification of acceptance will be made via email by February 4, 2008.  Papers will be published in a Proceedings of the Conference. 

 

 

 

Contact for questions: toddjanke@clayton.edu

Undergraduate Philosophy Publishing Opportunity

STANCE:
A Peer-Reviewed Undergraduate Philosophy Journal

Submission Guidelines:
Current undergraduates may submit papers between 1500 and 3500 words in length. Papers should avoid unnecessary technicality and strive to be accessible to the widest possible audience without sacrificing clarity or rigor. They are evaluated on the following criteria: depth of inquiry, quality of research, creativity, lucidity, and originality.

Submission Procedures:
Submissions are to be prepared for blind review and must include a cover page with the author's name, affiliation, title, and email address. Papers should have no other identifying markers. Submissions are to be sent as attachments to phisigmatau@bsu.edu.

Deadline: Monday, December 17, 2007

Stance is a project of the Ball State University chapter of Phi Sigma Tau, an international undergraduate honor society for philosophy.

Undergraduate Philosophy Conference at Washington and Jefferson College

Here's a message about an undergraduate conference to be held at nearby Washington and Jefferson.

Papers should be 7-10 pages, and the deadline is 2/10/2008. Email fox@cup.edu<mailto:fox@cup.edu> for more information & a copy of the flier (call for papers) we received.

Subject: Undergraduate Philosophy Conference

Dear Colleagues,

Please pardon duplicate messages. Attached is a call for papers for an Undergraduate Philosophy Conference, "Self and World", which is to be held at Washington & Jefferson College on April 19, 2008.

The keynote speaker will be Muhammad Ali Khalidi from York University. And the title of his talk will be "Making up Our Minds: Innateness and Evolutionary Explanations in Cognitive Science"
...

Friday art event in Pgh

Looking for a fun cultural event in Pittsburgh this weekend?
Join several Cal U faculty and students for an exhibition of their artwork at the December 7th "First Friday Artwalk" along Penn Avenue, in the Garfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh.
The Penn Avenue Arts Initiative sponsors a monthly "Unblurred" event, in which dozens of galleries and cultural centers have art openings, receptions, demonstrations, or other events, including live music and refreshments. Come see or try glass blowing at the Pittsburgh Glass Center, tour artists' studios, or join Cal's many art students, and faculty Todd Pinkham, Maggy Aston, Patricia Milford, and Laura DeFazio for an exhibition of their work at
5020 Penn Avenue
7:00-9:00pm, Friday, December 7th
One Person Show "Societal Circus" by Todd Pinkham
And Group Show "Rousseau's Dream" by many Cal U faculty and student artists.

For more information, please contact
defazio@cup.edu

"What are you going to do with a philosophy degree?"

Here is a very useful (i.e., favorable to philosophy) discussion of the demand prospective employers have for philosophy majors:

Employers want philosophers...


I also want to note the addition of two new links to the right: one for Brian Leiter's "Philosophical Gourmet Report" and the other for his "Leiter Reports" blog. Both are great resources for learning about the profession of philosophy.

Happy reading.

"Wimps No More"

Former Cal philosophy professor Gary Smith sends us this appropriate cartoon from The New Yorker :
(We're not advocating a philosophical strike in advance of finals, however.)