Philosophy
Stealing this post from the Leiter Blog (it wasn't Leiter's question, so I feel less bad picking it up here).
With the economic downturn, retirement accounts have taken a serious shot. As a result, there are going to be people who would have retired, but won't. Let's eliminate those who can no longer afford to retire and only talk about those who could live comfortably, but choose to continue to occupy their chairs just to build back up bigger nest eggs. This decision has an effect on the discipline by creating fewer jobs for newly minted grads, keeping some people out of academia, making it less likely they will publish and contribute in the same way to the discourse whereas the emeritus would still have access to libraries and colleagues and would suffer professionally nowhere near the same insult. Their decision therefore causes some degree of harm to philosophy. Is this harm something one has to morally consider or is it ethical collateral damage? Does one have an obligation to the next generation? An obligation to one's profession? Are these operative in any non-trivial way?
- The Power And Danger Of Anonymity
The Leiter Reports is the central spot for inside baseball for the academic philosophical community. Brian Leiter has a strict policy there of not posting anonymous comments. If you have something to say to the community, put your name to it. Own it....
- Everything Below This Post Is Kaput
My oldest friend Gwydion asks, "Do you ever get tired of blogging? If so, how do you reinvigorate yourself?"I've had this Playground up and running now for almost six years with six posts a week. I am closing in my 2,000th post. I do not want to begin...
- Cheating And Dumping
A couple good ethical and political questions. Anonymous (if that is your real name) asks, "Is using cheat codes when playing a video game cheating?"Clearly, the person is intentionally violating the spirit of the game in order to gain an unearned advantage....
- Reflections On The Third Time Meta-obligation
Channelling Miss Manners today. (I've actually met Miss Manners, but that's a story for another day...) The hecticness of life feeds on itself. With so much going on and so much to do coming from every direction, too often we have to pass on things...
- Giving Back: What Is Our Moral Obligation?
Over at Adventures in Science and Ethics, Dr. Free-Ride, back from a science bloggers' conference, asks an interesting question, well, interesting for those in the academic world, "Will tenure and promotion committees -- especially in the sciences...
Philosophy
Do Senior Faculty Have an Obligation to Retire?
Stealing this post from the Leiter Blog (it wasn't Leiter's question, so I feel less bad picking it up here).
With the economic downturn, retirement accounts have taken a serious shot. As a result, there are going to be people who would have retired, but won't. Let's eliminate those who can no longer afford to retire and only talk about those who could live comfortably, but choose to continue to occupy their chairs just to build back up bigger nest eggs. This decision has an effect on the discipline by creating fewer jobs for newly minted grads, keeping some people out of academia, making it less likely they will publish and contribute in the same way to the discourse whereas the emeritus would still have access to libraries and colleagues and would suffer professionally nowhere near the same insult. Their decision therefore causes some degree of harm to philosophy. Is this harm something one has to morally consider or is it ethical collateral damage? Does one have an obligation to the next generation? An obligation to one's profession? Are these operative in any non-trivial way?
- The Power And Danger Of Anonymity
The Leiter Reports is the central spot for inside baseball for the academic philosophical community. Brian Leiter has a strict policy there of not posting anonymous comments. If you have something to say to the community, put your name to it. Own it....
- Everything Below This Post Is Kaput
My oldest friend Gwydion asks, "Do you ever get tired of blogging? If so, how do you reinvigorate yourself?"I've had this Playground up and running now for almost six years with six posts a week. I am closing in my 2,000th post. I do not want to begin...
- Cheating And Dumping
A couple good ethical and political questions. Anonymous (if that is your real name) asks, "Is using cheat codes when playing a video game cheating?"Clearly, the person is intentionally violating the spirit of the game in order to gain an unearned advantage....
- Reflections On The Third Time Meta-obligation
Channelling Miss Manners today. (I've actually met Miss Manners, but that's a story for another day...) The hecticness of life feeds on itself. With so much going on and so much to do coming from every direction, too often we have to pass on things...
- Giving Back: What Is Our Moral Obligation?
Over at Adventures in Science and Ethics, Dr. Free-Ride, back from a science bloggers' conference, asks an interesting question, well, interesting for those in the academic world, "Will tenure and promotion committees -- especially in the sciences...