Jaegwon Kim is coming to Seattle

On Friday October 9th, Jaegwon Kim will be giving a talk at Seattle Pacific University.  The title of the talk is, “Metaphysical Considerations on Consciousness and the Science of Consciousness.”  Kim is one of the leading philosophers of mind and metaphysicians today.  If you’ve taken the philosophy of mind class, you’ve read his textbook.  If you’ve taken epistemology, you’ve read the anthology he co-edited, and also his paper on naturalized epistemology.  If people are interested in attending the talk, let me know, or leave a comment on this post.

Jaegwon Kim

Lecture: “Evolution and Ethics: A Philosopher’s Perspective”

Geoff Sayre-McCord, Morehead Alumni Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will be giving an evening lecture:

“Evolution and Ethics: A Philosopher’s Perspective”
Thursday, September 24^th at 7pm in the Rotunda

This lecture is the second in the Collier Committee Lecture Series on Evolution and Ethics. The first one was by historian of biology Paul Farber last spring and the last one will be by biologist Marlene Zuk.

Prof. Sayre-McCord has edited two books and written numerous articles in the area of moral philosophy, you can check out some of them through his webpage: http://philosophy.unc.edu/people/faculty/geoffrey-sayre-mccord

He also has a blogginheads video on Evolution and Morality:

http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/11752

I hope you can all make it!

Philosophy Major = $$$

If you’re like me, the main reason you got into the philosophy game was for the cold, hard, cash.  You want dough and lots of it.  Well, good news: it turns out being a philosophy major is pretty lucrative.  Check out the following link, and page down a little bit…

http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/degrees.asp

As you’ll see, with respect to starting and mid-career salaries, philosophy majors rank ahead of all other humanity majors, and ahead of all social science majors but economics, international relations, and political science — and in fact, it’s close enough to international relations and political science that they’re virtually tied.  The only sorts of majors that rank ahead of philosophy come from the mathematical sciences — computer science, physics, etc. — and *some* but not all business fields.  So if you’re a computer engineer you might make more, but on the downside you then would be a computer engineer.

So, next time someone tells you philosophy is impractical, set them straight.  And then drop some (Walter) Benjamins on them.

Undergraduate Philosophy Conference in New Orleans

NOTE: The deadline for submissions for the following conference has been extended to September 15.

An  undergraduate philosophy conference entitled “Reflections on Practical Philosophy” will be held at Loyola and Tulane Universities in New Orleans on November 21-22, 2009. The keynote address for the conference will be presented by Prof. Alfonso Lingis, Professor Emeritus, Penn State University.

 Ten undergraduate submissions will be selected for presentation by a committee of Tulane and Loyola faculty and students. Submissions should be 9-12 pages. Students will be required to present their papers in no more than 24 minutes. Relevant topics include: social, political, ethical, and aesthetic philosophy; moral psychology and theories of mind; and philosophy related to current empirical research.

 Submissions should be sent to Nate Thacker at nethacke -at- loyno.edu before September 15. Submissions must be sent as Word documents, adhere to Chicago style, and include a full bibliography. An abstract of no more than 100 words should be sent as a separate attachment. The submitting student’s name, e-mail address, and university should appear on the first page of his or her paper.

All submissions will be considered for publication in Elenchos: The Loyola Undergraduate Philosophy Journal, in 2010.

Questions may be directed to Nate Thacker (nethacke – at- loyno.edu) or Dr. Richard Velkley (rvelkley -at- tulane.edu).

Note: Slavoj Žižek is scheduled to visit Loyola University November 16-17 and to give a public lecture during his visit.