Linguistic Justice and Neoliberalism in Academia
Academia in English-speaking countries has gradually become more and more international, regularly recruiting PhD students and postdoctoral researchers from abroad. This has led to...
Teaching Philosophy Outside
In Fall 2020, at the height of the pandemic, I was required to teach in person. Although quite uncomfortable, I improvised.
On my first day...
Putting the Community back into Philosophy
Academic philosophers use the term public philosophy to mean making ivory-tower discourse available to a public audience. When a philosopher’s talk is open to...
Syllabus Showcase: Foundations of Educational Research, Michael Skyer
A graduate student approaches me, signing in ASL, “Dr. Skyer… can we have a meeting? I have something to ask you.” This question used...
The Trolley Problem Without a Trolley
When you present students with the trolley problem, they may respond that the various scenarios are implausible. After all, who has ever been in...
Syllabus Showcase: Death and Immortality, Heinrik Hellwig
In the Spring of 2022, I had the honor of teaching a capstone course for senior philosophy majors at the University of Alabama at...
My First Semester: Refining Argumentation Through Philosophy of Mind
In the first year of my program, I enrolled in a class titled Philosophy of Mind. By this time in my studies I had...
Syllabus Showcase: First Contact, Adam Etinson
In theory, philosophy can be about anything. In practice, this is mostly fantasy. Philosophy is today as specialized a discipline as any other, which...
The Pre-Doc Publications Arms Race
A recent tweet marveling at the accomplishments of new Philosophy Ph.D. students currently on the market has provoked some strong feelings. The tweet makes...
Undergraduate Philosophy Club: California State University, Fresno
Though we don’t know the exact year it was founded, Fresno State Philosophy Club has operated for over thirty years. Back in the 1990s,...