Daily Nous

Tom Rockmore, professor emeritus of philosophy at Peking University and distinguished professor emeritus at Duquesne University, has died. (The following memorial notice was written by Gabriel Gottlieb.) Tom Rockmore, professor emeritus at Peking University, passed away on August 6th. He was known for his work on German Idealism, where he emphasized its constructivist methods in epistemology. Tom…

“State, provincial, and national policymakers in Canada, the UK, and US have pursued controversial proposals regulating access to gender affirming care, public bathrooms, and competitive sports… Many trans and nonbinary philosophers find themselves forced to make difficult decisions about where to apply for graduate school or jobs, without reliable information about conditions on the ground.” Obt…

Over a decade ago, Jennifer Whiting (Pittsburgh) asked us to seriously consider an idea of Annette Baier‘s regarding tenure and promotion decisions. Recent technological developments speak in favor of revisiting it. Initially, Baier’s proposal was meant to address how pregnancy and childcare may interfere with or delay the research productivity of women, and hence unfairly affect tenure decisions…

Recent additions to the Heap of Links… A free online pamphlet with 25 pieces of valuable advice for your college students — “The College Success Rulebook” by Nathan Nobis “When I asked [the students] how they were managing to keep up with the brisk pace of the reading assignments, one of them candidly said, ‘Well, it really helps that you’re so into it.’” — Matt Dinan on the importance of the tea…

“Reading philosophy is valuable, but students can struggle to keep track of the reasoning. That’s why displaying the map of a philosophical argument can make the subject so much more accessible—especially to students new to the discipline.” Many philosophy instructors find argument-mapping an effective way of teaching reasoning. If you’re interested in learning more about it, and trying out some …

Over the past day or so, you may have noticed that Daily Nous was down quite a bit, and sluggish when you could access it. It turn out there were over 127 million requests (web communications) initiated with Daily Nous over the past 24 hours or so. That is 135 times the normal amount. According to my IT guy, the best explanation for this is that there was a DDOS attack on Daily Nous. Why? Why now…

David Charles, professor emeritus of philosophy at Yale University, has died. Professor Charles was well-known for his work in ancient philosophy, and especially on Aristotle. He is the author of The Undivided Self (2021), Aristotle on Meaning and Essence (2000), Aristotle’s Philosophy of Action (1984), among other works, which you can learn more about here. Professor Charles joined the faculty a…

Philosophy & Public Affairs recently—and knowingly—published an article written mostly by Claude, Anthropic’s LLM. The article’s thesis was supplied by Simon Goldstein, associate professor of philosophy at the University of Hong Kong, who, he says, “worked with Claude the way a heavy-handed supervisor writes with a PhD student in some fields.” Professor Goldstein edited some of Claude’s writing, …

The University of Michigan’s College of Literature, Science and the Arts is trying out something new this coming term: a dual grading system in which professors give students ordinary letter grades based on the quality of their work, but what shows up on the student’s transcript is either a “pass” or “no credit”. The initiative applies just to first-semester students. The idea, it seems, is to br…

Earlier this summer, the administration of the University of Dundee announced a plan to cut costs by, among other things, no longer offering students the option of majoring in philosophy. See this previous post. A petition was launched in protest of the plan. Oisín Keohane, lecturer in philosophy at Dundee, says that over 5,300 have signed the petition, and that the effort has a new centralized w…

The start of the school year is creeping up on us but it is still summer. If you can, find some time to relax in the sun, perhaps by a pool or ocean, enjoy a tropical drink, and enjoy the following guest post. It’s by Nick Laskowski (University of Maryland), who provides us with a seasonal example of the time-honored tradition of philosophers overthinking song lyrics. Yes I Like Piña Coladas: On …

Cain Samuel Todd, senior lecturer in philosophy at Lancaster University, has died. Dr. Todd was known for his work in aesthetics and the philosophy of mind, with a keen interest in issues surrounding values and our access to them. He is the author of The Philosophy of Wine: A Case of Truth, Beauty and Intoxication (2010) and papers including “Imaginability, morality, and fictional truth: Dissolvi…

Do you take time to teach your lower level students basic student skills? How do you do it? Increasingly, I’ve had students who don’t seem to know how to take notes during class. Or know that they should take notes. This is one of several abilities college professors tend to assume their students will have been habituated into by the time they get to us, but perhaps such assumptions are based on …

Hi folks. I recently had to take steps to block a commenter, and it struck me that it might be a good idea to point out a few things about commenting here at Daily Nous. First, if you’ve never done so, or if it has been a while, please take a moment to read the comments policy. Thanks. What follows are some points I’d like to emphasize, some (but not all) of which are in the policy. Names: 1. Pic…

Some philosophy professors, on top of all the work they do for the universities at which they’re employed, write public philosophy, and sometimes such writing is on the Substack platform, with some or all of what they write available only to paid subscribers. Is there anything wrong with this? Walter Veit (Reading) thinks there is something wrong with it, and makes his case here. Richard Chappell…

Charlie Kurth, currently Professor of Philosophy at Clemson University, will be moving to the University of Georgia. Professor Kurth is known for his work in ethics, philosophy of psychology, and philosophy of mind. He is the author of The Anxious Mind: An Investigation into the Varieties & Virtues of Anxiety (MIT, 2018) and Emotion (Routledge, 2022) as well as many other works. For more informat…

Anthony Kenny, professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Oxford, well-known for his work on the philosophy of mind and history of philosophy, has died. Professor Kenny wrote widely on the philosophy of mind, history of philosophy, and philosophy of religion. He is especially recognized for his work on Wittgenstein, Thomas Aquinas, and Descartes, including his critique of Cartesian dua…

Texas A&M is being sued by a group of professors and the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas over a policy that led to, among other things, a professor being banned from teaching Plato’s Symposium, the cancellation of an “Ethics and Public Policy” course, and the closure of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program. The policy, instituted by the university’s Board of Regents in the fall of 2025,…

New links… To say that something is indescribable is to describe it. What should we think about this “paradox of ineffability”? — best to dissolve it, argues Peter van Elswyk “Moving through time also means moving through space” — this makes time travel “a very bad idea”, explains Douglas Giles (via the Browser) Two new sermons by St Augustine discovered — about the Old Testament story of the Wit…

In 2022, Stephen Kershnar, distinguished teaching professor of philosophy at SUNY Fredonia, was told by his university president, Stephen H. Kolison, Jr.,  that he was no longer allowed to be on campus or have any contact with anyone on campus except a few administrators and university police. Why? It seems to have been the initially knee-jerk reaction of a university president, apparently unconc…