Soon-to-be-Jaded Dissertator tells us we need to "watch out for search committee pirates." Sounds smart to me. I sure as hell feel like holing up with some real work for a while, and not having to worry about search committees. (Click to make it big.)
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Huh?
Okay, okay, I know you've said this a million times, but I can't find any place on the blog itself that lists your email address. I think it's philosophyjobmarketblog@gmail.com, but I'm not sure.
nice. I could use some of that tropical looking sunshine right now, too.
Bobcat --
philosophyjobmarket -at- gmail -dot- com
This veiled lost reference is... appropriate.
I like the color. And the Wittgensteinian getting-away-from-it-all on a deserted island (or Norwegian shack).
What exactly is a SC pirate?
4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42
So the jobs section of the Chronicle this week has an essay by a search committee member. It took him 4 years to land a TT job and he spent the next 4 years trying to move up the ladder. Jackass. Anyway, the upshot of his essay is that search committees are really honorable and decent, and generally make the right decision, because the best candidate is the one who will fit in best, not the best teacher or researcher or whatever. And he concludes that the unfairness in the system is that evil administrators don't make enough jobs so that everyone can have one. Like I say, jackass.
But my point is this. He's concerned with defending search committees against the jibes of jilted applicants. I've seen that on this blog too, people getting very defensive and feeling obliged to defend the system and not just defend their own decisions in particular cases. Maybe this is just human nature, but I am not convinced. I see it as people buying into the system wholeheartedly as soon as they're a part of it, maybe as a reaction to their own remembered angst from when they were candidates, or else their feeling that yes, they were chosen because they were worthy.
That's why the system never changes, and why it sucks.
Yes, an island...If you were stranded on a deserted island and could bring one philosopher, who would it be? (Rephrase: If you were stranded on such an island and were forced to bring a philosopher, who would it be?)
Real question: Does anyone know where VAP status updates are posted? They don't seem to be on the Wiki...any clues? Thanks.
An old one--so I could eat soon.
"It took him 4 years to land a TT job and he spent the next 4 years trying to move up the ladder. Jackass."
Sorry--why is this person a jackass?
Aristotle. Definitely, Aristotle. I am pretty confident he'd be able to deal effectively with any problem that arose on our desert island.
Of course, I don't speak Greek. Maybe I should have chosen David Hume...
A prof in my department has said that an informal survey conducted on just this topic years ago ended up with the majority of philosophers in favor of Hume.
Has anyone else heard this?
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