kant_get_in

There's been some big news this weekend. Congratulations to everyone who received an acceptance!

Rejected from Loyola.

Is anyone else just twiddling their thumbs, having not heard from any of the programs they applied to? Overoverover?

There was a lot of action yesterday. Should we anticipate a slow(er) day today?

Someone posted a Vanderbilt wait list. I'm going to assume I've been rejected.

Agreed. By the way, you've done a great job with your signature.

As they say, the hay is in the barn.

I found a typo in my writing sample. I suppose I should just give up.

I've been reading a lot of philosophy of mind, mostly the classic papers in the history of philosophy of mind. For those of you who haven't read W.D Hart's Engines of the Soul, I recommend it. It's crazy-good. It's crazy and it's good (I'm not a dualist, by the way). I've also been reading John Searle's Mind (imagine how crazy that would look if I didn't use italics), which makes me feel really stupid because he keeps writing about how stupid people are for not understanding consciousness and intentionality. In all seriousness, the first three chapters of that book are great; he provides an approachable, thorough history of the philosophy of mind.

I did this yesterday. I'm curious: did you email Philosophy Department staff/faculty? Or did you email someone at the Graduate Admissions Office?

I would like to add that the University of Florida offers tuition waivers and teaching assistantships to four students each year. The teaching assistantships are roughly $12,500 a year.

Is anyone thinking of not applying to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's program because of the recent controversy over professor Salaita (whether you're boycotting the school or you're worried about the school's academic climate or reputation)? I'm not advocating action; I'm only curious whether any of you are considering taking action. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, here's an article from the Chronicle of Higher Education that does a better job of describing what's going on then I could (http://chronicle.com/article/U-of-Illinois-Feels-Backlash/148471/) and here's a Crooked Timber post about the boycott by professors (http://crookedtimber.org/2014/08/22/2700-scholars-boycott-ui-trustees-to-meet-tomorrow-salaitas-teaching-evaluations-superb-philosopher-cancels-prestigious-lecture/). Let this be a general discussion thread about Salaita and the implications for UIUC.

Can you link to that discussion?

I don't consider them my AOI, but I read a lot of philosophy of language and philosophy of mind. I should also note that I consider contemporary ethics and political philosophy to be a kind of analytic philosophy. People who doubt this should take a look at some of the literature on the ideal/non-ideal distinction (e.g Cohen's "Facts and Principles", Miller's "Political Philosophy for Earthlings",etc.)

I'm a little unsure about what you mean when you say that "loyalties are faith-based". Is the idea just that the Ubermensch can't determine which promise to violate when two promises are contradictory, and so the Ubermensch just picks one? I wonder why you think the bit that I've underlined. Surely we have criterion for deciding between contradicting loyalties (e.g. which loyalty promotes the most well-being, is most efficient, etc.). Wouldn't the Ubermensch just use something like this? This paper sounds really interesting. It strikes me as a very Kantian topic.

Undergrad: I studied Philosophy and Sociology at a middle tier university. I graduated with a 3.6 GPA (I slacked off my first two years, blah blah blah). My major GPA is 3.8 in philosophy and 4.0 in sociology. Grad: I did my MA in philosophy at an un-"Lieterific" program. I graduated with a 3.8 GPA. My letter writers are well known in their respective fields, and at least one of them is on the verge of mainstream success (judging by the attention given to his recent publications). My writing sample is on Robert Nozick's theory of utopia, the framework for utopias, and how insular communities problematize this account of utopia. I applied to PhD programs last year. I was accepted to three, but only one of them was able to secure adequate funding for me. I was accepted to SUNY Binghamton, SUNY Albany, and USC's (South Carolina not Southern California) MA program (with conditional acceptance to the PhD afterwards). I rejected each of these offers. I applied with GRE scores that were low compared to other philosophy majors: 161v 156q and 4a. I have been practicing for the test, and I will take it again in October and November.

I wrote about Robert Nozick's theory of utopia. I argued that it's problematic and then I attempt to redesign it. Is anyone interested in exchanging papers and providing comments and criticism?

Anyone declining funded offers from SUNY Albany?

Still waiting on funding from SUNY Albany. Declined my other offers. I hope I didn't do it too soon.

Congrats!!!! I feel like we've stuck this thing out from the beginning!

You and yours have quite the move to worry about!

Tell them you've changed your phone number to…..(insert Zizeksucks's phonenumber).

"Princeton" and "Pennsylvania" both start with a "p". I'd say you're up to something….

As long as we're tooting horns, The University of Florida offers a full tuition waiver and ~12k for students.

Out of up votes. Congrats!