welcome
Welcome to ‘The Pluralist’s Guide to Philosophy’ (TPGP).
You’ll find here a survey of expert opinion on the best places to study select sub-fields of philosophy. Our aim is to provide students and their mentors with some informed, crowd-sourced ideas about two things: 1) where any student might productively cultivate an interest in American Philosophy, Continental Philosophy, Critical Philosophy of Race and Ethnicity, Feminist Philosophy, and GLBT Studies; and 2) where students from traditionally under-represented populations might reasonably expect to find a welcoming environment (as much as philosophers, or graduate programs, are ever welcoming). This site is totally independent of any philosophical organizations.
Having read this far, you probably find yourself with some questions already. You might, for example, be wondering: Why these sub-fields? Or: Why have you given my field this troubling name? Or: Why do we need another guide? Professor Leiter has already given us one, and it is a) perfect and wonderful, or b) proof that no such project can serve aught but evil ends. (a’s and b’s, you know who you are.) Our considered responses to questions like these appear on our FAQ and Methodology pages. But it may be worth saying two things at the start: First, it’s hard to get too much information about studying philosophy, especially at the graduate level, where one’s intellectual life is bound up with one’s professional and material prospects. And second: it is hard just to get good information – good, systematically-gathered information – in the areas we hope to illuminate. In deference to these facts, we humbly offer our assistance to any who might find it useful.
Program Recommendations By Category
Here are the types of programs that we are offering recommendations for:
- American Philosophy
- Continental Philosophy
- Critical Philosophy of Race and Ethnicity
- Feminist Philosophy
- GLBT Studies
Featured Articles
The APA Guide for Graduate Programs in Philosophy is finally available. This guide provides one-of-a-kind, comprehensive information about placement records and demographics, and it includes a list of MA Programs as well as Ph.D. programs. Objective, unbiased information about all programs is now available in one centralized place for the first time. The Pluralists’ Guide applauds the long work and effort it took many people to put this together and supports further efforts in the APA to make good information available to all people interested in pursuing advanced degrees in philosophy.
Linda Martín Alcoff
There appears to be a groundswell of demands in numerous philosophy departments across the country for climate studies
Linda Martín Alcoff
Why would anyone think that the world’s philosophy might be adequately developed and exhaustively thought through by one small subset of one small grouping of people located in one relatively small section of the globe?
Climate for Women in Philosophy
The Pluralist’s Guide now offers a short Start Up Guide for addressing climate challenges in philosophy departments; it can be found under our Resources tab. Last year we reported the results of a survey of our advisory board in regard to gender issues. This year we offer our Start Up Guide for those who may wish to do departmental surveys of their own, or who may want to take other pro-active steps to address climate concerns. This guide is intended to be of use to the various groups in philosophy who may find themselves experiencing climate distress because of sexism, racism, homophobia, combinations thereof, or other assorted unphilosophical attitudes.
A new listing presents information about the number of women in tenure-track positions in philosophy.
Latin American and Latino/a Philosophy
The Pluralist’s Guide to Philosophy is expanding this year to include a new list for those interested in Latin American and/or Latino/a Philosophy. This is just the initial of a number of expansions planned for the future: most immediately, we will launch a list for Africana Philosophy next year, but also plan to expand to other sub-fields as well.
Click to read more…
See article on its own page
To join the newly revised listserv on Latino/a Issues in Philosophy, now called “LatPhil,” send an email to Ernesto Velasquez at evelasquez1@udayton.edu
Keep up with conference and book announcements and other relevant news, and share your own announcements. And help spread the word!
Feminist Support for the Guide
From Feministing, this nicely written and balanced post
The undersigned, publicly support the efforts of the new Pluralist’s Guide to Philosophy in both of its endeavors…
News
One way to improve universities? This researcher recommends that we stop ranking them and start thinking about what each university does best.
Department Rankings
One way to improve universities? This researcher recommends that we stop ranking them and start thinking about what each university does best.
Is this the S.A.A.P. or SPEP Guide?
Critical Philosophy of Race and Ethnicity
Here’s a good primer article on the story at DePaul (kudos to Falguni Sheth for the link): http://www.academicfreedomchicago.org/?q=node%2F6.