Experimental Philosophy

Experimental Philosophers on the Job Market

A few of us were on the job market this year: Joshua Alexander (Indiana), Bryce Huebner (UNC), and Hagop Sarkissian (Duke). The excellent news is that they have all done very well. Joshua got a tenure-track job at Siena College in New York; Bryce got a post-doc at the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts, where he will work with Dan Dennett; Hagop was hired by CUNY on a tenure-track position. Congratulations!!

Their success shows that experimental philosophy might now be an asset on the job market. And this shows a recognition by our colleagues of the high quality of the work done by experimental philosophers. This is naturally a very good news for those of us who will be on the job market in the forthcoming years.

More generally, it might show that naturalism is again on the rise and that the anti-naturalist, a priori wave might already be receding.

Anyway, congratulations again to Joshua, Bryce, and Hagop.

A Real-Life Illustration of the Transplant Problem?

Not the standard version, but a familiar permutation.  Today's New York Times has the details.

UPDATE: More on this subject can be found on the Georgetown Law Faculty Blog.

Anthony Appiah's Experiments in Ethics

Princeton is organizing a workshop to honor the publication of Anthony Appiah's new book "Experiments in Ethics." Jonathan Baron and I are meant to comment on Appiah's book. Details here.

Fellowships and Scholarships of $15,000 for Georgia State Masters Program

Please share this information with any students who may be interested.  Thanks, Eddy!

The Masters program in the Philosophy Department at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia is accepting applications from qualified students for its two Neurophilosophy Fellowships, a Legal/Political Philosophy Scholarship, and a German Philosophy Scholarship.  Fellowships and Scholarships cover tuition, provide $15,000/year for living expenses and up to $500/year for travel to conferences. Fellowships have no teaching duties for two years. Scholarships have no duties in the first year but require teaching in the second year.  A flier with more information is here.  The deadline for applications is March 15.

More information on the departments areas of strength in these three areas is here. In addition to Andrea Scarantino and I, the department's strength in neurophilosophy and empirically informed philosophy of mind will improve with the addition of George Graham next year.  Students on the Neurophilosophy Track also have the opportunity to participate in GSU's interdisciplinary Brains & Behavior Program.

The Masters program in the Philosophy Department at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia is accepting applications from qualified students for its two Neurophilosophy Fellowships, a Legal/Political Philosophy Scholarship, and a German Philosophy Scholarship.  Fellowships and Scholarships cover tuition, provide $15,000/year for living expenses and up to $500/year for travel to conferences. Fellowships have no teaching duties for two years. Scholarships have no duties in the first year but require teaching in the second year.  A flier with more information is here.  The deadline for applications is March 15.

More information on the departments areas of strength in these three areas is here. In addition to Andrea Scarantino and I, the department's strength in neurophilosophy and empirically informed philosophy of mind will improve with the addition of George Graham next year.  Students on the Neurophilosophy Track also have the opportunity to participate in GSU's interdisciplinary Brains & Behavior Program.

Society for Empirical Ethics

The Society for Empirical Ethics has two upcoming conference sessions -- one at the Pacifica APA in Pasedena, CA and the other at the Central APA in Chicago, IL. I will be hosting the session at the Central APA and will not be presenting at the Pacific APA (Bill Rottschaefer will be presenting a paper in my place - see below). They should both be exciting sessions -- I hope that many of you will attend! Anyone with questions is welcome to email me.

Here are the details of the sessions:

Pacific APA

GVII-G. Society for Empirical Ethics
Friday 8:00-11:00 p.m.
Chairs: William A. Rottschaefer (Lewis and Clark College)
Jennifer Cole Wright (University of Wyoming/College of Charleston)

Speakers: William A. Rottschaefer (Lewis and Clark College)

"Moral Skepticism and Reliable Non-Inferential Mechanisms for Moral Learning"
Kevin Brosnan (Cambridge University)
“Evaluating the Reliability of Moral Intuitions”
Marion Hourdequin (Colorado College)
“Moral Learning and Moral Motivation”
Joel Martinez (Lewis and Clark College)
“Virtue and Moral Learning”

Central APA

GV-9. Society for Empirical Ethics
Saturday 12:15-2:15 p.m.
Topic: Moral Cognition
Chair: Jennifer Cole Wright (University of Wyoming/College of Charleston)
Speakers: Darcia Narvaez (University of Notre Dame)
“Triune Ethics: A Theory of Multiple Moral Motivations”
John Mikhail (Georgetown University)
“Moral Grammar: Clarifications, Objections, Replies”
Geoffrey Goodwin (Princeton University)
“The Perceived Objectivity of Ethical Beliefs”

Metaethics and X-Phi entry for the SEP

From the Projected Table of Contents of the SEP it looks like an experimental philosophy entry is coming soon.  It is listed under metaethics.  Congrats to those who get commissioned for this.

Experimental Philosophy in the News

Have a look at Joshua's excellent interview on bloggingheads.tv. Congrats!

Workshop on Epistemic Assessment

Readers of this blog ought to find interest in this upcoming workshop at the University of Toronto entitled "What We Think about Knowing:  Cross-cultural Uniformity and Diversity in Epistemic Assessments."  Speakers so far include Stephen Stich, Rebecca Saxe, and Anna Papafragou.  It should be really interesting.  Thanks to Jennifer Nagel for the heads up!

 

Naturalized Epistemology and Experimental Philosophy

Hi everyone,

I am working on a paper concerning the Quine/Kim debate and trying to figure out a way incorporate experimental philosophy into the mix.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  Are there any papers on the topic?  Any assertions that experimental philosophy is participating in the Quinean project?  I appreciate you thoughts, ideas, and comments.

UPDATE:  See final comment!

Wes

Law Student Seeks Collaborators

Esfand Nafisi recently wrote to me with the following message:

Hi. My name is Esfand Nafisi. I am a 2nd year law student at Northwestern University with a B.S. in psychology. Since watching Professor Stich's series on moral theory and cognition, I have developed a great interest in experimental philosophy, especially as it relates to law.

I plan on spending the bulk of the next year and a half focusing on the role experimental philosophy might play in resolving difficult legal questions concerning things like culpability, intent, etc. Before I begin in earnest, I thought it might be useful to see if there are any experimental philosophers out there who have any thoughts on the topic they'd like to share. I'm looking for ideas, collaborators, instruction, whatever.

I think this project has enormous potential, and I would encourage experimental philosophers either to put up suggestions in the comments section here or to write to Esfand directly at esfand.nafisi at gmail.com.