What is Your Favorite Referee Report?

TenuredAcademic writes

Hi. I was wondering what people's favorite referee reports are. Once I got a letter back from a journal (I won't say which journal it was) telling me how to write philosophy. The referee report was so incredibly rude, I almost decided to leave the profession. Three monographs and dozens of articles later, I am all glad I did not! But seriously, there is a problem here with referees and I wanted to talk to other philosophers about it to get a sense of what it's like for them, and what we might be able to do about it.

Thanks TenuredAcademic, these are wise words! And I agree that this is a conversation we need to be having. So, readers: tell us what your favorite referee report said, and some of the problems you have been having. I ask that men only comment here if they have a valid email address.

(To start you off here's a story from my career: I got all huffed up and puffed up and approached the best journal in my area, only to be told I would never amount to anything!)

UPDATE: Justin at Daily Nous has a really cool post up about the similar thing.

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Beautiful paper by Deslauriers over at Phill Studies bout life and sex and blood

There's a really interesting new paper up at the journal Philosophical Studies, founded by Wilfred Sellars and Herbert Fiegl. It is according to a woman who says men have hot blood. It poses very interesting questions about sex, blood and journals. Who has arguments to share about the paper? I really like learning about philosophy.

Marinella and her interlocutors: hot blood, hot words, hot deeds

Marguerite Deslauriers

Philosophical Studies:1-13 (forthcoming)

Abstract

In the treatise called La nobiltà et l’eccellenza delle donne co’ diffetti et mancamenti de gli uomini Lucrezia Marinella claims that women are superior to men. She argues that men are excessively hot, and that heat in a high degree is detrimental to the intellectual and moral capacities of a person. The aim of this paper is to set out Marinella’s views on temperature differences in the bodies of men and women and the effects of bodily constitution on the capacities necessary for political deliberation and rule. I situate Marinella’s argument in the context of an ongoing debate about physiological differences between the sexes, begun in antiquity and extending into the Renaissance. That debate is important for several reasons: as part of a broader discussion of the nature and worth of women, as determining influential interpretations of ancient authorities on matters of physiology, and as anticipating later discussions of the relation between the sexed body and political roles. This paper considers Marinella in dialogue with a number of interlocutors, elements of whose work can be found in her own: Aristotle, Mario Equicola, Galeazzo Flavio Capra, Ludovico Domenichi and Torquato Tasso.

Philosophy on Instagram? Hell yes where do we start!

Hi guys so it's just come down to my attention from the beautiful Justin's Daily Nous site that a great worker in philosophy has started an Instagram account to promote philosophy in the form of pictures. Picture this: philosophers all around the world giving philosophy a better chance in the race with a good social media presence? Yes please - sign me up! Where do I sign.

As someone who has had a lot of trouble getting abstract ideas into my "philosophy brain" as I call it when talking to my wife and kids, I like to use pictures for help. This way we can all have a more equal playing field, since some people like pictures and some people like words more. So I for one am looking forward to some great philosophy on this site!

Heres the scoop form Daily Nouc

A philosopher who wishes to remain anonymous thinks philosophy needs more of a social media presence,  and so created a philosophy-related Instagram account. She writes:
The purpose is just to be a generic account to follow for professional philosophers, philosophy students or any casual person interested in philosophy.  There will be no politics, no current events, no plugs for anyone, etc. It will just strictly be images focused on encouraging the study of philosophy in academia. Hopefully it will visually represent our discipline in an inspiring, fun, publicly accessible way. It’s a bit of a challenge to think of philosophy in images but I think I’ve got plenty of ideas to keep it going.  I thought maybe some Daily Nous readers out there might be interested to follow.
The name of the account is Study Philosophy.
Now who’s going to do one for Snapchat?

The laws of contradiction are time to think about. It's time we as a profession got together and reconsidered our practises: awarding PhD's, granting tenure, and promotions. My fiancee was at a tenure track college and I had to fly out to a 6/7 teaching load every night. As someone with a passion for William James, you can imagine how this made me feel.

Who else is ready to see some changes in the profession? Drop in an say your ideas.

Does the Job Market Reduce Your Chance of Success In Philosophy?

I would like to ask the professional community about the job market. Namely, I am interested in whether the job market may harm our chances in philosophy. Many hiring decisions are probably biased, and this can't be a good thing. An anonymous grad student writes:

I am wondering about the job market. I have been to three schools, and all of them wanted to have information about my research. While I'm very glad that someone is hiring, I am not sure how to navigate this difficult situation. A professor of mine told me not to bother, but is that really good advice?

There is no one-fit-all solution, recent grad, but I think you need to be prepared to be very careful when you go on the job market. I know several people - not Leiterrific, but you get the idea - who had trouble convincing committee members that they would be able to do everything required of them. Navigating this can be difficult, and there are no hard rules. Readers?

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