Browsing All Posts filed under »The Discipline«

Meet ‘Most People’

November 12, 2018 by

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We often talk about the need for diversity in philosophy in general, but we also need diversity in our lives. (I know it sounds corny, hear me out.) What I mean is that it’s important to have friends and acquaintances from diverse backgrounds and with varying perspectives. This is important when doing research, thinking about […]

Job Market Problems

September 28, 2018 by

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*Since drafting this post, I have moved to take a temporary job to be near my non-academic partner. I’ve decided to keep this post general, but hope to write about that experience once I’ve settled in properly. In this post, I’m going to talk about a couple of issues with the philosophy job market that […]

Talking to (other) Grad Students

August 7, 2018 by

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Thanks to Justin Caouette, I’ve been on Twitter for a little over a year and there’s something I’ve noticed about the way we talk to other early career researchers/teachers or the way advice is given to early career people: everyone assumes the structures and terminology are roughly the same as they are in their own […]

Turning Bad Rubbish into Good Lessons

May 30, 2018 by

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Alternately titled: What we talk about when we talk about Jordan Peterson. I should begin by saying that all thoughts here are mine. They are not endorsed or shared by the University of Calgary, the Department of Philosophy, or any other group with which I’m affiliated, unless those folks choose to endorse or share them. […]

Russell and Philosophy in Real Life

May 10, 2018 by

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Bertrand Russell (May 18th 1872-February 2nd 1970) writes in the prologue of his autobiography “What I Have Lived For”: Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and […]

Open Logic Update: OER Week

March 9, 2018 by

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This week (March 5-9, 2018) is OER week (OER stands for Open Educational Resources). As many of you know, I’ve been working on a free and open logic textbook, forallx: Calgary Remix. You can find my last update, including plenty of links, here. For OER week, Richard Zach and I gave a one hour workshop […]

Teaching Logic and Forallx Update

December 7, 2017 by

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As many of you might remember, I taught the Logic I course here at UCalgary for the first time, and blogged about the experience here, here and here. You might also remember that I was involved in remixing a version of PD Magnus’ and Tim Button’s forallx open textbook for that course (see here and […]

Failures in teaching, discipline

November 21, 2017 by

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A few notes before I get into the nitty gritty of this issue: I’m a graduate student at the University of Calgary, a member of the university’s Graduate Student Association (our union), and the president of the philosophy department’s affiliated Graduate Student Association chapter. Nothing I say in this post is made in those roles; […]

Scientism is a Non-Threat: Considering Susan Haack and the Role of Philosophy

October 16, 2017 by

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“The school is in financial crisis,” reports a friend and emeritus professor as I take my seat at the table in the back corner of a campus coffee shop and bookstore. We meet monthly with the frequency and punctuality expected from five philosophers: every six weeks, 15 minutes late. Professor Haack greets readers with just […]

A Philosophy for Talking about Philosophy

September 19, 2017 by

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Some people become philosophers (or academics, more generally) because they want to be able to teach; they want to be experts in a subject and engage with the world and influence the beliefs and actions of others in a positive way. I think that’s a great and admirable reason to become an academic; I have […]

Public Philosophy in the PhD

June 4, 2017 by

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We in the philosophy blogosophere (especially) frequently discuss whether activities like blogging, podcasting, and other public philosophy activities or projects should count toward tenure. I fall squarely in the `yes’ camp – engaging audiences outside of our professional circles is vitally important for the discipline. And the APA officially agrees. It is also important for […]

Teaching as a Grad Student: Logic End of Semester

May 23, 2017 by

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This is the 5th post in this series, and the third about my experience teaching for the first time (see parts one, and two). As of a couple of weeks ago, I finally managed to submit the final marks for the Logic I course I had been teaching, marking the end of my responsibilities for […]

Teaching as a Grad Student: Guest Lecturing on Logicism

April 26, 2017 by

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I was recently given the opportunity to give a lecture on Frege’s logicism and related topics for our Logic III course (cross-listed as an undergraduate and a graduate course). That class had gotten up to the point of looking at second-order Peano Arithmetic, which is a natural jumping off point for looking at the logic […]

Philosopher-Scientists, Scientist-Philosophers and Philosopher- Philosophers: An Exercise in Futurology

April 17, 2017 by

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Futurology comprises the study of possible futures and, as such, it is a cheap thing: it does not require much to speculate about how things can be in the years to come. Futurology also produces inaccurate predictions most of the time, which could render this post useless. Nevertheless, here I am concerned with the future […]

Cognitive Dissonance and Philosophy

April 5, 2017 by

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I want to first give credit to the authors of “Mistakes Were Made (but not by me)” – Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson. Their talk of cognitive dissonance and the metaphor of the ‘pyramid of choice’ has inspired my comments below. Although the ideas in this book have obvious ramifications for psychology, psychotherapy, political science, […]

Teaching as a Grad Student: Logic mid-Semester

March 13, 2017 by

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This is the third installment of our occasional series: Teaching as a Grad Student. In the first installment, I discussed preparing to teach for the first time, as well as my first couple of weeks teaching logic. In the second installment, Alison discussed her experiences teaching philosophy of science. We’re just past the half-way point […]

Teaching as a Grad Student: Philosophy of Science

January 25, 2017 by

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Thanks to Aaron for starting this series. There are particular challenges that grad students might face as instructors, some of which I imagine are exclusive to grad students, whereas others could probably be generalized to new professors on the track. And perhaps in my case, grad students, new professors on the track, and maybe even […]

Bleg: Short Video Lectures by Philosophers

January 23, 2017 by

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Our friend Ted Shear (Queensland) is hoping to organize a collection of short video lectures by philosophers aimed at a general audience. This seems like a great idea, and if you’re at all interested, read on. UPDATE: We want to make it very clear that an important part of this project will to be to keep […]

Teaching as a Grad Student: Logic Week One

January 22, 2017 by

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I have just started teaching my first course as instructor of record (i.e. I’m lecturing, not TAing), and I thought that this would be a good opportunity to start an occasional series on teaching as a graduate student. What follows are my thoughts after finishing my first (and now second) week of teaching. I plan […]

Anti-colonialism, Kant, and modern academia

January 21, 2017 by

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Disclaimer: I should state, first and foremost, that though I am a student in the philosophy department at the University of Calgary, my opinions in no way represent or reflect those of my peers and supervisors. Lately, a great deal of ink has been spilled on a recent move by the University of London School […]

EDITORIAL TEAM

EDITORS: Alison McConwell; Justin Caouette; Aaron Thomas-Bolduc.

FOUNDING EDITOR: Justin Caouette

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