We are very pleased to announce that Elena Comay del Junco will be joining us an an Assistant Professor of Philosophy in August 2020. Elena’s areas of specialization include Ancient Greek Philosophy and Political and Legal Philosophy (especially concerning race and racism). She will be receiving her PhD this year from the University of Chicago.

Peimin Ni’s Understanding the Analects of Confucius, A New Translation of Lunyu with Annotations. SUNY Press, 2017 has just won the 2019 Modern Language Association (MLA) Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for a Translation of a Scholarly Study of Literature. Peimin received his PhD in Philosophy from UConn in 1991. The citation of the award reads:

Peimin Ni’s new translations in Understanding the Analects of Confucius build on and challenge a wide array of previous translations, which, at times, seem to contradict one another because of important transactional issues in translation that reveal how translation is both a product and a process. While comparing his solutions to those of other translators and employing commentary with extensive annotations of the text, Ni demonstrates his deep understanding of Confucius and various strands of Confucianism. This monumental work features a detailed and informative introduction as well as a presentation of the key terms in the Analects that have led to conflicting interpretations or additions of words to clarify the context. Ni has produced a scholarly yet surprisingly readable text for a nonspecialized audience.

Dorit Bar-On has received a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship to research and write a book on the origins of language. For more information about Bar-On’s research group (ECOM) see the Expression, Communication, and the Origins of Meaning webpage.

The UConn Philosophy Department is advertising an Assistant Professor job with an AOS in Ancient Greek Philosophy and an AOC Open.  Apply here:

https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/15043

Please note that the university advertising agency made some mistakes in the PhilJobs listing. Please go by the job description itself.

Susan Schneider’s new book is Artificial You: AI and the Future of Your Mind.

https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691180144/artificial-you

“AI, metaphysics, and the future of life in the universe―Schneider writes about the biggest issues of our time with an engagingly light touch, and enviable insight and clarity. Highly recommended.”―Huw Price, academic director of the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence and co-founder of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk

Michael Lynch has been awarded the 2019 Orwell Award  which “recognizes writers who have made outstanding contributions to the critical analysis of public discourse”.  A list of previous winners, including Noam Chomsky, Jon Stewart, Amy Goodman, Ted Koppel, Michael Pollan, can be found here.

The Austrian journal Grazer Philosophische Studien has just published a special issue devoted to articles responding to various aspects of Mitch Green’s research from over the last 25 years. The issue is entitled Sources of Meaning: Themes from Mitchell S. Green and is edited by Jan G. Michel.

https://brill.com/view/journals/gps/96/3/gps.96.issue-3.xml

The Philosopher’s Annual attempts to judge the 10 best articles published in philosophy each year. Jc Beall’s “The Simple Argument for Subclassical Logic” from Philosophical Issues was one of those selected for 2018.

• After successfully defending his dissertation on April 22, Dana Francisco Miranda begins as a new Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Muhlenberg College starting in Fall 2019.
• Nathan Kellen successfully defended his dissertation, titled “Pluralisms about Truth and Logic” in August. He is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at Kansas State University’s Department of Philosophy.
• Jared Henderson successfully defended his dissertation, titled “Degrees and Deflationism”, on April 11. In June, he started a new career in artificial intelligence development as an Ontological Engineer at Cycorp in Austin, TX.
• Kristin Culbertson will be teaching Buddhism and Social Justice as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Wesleyan University in the spring of 2020.
• Phillip Barron will be a Predoctoral Fellow in the Philosophy Department at Lewis & Clark College for 2019-2021.