Comps

Ethics Comp: Mon 30 Jan, 9am-noon, LT 1210

Soc-Pol Comp: Wed 1 Feb, 9am-noon, LT 1210

enjoy!

the missing 'a' is for boring

how to shift from morally reprehensible to boring (in nonsenseworld),
from the WSJ:

Despite new ownership, a new board and new management, security contractor Xe Services LLC could never shake a troublesome nickname: the company formerly known as Blackwater.

Now, it's the company formerly known as Xe.

On Monday, Virginia-based Xe plans to unveil a new name—Academi—and new logo. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Ted Wright, president and chief executive, said the name change aims to signal a strategy shift by one of the U.S. government's biggest providers of training and security services.

Mr. Wright said Academi will try to be more "boring."

Colloquium TODAY

Jennifer Uleman

Purchase College (SUNY)

"No King and No Torture: Making Sense of Kant on Suicide"

5:30pm

in UU somewhere

Colloquium reminder

from today's Dateline:


--SPEL Colloquium Thursday
Jess Kyle, PhD candidate in philosophy at Binghamton University will speak on "The Problem of Global Worldlessness: Competing Care Values in Military Humanitarian Intervention Debates" from 11:45 a.m.-1 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1, in UUW-324. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Robert Guay at rguay@binghamton.edu.

Black Friday

even at Schoenhofs, apparently, and lasting four days.

not much philosophy in their inventory, but go read Proust or something.

Dear Robert Guay,  As a valued customer we wanted you to be the first to know about our very special Black Friday savings opportunity. This weekend save 20% to 30% on our extensive 50,000 title foreign book catalog at schoenhofs.com. Savings begin at midnight on Friday, November 25th and run through Monday, November 28th up until 11:59 PM.   Shop any time this weekend and save 20% instantly at checkout. Visit our Facebook page (Click Here) and 'LIKE' us to get an additional 10% saving coupon for a total of 30% off your purchase this weekend. By following us on Facebook, you'll be the first to know about future sales, new title releases, events and more.   And just to be clear, everything is on sale including popular French, German, Spanish and Italian literary titles, language leaning books as well children's books. No titles have been excluded.   We hope you'll take advantage of this once a year savings opportunity. If you have any questions at all or need any assistance in selecting titles, as always feel free to contact us by phone or e-mail.   We wish you a very happy Thanksgiving holiday and thank you for being a valued Schoenhofs Foreign Books customer.   Sincerely,     Schoenhofs Foreign Books http://www.schoenhofs.com

world philosophy day

oh shit, almost missed it, still 51 minutes to celebrate:

http://www.un.org/en/events/philosophyday/

new JFP came out last week, fwiw

highlight, though you'd really think this one should be online only:

17. CYCORP, AUSTIN, TX. Cycorp has an immediate opening for an Ontologist. The opening is for regular, full-time employment with a private company, and involves no teaching duties. Nonteaching duties: The successful candidate will help us bring human-level AI into existence and into widespread use. You will be extending the world’s largest knowledge based system, Cyc, both in its breadth of general common sense and in its depth in fields ranging from finance to energy to manufacturing to search to medicine to counterterrorism. You will work as part of a team, alongside other ontologists and AI programmers. Through introspection, reading, and discussions with domain experts, you will codify and formalize important, general pieces of knowledge about the world, and you will test the growing AI system’s understanding of what you’ve taught it.


it's nice to see 'introspection' part of a job description.

SPEL workshop reminder

"abstracts and turning seminar papers into gold"

Thu 17 Nov
usual time
usual place

mandatory for 1st and 2nd year students; optional for everyone else.

SPEL workshop reminder

"Syllabus construction/course design"

Thu 10 Novemeber
usual time
usual place

mandatory for 1st and 2nd year students

I think this is what a "research assistantship" is for

it's about time we had some
randomised controlled trials of parachute intervention


http://www.bmj.com/content/327/7429/1459.long

what can I do with a humanities degree? and so on.

some linkage:

http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~janzb/humanities/humcareers.htm

http://www.binghamton.edu/lace/

http://articles.philly.com/2011-10-15/news/30283702_1_philosophy-number-of-four-year-graduates-college-students

Workshop THU (3 Nov)

SPEL Workshop reminder:

"Interviewing"

3 November
11:45-1:00
usual place

MANDATORY FOR 2ND YEAR STUDENTS and anyone who expects a mock interview or real interview anytime soon.

deserves a link, already

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/10/is-philosophy-the-most-practical-major/246763/#

it's not easy being green

or maybe it is, I don't know. that really isn't an informative post title.

http://www2.binghamton.edu/academics/provost/undergrad/faculty-masters/ciw.html

Tessman's moral failure

that is, about moral failure

http://discovere.binghamton.edu/faculty-spotlights/tessman-4045.html

award reminder

those who wish to be nominated for the Graduate Student Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Teaching/Service/Research Excellence, the packets are

- still due to me on Monday
- still must be submitted electronically

there was a post about this last month that was probably more accurate about the award title

library book sale

it's actually pretty good this year.

http://library2.binghamton.edu/news/blog/2011/10/06/2011-annual-book-sale-oct-20-23/

Workshop THU (20 Oct)

Workshop this Thursday (20 Oct 11)

"Developing a Reflective Teaching Practice"

starring Randy L. Friedman

LT 1210
11:45-1:00
do your homework!

on not-being

from the Graduate School's new brochure:

liberal arts suck

at least in Florida.

3 takes:

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/10/rick-scott-liberal-arts-majors-drop-dead-anthropology

http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/10/11/340824/why-liberal-arts-professors-should-learn-to-love-quantitative-assessments-of-student-learning/

http://wonkette.com/454567/non-human-rick-scott-launches-jihad-against-people-who-study-humans

seems like good advice

read this online, seemed like good advice for those applying to 'teaching schools' (esp. since it is pretty much the opposite from what goes on w/ research institutions):

"Speaking from my experience, one thing that is extremely important is a good cover letter. (Some of my colleagues will just toss aside an application that doesn't have one.) This should not just discuss your research or talk in very general terms about how much you love teaching; instead, it should explain how these two main elements of your work as a teacher-scholar relate to one another, and - even more importantly, at least in some cases - what makes you a "fit" for the particular institution in question. The more specific you can be on the latter question, the better - though it should go without saying that you shouldn't misrepresent yourself, as this will come back to bite you."

found it here:

http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2011/10/departmental-placement-officer-seeks-advice.html

SPEL workshop reminder

THU 13 OCT

DOSSIERS, WITH A SPECIAL FOCUS ON THE RESEARCH STATEMENT

USUAL TIME

USUAL PLACE

MANDATORY FOR 1ST YEARS AND ANYBODY WHO WANTS ME TO LOOK AT THEIR RESEARCH STATEMENT

graduate community of scholars

more workshops, like the SPEL workshops, but run by the Graduate School:

FRI 14 OCT
GRADUATE WRITING AND CITING IN THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
12:30-1:30PM
UU 206

FRI 18 NOV
ENGAGING IN THE COMMUNITY
12:00NOON-1:30PM
UU 206

www.binghamton.edu/gcos

Happy JFP day

it's online ... #191 ... at new and buttugly APA website.

I hope there are a lot more jobs on #192, because there ain't a whole lot in #191.

SPEL colloquium

first of the new academic year!

Jennifer Uleman

SUNY Purchase

"No King and No Torture: Making Sense of Kant on Suicide"

THU 6 OCT

5:30pm - 7:30pm

UU 102

commentary by the illustrious Sean Bustard

note the time, note the room.

meriting linkage

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/28/on-ducking-challenges-to-naturalism/?hp


http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/graphics/09_29_11_collapse/

our graduate students

this is from the grad school, not from SPEL

http://www2.binghamton.edu/grad-school/prospective-students/fast-facts.html

SPEL workshop reminder

THU 22 SEPT

the job market and cv construction


usual time, usual place


- mandatory for first years.  everyone else is welcome.
- there was one last week, too.

Graduate Student Awesomeness Awards

or something like that.

information here:
http://www2.binghamton.edu/grad-school/faculty-and-staff/awards-fellowships-grants/student-excellence-awards.html

further information:
if you wish to be considered, you must be nominated by your program.  requests for nominations with all supporting materials are due to me by 24 October for consideration by the SPEL Committee.

if you have any questions, ask Regan, because she is the resident Awesome Graduate Student

Lew's picture in NYT

possibly the first SPEL alumnus to have his picture in NYT?

he looks like a little bit like a space alien.

link

what to expect in first round interviews

seems a little early, but ok:

http://chronicle.com/article/What-to-Expect-in-a/128827/

gender options

'X' now a gender option in Australian passports


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/09/14/international/i183251D18.DTL

wtf

Top 10 least rigorous schools:

1. SUNY at Binghamton
2. University of Florida
3. University of Wisconsin-Madison
4. University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
5. University of Maryland-College Park
6. University of California-San Diego
7. Northeastern University
8. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
9. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
10. The College of New Jersey

source here:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/features/college-rankings/2011/least-rigorous.html


comments here:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/blog/college_rankings_that_are_ridiculous.php

I haven't seen any cookies

"It’s common practice for graduate students to bring food to their dissertation defenses." 

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/blog/phd_snacks.php

flabbergasted

“This has literally flabbergasted the American maritime industry,” said Christopher Coakley, vice president for legislative affairs at the American Waterways Operators, an association of domestic ship and barge operators.


literally.


link

future plagiarism tribunal

this just goes to show what the wages of plagiarism are.

"Bashir Sewehli, a Libyan activist, told Al Jazeera English a few minutes ago that the rebel Transitional National Council now claim to have captured three of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's sons: Saif al-Islam, Saadi and Muhammad."   link


"In a statement, the university said: "LSE is aware that there are allegations of plagiarism concerning the PhD thesis of Saif Gaddafi.
'The School takes all allegations of plagiarism very seriously, and is looking into the matter in accordance with standard LSE procedures.'"   link


also: this

UPDATE: this

transitional justice

link: Foreign Policy

utilitarians are sociopaths

or something like that.

link here

summertime happenings

congratulations to Valerie Saint-Amand, who just passed her Ph.D. defense!

successful defense

congratulations to S. Johnston, the second Sean to pass his Ph.D. defense this year!

career advice

http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2011/06/20/advice_column_on_becoming_a_philosophy_faculty_member

PICNIC THIS WEEKEND

Please mark your calendars for our annual Philosophy Department Picnic!

DATE:            Saturday, May14

TIME:             1:00 pm

PLACE:          Roundtop Park, Endicott, NY

Please bring a dish to pass and any “grillables” that you would like (e.g. hamburgers, hotdogs, veggie burgers, chicken, etc).  Paper products will be provided.

Workshop reminder

SPEL Workshop

"Internet Presence"*

Tue 10 May
11:45-1:00
LT 1210

non-mandatory

*other topics possible, time permitting

more congratulations

to Sean C. for defending his dissertation.  successfully.

congratulations

to Jess and Jessie for winning IASH fellowships

and to Lew for his future win of a Distinguished Dissertation Award

anything else?

tuition

going up?


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/03/nyregion/cuomo-backs-higher-tuition-at-top-suny-colleges.html?hpw

update:

wait a minute, is the idea to use tuition increases for capital funding for upstate economic development?

http://www.governor.ny.gov/press/050211suny

some aspects may require legislative approval


update update:

http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20110504/NEWS10/105040330/Cuomo-SUNY-unveil-expan
ded-economic-development-plan?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

does anyone even distinguish between SUNY and upstate economic development any more?

update update update:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/blog/sunys_new_money.php

failure fail

great article on the NRC study

http://chronicle.com/article/Too-Big-to-Fail/127212/

colloquium reminder

Alice MacLachlan
York University

"The Uses of Apology"

Thu 5 May
11:45-1:00
UUW 324

ha ha, just a metaphor

new social-political discovery: metaphors/non-analogies make everything ok

In New Hampshire Friday, Mitt Romney stumbled over a line about pinning the nation's melancholy on President Obama that found him scrambling to back away from a quote suggesting Republicans are going to "hang" Obama with America's problems in 2012.

"Uh, so to speak -- metaphorically," Romney quickly corrected, before adding, "you have to be careful these days, I've learned that." [link]

In a speech to New Hampshire Republicans, Bachmann recounted learning about a horrific time in history as a child -- the Holocaust -- and wondering if her mother did anything to stop it. She said she was shocked to hear that many Americans weren't aware that millions of Jews had died until after World War II ended.
Bachmann said the next generation will ask similar questions about what their elders did to prevent them from facing a huge tax burden.
"I tell you this story because I think in our day and time, there is no analogy to that horrific action," she said, referring to the Holocaust. "But only to say, we are seeing eclipsed in front of our eyes a similar death and a similar taking away. It is this disenfranchisement that I think we have to answer to." [link][also here]


This is clearly some sort of experiment based on this, but testing the limits of how far it can go.  And they've already reached the bottom.

doesn't say anything about leaving your office door open

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/30/nyregion/here-comes-your-starbucks-latte-there-goes-your-laptop.html?hp

excerpt:

Starbucks shops are prime hunting ground for thieves who prey on customers distracted by laptops or iPads or, well, standing in line, to extract their valuables.

non-workshop reminder

there is no workshop tomorrow (thu. 28 apr.)

the workshop that was going to take place tomorrow has been moved to tue. 10 may.

so tomorrow there is only not-workshop.

Workshop reminder

"Writing the Damn Prospectus"

Tue 26 April
11:45a-1:00p
LT 1210

another book sale

http://www.psupress.org/springsale.html

for the philosohomies

SPEL GSO events:

infamous(ly awesome) end-of-the-year party

FRIDAY FRIDAY FRIDAY, May 7th! Save the date!

You deserve a break. Treat yourself right.
Keg beer and merriment will be provided.

Also this year is a THEME PARTY! (woohoooooo) Specifically, it is a CONCEPT PARTY! 

Come dressed up as your favorite concept, and please don't everyone go for Hedonism. ;)

Family, friends, significant others welcome!

Location: Regan (& Aaron) White House. 
It'll be a blasty blast.




End-of-the-year dinner at Moghul! Friday, May 13th, 7pm.

Please RSVP to (rrule1@binghamton.edu) by May 1st, and include the number of non-university affiliated guests who will be in attendance.

We hope to be able to cover all parties (students and significant others), but our ability to do so will be determined by the number of attendees. So it is very important that you RSVP!

Food will be covered, but please bring money for tips and drinks.

Looking forward to seeing all of your lovely faces together in a non-colloquium environment!


[what's wrong with the colloquium environment?]

so much for philosophy

from this:

Here is what baffles Mnookin most: How so many caring, well-educated, affluent parents came to buy leaky theories that vaccines cause autism. How 48 states allow parents to exempt their kids from vaccines for religious reasons, and how in 18 states all you need is a philosophical reason. How, in 2010, the journal Pediatrics reported that a staggering 25 percent of parents believed that vaccines can cause developmental disorders in healthy children. How, even after a 2002 study in the New England Journal of Medicine found no link between MMR and autism, the anti-vaccine camp grew stronger.


so I guess the ranking goes:
1) prudential reason
2) religious reason
3) philosophical reason
4) grunt prefaced by "'cuz"

Pluralist's Guide to Philosophy Programs

hadn't seen this until Melissa pointed it out to me.  it looks pretty new:

http://pluralistsguide.org/testsite/#awp::

here's the continental page:

http://pluralistsguide.org/testsite/program-recommendations/continental-philosophy/#awp::program-recommendations/continental-philosophy/

here's the feminist philosophy page:

http://pluralistsguide.org/testsite/program-recommendations/feminist-philosophy/#awp::program-recommendations/feminist-philosophy/

I think they have other pages, too.

from the Campus Master Plan Presentation

I skim it so you don't have to, not that you had to anyway.  I think this picture captures it:

Dissertation defense

Edgar Valdez
"Pre-Postulate A Priori Intuition: Revisiting Kant's Account of Space"


Wed Apr 13th


LT 1310 (note the floor)
12:45-2:45

colloquium reminder

                                                                             (not actually talking about this)

Distinguished Speaker

Elizabeth Anderson
University of Michigan

"The Fundamental Disagreement between Luck Egalitarians and Relational Egalitarians"

Thu 14 Apr
11:45-1:00
UUW 324

new agenda item for Tue open SPEL meeting

1. A brief speech in praise of the world's greatest SPEL memo.


the next SPEL meeting:

Tue 12 April
11:45-1:00
LT 1210

yay Shay!

tenure-track!

at the home of the other Spelblog


here's the holy hand grenade of Antioch again, even though it's not appropriate in this case

Nietzsche virtual issue

Nietzsche virtual issue of EJP here:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1468-0378/homepage/nietzsche_virtual_issue.htm

I'm not sure how long it's free.  But you have access to EJP through the campus network, anyway.

recurrent book sale

beware of spear phishing

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/05/business/05hack.html?src=me&ref=homepage

don't let what happened to Danesh happen to you.

registration

that's open now.

don't forget to check with your advisor.

and register for the colloquium.

Dissertation defense

Lew Trelawny-Cassity

Plato's Legislative Demiurgy: A Study of the Character of the Laws


this Wed! (the 6th)
12:30pm
LT 1210


open to the public

congratulations

to J Marsh, who is now ABD

SPEL meeting

it's an 'open' one

Tue 12 April, usual time, usual place

sexual harassment in philosophy

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/03/30/philosophers_consider_what_to_do_about_sexual_harassment

weird

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/blog/sexual_assault_prevention_stri.php

congratulations

more than a dozen people have responded to my last post to the listserv, and no one has replied to the listserv!

go SPEL!

Colloquium reminder

this THURSDAY (31 March):

Shoni Rancher
"Critical Humility and Critical Confidence in the Dialectical Demands of Non-Foundationalist Ethics"

commenter: Lacey Anderson

usual time, usual place

belated congratulations

to Tansy, for finishing her M.A.

to Fernando, for the Rutger Summer Institute thing

probably forgetting some others ...

new hire

introducing ...

Tony Reeves!

gainful employment

yay Lew!

tenure track!

too much effort?

the committee thing does sound annoying:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/21/us/21mit.html?src=twrhp

Asian hordes

who let them into her university?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/us/16ucla.html?hpw


update:

http://ohhchingchonglinglongtingtong.com/

why does no one combine the autotune with the dubstep?

colloquium reminder

Professor Christopher Gowans
Fordham University

"Well-Being and Tranquility: A Modest Defense of an Ancient Idea"

Thu 17 Mar
UUW 324
11:45-1:00

ministerial plagiarism

constitutional developments

the role of civil society in the democratization of global governance institutions

advice on cover letters

from some French guy:

http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2011/03/11/advice_on_the_cover_letter_for_academic_jobs

congratulations

to j marsh, whose paper

"'Difficult Questions': Singularity and Particularity in Cohen and Levinas,"


was accepted by Continental Philosophy Review

colloquium reminder

tomorrow (10-mar):

Anna Gotlib
"Ars Oblivionalis:  Memory Modification, Identity, and Restorative Justice"


J Armstrong to comment


11:45-1:00
UUW 324

what someone tells his graduate students

most viewed on the Chronicle:

http://chronicle.com/article/What-I-Tell-My-Graduate/126615/

more career options for philosophy grad students

... become Errol Morris

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/the-ashtray-the-ultimatum-part-1/

also: best paper comments ever

 The paper might have been 30 or so double-spaced pages. Kuhn’s reply, typed on unlined yellow paper, was 30 pages, single-spaced, with Courier marching all the way from the left to the right side of the paper. No margins. He was angry, really angry. 

He had written at the very end of his comments, “You have long since passed the end of the road on which you began.” I asked, “What is that supposed to mean? I’m 24 years old.” He said that I was a “good” first-year graduate student but would become “less good” in subsequent years.

SPELblog post #100!

Colecchio Travel Award

Binghamton University

The Rosa Colecchio Travel Award for Dissertation Research Enhancement

Programs are invited to encourage students to apply for the Rosa Colecchio Travel Award for Dissertation Research Enhancement.  Only doctoral students who have been admitted to candidacy are eligible to apply.  The travel award must enhance the dissertation in a way that would not be accomplished otherwise.  Supported activities may include travel for research dependent upon:

* library materials not obtainable through regular channels

* archival materials

* other original source materials

* techniques, equipment, and methodologies not available on this campus

* opportunities to carry out extraordinary field research

This program cannot be used for travel to a professional meeting.

Applicants may request up to $300.  one or more awards, depending on availability of funds, are made each year.  Requests are reviewed by an Advisory committee of faculty appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School.  Awards are based on consideration of well-presented and justified need, and the merit of the project.  Application forms are available on the Graduate School website.

Applications are due in the Office of the Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School by March 26.

Awards are announced April 20.

This program is funded through an endowment established by the family of Rosa Romano Colecchio with the Binghamton University Foundation.

Levinas conference

North American Levinas Society

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the publication of Totality and Infinity, the North America Levinas Society announces its sixth annual meeting and conference, hosted by Texas A&M, to be held May 1-3, 2011. Given the historic anniversary of this occasion, the conference will focus on Totality and Infinity with regard to both its historical framework and relevant contemporary readings and questions that the work continues to engender.

CONFIRMED PLENARY SPEAKERS

We are pleased to announce the following confirmed plenary speakers:

• Robert Bernasconi (Penn State University)

• Adriaan Peperzak (Loyola University, Chicago)

• Lisa Guenther (Vanderbilt University). Professor Guenther’s talk is generously sponsored by Société Internationale de Recherche Emmanuel Levinas (SIREL)

We are also pleased to announce that Georges Hansel will again deliver his annual TalmudicReading. Continuing in the tradition of Levinas’s Talmudic readings, which he delivered at the annual colloquia of French speaking Jewish intellectuals in Paris, Prof. Hansel’s readings have become a celebrated tradition of our conferences.  Additionally, we will have a Scholar's session honoring the work of Alphonso Lingis (Penn State, emeritus).  Steven Shankman (University of Oregon) will give the presentation for the  Levinas and pedagogy session. 

For more information contact Claire Katz (ckatz@philosophy.tamu.edu) and/or visit the conference website: http://philosophy.tamu.edu/Events/NALS-2011/index.html

SPEL workshop tomorrow

tomorrow's topic is

"Attending Conferences and Getting Published"

mandatory for 1st year students

Graduate Application for Degree

expecting to get a degree in Spring 11?

you were supposed to do this a couple weeks ago:

http://www2.binghamton.edu/grad-school/new-and-current-students/academics/

automated grading!

correlates highly with SAT scores!

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/02/21/debate_over_reliability_of_automated_essay_grading

dissertation assistantships

congratulations to the winners

grad conference at Emory

Philosophy as a Way of Life – 2011 Graduate Philosophy Conference at
Emory

Keynote speaker: John Cooper, Princeton University

April 8-9, 2011 - Atlanta, GA

info after the break

acronyms

from e-mail:

The classrooms that are listed have been officially assigned by the Course Building & Academic Space Management Office (CBASM), formerly known as the Registrar’s Office

yes, that's "CBASM."  I believe the adjective form is "CBASMic".

financial aid and weird racial panic/confusion/resentment in one brief anecdote

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/15/ks-gop-rep-obrien/

lew speaks

February 16, 2011 

IASH Fellows’ Speaker Series: “On the Foundations of Platonic Theology.”  Recent accounts of Plato's theology have argued that Plato's Laws presents us with a version of the cosmological argument for the existence of god. My account radically challenges this interpretation by examining how Plato treats empirical evidence for the existence of god. Against recent treads in the scholarship, presenter Lewis Trelawny-Cassity shows how an adequate account of Plato's theology needs to begin from his analysis of the orientation that human beings take towards the world when they act as political and ethical agents.  Lewis Trelawny-Cassity is an IASH Graduate Student Fellow in the Philosophy Department at Binghamton University.  10:00 am, IASH Conference Room (LN 1106)

engaging africa

Study Abroad Information Meetings: "Engaging Africa" There will be an information meeting this Weds, February 16, at noon in Fine Arts Room 166 (FA 166), and on Thursday, February 17 at 7 p.m. in FA 170 for the 2011 Study Tour "Engaging Africa: Ethnographic Study In Ghana".  The Faculty Director, Professor James Burns, will discuss the program for summer 2011 and show slides from previous trips.  This program is suitable for any major, and for both undergraduates and graduates.  The 2 ½-week trip portion of the program will take place from July 27 to August 15.  Come learn how you can:

·        Spend three weeks immersed in the history and culture of Ghana

·        Experience the music, dance, arts, language, religion and cuisine of this beautiful West African nation while exploring the capitol city of Accra and surrounding areas

·        Study the history of the slave trade and take field trips to coastal slave castles and palaces, nearby cities, villages and nature preserves

·        Attend dance and drumming performances and other cultural programs and ceremonies

·        Participate in research project on one aspect of Ghanaian society or culture

·        Program will be housed at the University of Ghana.  Credit will be cross-listed in several academic departments in the humanities and social sciences at Binghamton

·        Some scholarship money available.

For more information contact The Office of International Programs, ext. 7-2336

Or Professor James Burns, Department of Music

Email: jburns@binghamton.edu; ext. 7-2595

IASH Dissertation Fellowships

The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH) is recruiting applicants for its fellowships.

IASH has two Dissertation Fellowships  which it may divide into one semester DFs, each providing $7,250 + 1 tuition credit + a small research allowance. Students applying for them have to be ABD by 12 May, 2011 and currently in their fourth or fourth year equivalence (if they were accepted with an MA). 

IASH is also able to offer several one semester or one year long unstipended Graduate Student Fellowships. These do provide a small research allowance. Students applying for these should also be ABD by 12 May 2011 and currently in their fourth or fourth year equivalence (if accepted with an MA). In addition, they should have a form of support (Departmental DF, a non-residential Dissertation fellowship from another source, and the like) for the 2011-2012 semester they apply for.

Applications are due on 06 April 2011. Interested students should be referred to the IASH site at http://www2.binghamton.edu/iash/fellowships/ where they can find an application. they should be encouraged to talk with Ami Bar-On, if they need a clarification.

grad students suck

and needy college students, too.  From the Obama budget proposal:

Pell grants for needy college students would be eliminated for summer classes, and federal loans to graduate students would start accruing interest immediately, rather than when the students graduate, though they would not have to begin paying them off until graduation. Those changes are intended to help save $100 billion over 10 years to offset the costs of maintaining Pell grants for 9 million students, according to administration officials.      

Someone needs to pay for Pell grants, so it has to be needy college students and graduate students.  (The $544 billion for 2 years of Bush tax cut extension or the $300 billion/3yr AMT fix -- that's different money.)

via NYT

update: of course the Republican proposal is worse: Chronicle

tragedy summer school

The Tilburg Philosophy Summer School
The Tragic and Its Limits
A Seminar with Simon Critchley | July 12-21, 2011

for more information, please visit:
http://www.tilburgphilosophysummerschool.com/

Is the tragic an adequate category for thinking about the nature of
contemporary conflicts, and their cycles of revenge, violence and
claims to justice and state legitimacy? Was 9/11 a tragedy? Is the
Israel/Palestine conflict tragic? Iraq? Afghanistan? The list goes on.

What is the nature of the tragic and what is questionable in its
constant invocation in the contemporary world? What is the
availability of the tragic for us, as an aesthetic genre, a mode of
experience and a critique of the present? Are we perhaps approaching
the limits of the tragic?

SPEL workshop tomorrow

SPEL workshop on building your teaching dossier is tomorrow (Thu).

usual time, usual place

percentage of Ph.D.s awarded to women, by discipline

from Crooked Timber via Yglesias

UPDATE: quick calculation of Ph.D.'s in SPEL (all-time, i.e. since 2002): 61%

deadlines

Dissertation Assistantship applications are due in, uh, about 35 minutes.

PIKSI nomination apps are due on Friday, I think.

congratulations

to Karin, who finally defended her M.S. in Logic, Computation, and Methodology

to those who finished their comps recently

and to SPELblog, which is now the #1 SPELblog on the internet

my new favorite journal

http://www.math.pacificu.edu/~emmons/JofUR/

law school applications down

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/a-sign-of-the-recovery-law-school-applications-fall/?hp

this post gives two possible explanations for the decline in applicants and applications to law school:

1) because of the economic recovery
2) because of the dreadful job market for lawyers

hmmm, I wonder which it is.

did anyone realize ...

SUNY Buffalo has banned smoking on its 2+ square mile campus?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/nyregion/25smoke.html?_r=1&hpw

think swiss!

this actually seems interesting, the incomprehensibility of Schwyzerdütsch notwithstanding

ThinkSwiss has opened applications for 15 research scholarships in
Switzerland; undergraduate and graduate students in all fields are
eligible for the 2-3 month program. Participants perform research at a
public Swiss university or research institute and receive a stipend of
approximately $1,000 per month; applicants must submit a letter of
acceptance from a Swiss professor in order to be considered.  Those
accepted are required to blog about their experiences and upon return
to the U.S. agree to serve as a “student ambassador” promoting Swiss
research.

More information is available at: thinkswiss-research.blogspot.com/.

http://www.thinkswiss.org/us-swiss-exchange/research-scholarship

"Oscars ..."

... would be a great nickname for the "Award for Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching," if it weren't already taken.

also, rooting for "Gasland", the only movie ever mentioned on SPELblog

http://carpetbagger.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/the-83rd-annual-oscar-nominations/

justice summer school

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

The CEU Summer University
JUSTICE: THEORY AND ITS APPLICATIONS July 4-15, 2011
Budapest, Hungary

The problem of justice occupies a special place in contemporary political philosophy. In the words of its most influential figure, Rawls, "justice is the first virtue of social institutions". That view seems to be shared by a majority of authors and theories. However, there is no comparable agreement regarding what justice demands, from whom and to whom. These questions have utmost relevance for political philosophers. However, their importance spill over other disciplines. Given that many choices policy makers make are distributive in nature, it is not surprising that issues of justice appear in many other spheres. In addition to dealing with purely theoretical issues, the course will revise some contexts which raise important questions about justice: education, health care, environmental issues, taxation.

Applications are invited from graduate students, postdocs, young faculty in Philosophy, Political Science, Public Policy, Law and Economics, familiar with Anglo-American political theory, especially with theories of justice.
Application deadline: February 15, 2011For further academic information on the course and on eligibility criteria and funding options please visit: http://www.summer.ceu.hu/justice

Faculty:Peter Vallentyne, University of Missouri-Columbia, Department of Philosophy, Columbia, USA
Andrew Williams, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Catalan Institute of Research and Advanced Studies, Barcelona, Spain
Matthew Clayton, University of Warwick, Department of Politics and International Studies, Coventry, UK
Greg Bognar, New York University, NYU Center for Bioethics, New York, USA
Janos Kis, Central European University, Department of Political Science, Budapest. Hungary
Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, Aarhus Universitat, Institut for Statskundskab, Århus C, Denmark

 

Course directors:

Andres Moles, Central European University, Departments of Political Science and Philosophy, Budapest, Hungary
Zoltan Miklosi, Central European University, Department of Political Science, Budapest, Hungary

voices of the junior faculty

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2011/1/12waldman.html

we have higher-order cognitive skills!

excerpt from Academically Adrift

http://chronicle.com/article/Are-Undergraduates-Actually/125979/

give more tests

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/science/21memory.html?hp

yay Regan

for winning the Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Teaching

Philosophy of Law job talks

top secret schedule:

January 27th: Candidate #1
February 1st: Candidate #2
February 3rd: Candidate #3
February 8th: Candidate #4

Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Research

they really need a shorter name for that.

also, Lew Trelawny-Cassity just won one.