The NY TIMES has a very good article on why comparatively little is reported and still less is done. Though not data dense, it’s got some good references.
It also has some good ideas of what can help.
Think of saving the article and putting it in a secure place.
Trump’s budget has a number of very unwelcome features. If Rupert is right – as surely we should see he may very well be – just about all the other things pale in comparison with Trump’s demolition of the US’s already weak acion on climate warming.
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https://www.facebook.com/SchoolOfPhilosophyUea/videos/1559619094052967/
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Truth in reporting: Rupert is a former student and very valued friend of mine.
I agree with Jennifer Scuro that her project will interest our readers. I strongly recommend visiting the sites.
Website: http://www.rowmaninternational.com/books/the-pregnancy-does-not-equal-childbearing-project
Message: I think the FP community might be interested in my graphic novel/phenomenology book just published: The Pregnancy [does-not-equal] Childbearing Project: A Phenomenology of Miscarriage (RLI 2017). If anyone is interested, I created a Facebook page for updates on events or for conversation.
Of course there were. Learn about Medieval women philosophers at the Libori summer school.
Immerse yourself in philosophy by women of the Medieval period by walking in Hildegard of Bingen’s footsteps. This program includes:
Two weeks’ single-occupancy hotel at Paderborn University with breakfast and bus ticket for the whole stay (July 17th to July 30th, 2017)
Opening on the day of arrival (July 17th, 2017)
Tour of Paderborn University including lunch (July 18th, 2017)
Welcoming dinner in historic Paderborn (July 18th, 2017)
Tour of historic Paderborn sites (July 18th, 2017)
Luxury bus tour to historic Bingen and Rüdesheim with 2 nights’ accommodation and all meals provided (July 19th to July 21st, 2017)
Five hour Rhine River cruise through an enchanted land of medieval castles (July 20th, 2017)
“Expert Nun” guided tour of Benedictine Abbey of Saint Hildegard (July 19th, 2017)
Guided Tour Hildegard Museum am Strom (July 20th, 2017)
Explore ruins of Hildegard’s original convent (July 21st, 2017)Plus: Five days classroom instruction (10:30 – 12 am; 1-5 pm) on Medieval Women Philosophers: Heloise, Hildegard, Mechthild of Magdeburg, Tullia d’Aragona, Catarina da Siena, Julian of Norwich and a taste of early modern women philosophers of the Arnauld family. (July 24th to July 28th, 2017)
Go to the website to learn more and see beautiful pictures of sites you will visit.
http://historyofwomenphilosophers.org/summer-school/abroad/
Note from ajj: We received the note below. I went to the site and could suudenly see how I might find a non-academic job. The career discussed also seemed in many ways better than an academic job. SO HAVE A LOOK!
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Name: Eleni Manis
Email: elenimanis@gmail.com
Website: http://www.PhilSkillS.com
Message: Hello. I’m writing to point you to my interview project with philosophers in non-academic careers, now online here:
A little bit about the project:
I conducted these interviews after leaving my job as a philosophy professor to work in government and the political arena. The Phil Skills website was built by Jitendra Subramanyam, a fellow Michigan philosophy PhD who runs his own IT consulting company. Stephanie Wykstra, who works on open science and data-sharing, contributed two interviews.
Why do this? For me, it was helpful to hear about other philosophers’ career paths as I framed my plans. I was inclined to consider advice from philosophers, given our shared background. Their camaraderie helped, too—it’s good to have company that has been there and done that. The interviews are online in hope that others will benefit from the project as well.
Can you recommend any such conferences for Feb 2017 or May-June 2017? For these dates I’m looking for ones in Europe, incl the UK.
For other times, regions matter much less.
are there any lists for conferences we should know about?
From CNN: the fox is just doing a survey…
Washington (CNN)President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has asked the State Department to provide a list of existing programs and activities intended to promote gender equality, according to sources at the agency, raising fears that these programs may be the target of cuts.
A one-page memo earlier reported by The New York Times and The Washington Post asks the State Department to outline existing programs on gender equality, including funding, positions and programs on women’s empowerment and combating gender-based violence, department officials told CNN.
The questionnaire comes in the wake of broader efforts by the Trump transition team to quiz Obama administration agencies on programs and issues that the President-elect has expressed doubt about, including climate change. And though Trump has said little about gender, his attitudes toward and treatment of women became an incendiary campaign issue, particularly after leaked tapes of him bragging about sexually assaulting women
Initiatives aimed at supporting women and girls are a cornerstone of international development, as they’ve proved to benefit broader societies. They were a signature issue for Trump’s election rival, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
While some senior State Department officials caution that the transition team is asking basic management, budgetary and program questions typical of previous transitions and not suggestive of an ideological agenda, the questions have nevertheless raised concerns that Trump will work to roll back work on Obama administration priorities.A message left with the Trump transition team was not immediately returned.
On Friday I was at Houston’s Menil Museum watching the construction of a sand Mandala by Tibetan monks who live in exile in India. It was a Compassion Madala, and the idea of compassion had been in some of my conversations in the week before. Afterward I went to the museum’s book store and discovered various writings by noted religious figures, one of which was attributed to Mother Theresa, though the original is by Dr. Keith Kent. It immediately struck me as written about groups of people very similar to some I’ve encountered in academia. I certainly thought, given my experience, that it was way too depressing to hang on any wall I’d see very often. I am also truncating it; the last two lines says that the struggle on earth is not between you and these people; rather, it is for you and God.
More recently, I’ve been thinking about whether it is very good advice. It might be just too out of touch with the way human beings do work, maybe especially in a groups. And it may neglect how in fact we do react. Perhaps if one is somewhat mystical and feels one’s most intense relationship is with God, the effects might be different. But the advice seems to be to remain engaged with your society. However, having people continually destroy things you’ve built (lines 9-10) might have a very bad effect.
What do you think?
People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
Another things one might consider is whether it is very good advice for anyone caught, as too many women in philosophy are, in the following sort of situation:
Bias thrives in unstructured environments, where objective excuses for hostility are available, and where stakes tend towards doling out in-group rewards rather than punishing out-group exclusion. When professional rewards are discretionary, distinction between in- and out-group membership is heightened, the perceived flaws or weaknesses of out-group members are exaggerated, members are blamed more harshly, weaknesses are attributed to the person (“she’s not very smart,” “she’s crazy,”…) not the circumstances, excuses are less available, and punishment is swifter and more severe. Withholding professional respect, excluding women from philosophical conversations, refusal to acknowledge their contributions or minimizing their significance in favor of those of male colleagues, are all examples of discretionary rewards that even the best-intentioned philosophers are prone to deny women in informal settings. The presence of a male philosopher displaying overt hostility or aggression towards a female philosopher licenses further in-group hostility towards her, and where an objective rationalization is available for explaining this behavior (he has an objection to her argument, say, or she behaved somewhat inappropriately, etc.), it is often taken to justify this response. Women philosophers thus also suffer judgments that are harsher than their male colleagues’, more hostile, quicker and crueler dismissals of their views, and these judgments are multiply-reinforced by even their well-intentioned peers (my stress).
How does one go on in such situations? Be like Mother Theresa?
This post comes from a discussion I was having with someone happily unconnected to professional philosophy. It concerns something I started thinking about some years ago, when I first heard about Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, which was supposed to be the first effective therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder. I was very curious for a number of reason, not least of which was my perplexity at what could be called that. And I think the book I’m going to quote from was the only thing at the time that didn’t cost a huge amount.
Still, lots of incidents over the last several years, and recent cyber discussions have reminded me that lots of us use an idea of normal emotional reactions. And this idea has normative implications. The non-normal is wrong, bad, etc.
so it seems to me useful to remind ourselves that our baseline emotional reactions may vary a great. One person who has an unpleasant encounter on Thurs may be struggling with it still a week later (or more) while another cannot understand why they cannot get over it. So the empirically reasonably well-informed Dialectical Behavioral Therapy tells us
A lot of people struggle with overwhelming emotions. It’s as if the knob is turned to maximum volume on much of what they feel. When they get angry or sad or scared, it shows up as a big, powerful wave that can sweep them off their feet.If you’ve faced overwhelming emotions in your life, you know what we’re talking about. There are days when your feelings hit you with the force of a tsunami. …
There’s a fair amount of research to suggest that the likelihood of developing intense, overwhelming emotions may be hardwired from birth. But it can also be greatly affected by trauma or neglect during childhood. Trauma at critical points in our development can literally alter our brain structure in ways that make us more vulnerable to intense, negative emotions. However, the fact that a propensity to intense emotions is often rooted in genetics or trauma doesn’t mean the problem can’t be overcome.
This sort of reaction is still seen as a problem because one may well have better things to do. And if pathology gets mixed in, it can become very socially destructive.
***this ends the didactic part of this post. What follows might be a quiz. ****
The book is actually full of internet stuff about mindfulness, but I was quit flummoxed by an early exercise. It concerns practicing radical acceptance. This means just accepting what’s happened without judgment or evaluation.
Here’s part of the list:
-Read a controversial story in the newspaper without being judgmental about what has occurred.
-The next time you get caught in heavy traffic, wait without being critical.
-Watch the world news on television without being critical of what’s happening.
-Listen to a news story or a political commentary on the radio without being judgmental.
I actually manage #2. I’m tempted to try a transcendental argument for the impossibility of the others. What do you think?
This is a new book of interviews and illustrations that just might take your mind off the philosophy profession (eck!).
[i mean no disrespect to those who have worked and are working hard to air the profession’s problems and to explore solutions. Rather, I am thinking of someone on facebook who commented that her mother wondered if she was thinking about the PGR too much. If you notice the non-philosophers among your family and friends are rolling their eyes when you speak, think of reading “Women in Clothes”.]
Here’s part of the amazon buzz:
Poems, interviews, pieces that read like diary or journal entries-all these responses help the editors fulfill their aims: to liberate readers from the idea that women have to fit a certain image or ideal, to show the connection between dress and “habits of mind,” and to offer readers “a new way of interpreting their outsides.” “What are my values?” one woman asks. “What do I want to express?” Those questions inform the multitude of eclectic responses gathered in this delightfully idiosyncratic book Kirkus
About the Author
SHEILA HETI is the author of five books, including the critically acclaimed How Should a Person Be? and an illustrated book for children, We Need a Horse. She frequently collaborates with other artists and writers.
HEIDI JULAVITS is the author of four novels, most recently The Vanishers, winner of the PEN/New England Fiction Award. She is a founding editor of The Believer and a professor at Columbia University.
LEANNE SHAPTON is a Canadian artist, author, and publisher based in New York City. She is the author of Important Artifacts and Swimming Studies, winner of the 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography.
Here a conversation with the editors. http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/02/women-in-clothes-video-book-sheila-heti-heidi-julavits-leanne-shapton/
The kindle edition has color illustration at least for the ipad app.
three of the four amazon reviews make reading it sound like a transformative experience.
Feminist Philosophers 