A PhD candidate studying the philosophy and science of reasoning, willpower, and wellbeing.
I find that computers, software, and various internet services drastically improve academic life. For example, I have my digital library (10,000+ books and papers) in my pocket right now. In this post, I’ll talk about how that works.
Related post: how to listen to your books and papers using text-to-speech.
If you are thinking about creating or organizing a digital library, then I recommend thinking about 6 things: Continue reading How To Create A Digital Library
When my students ask about how to write a philosophy paper, I tell them to aim for three or four criteria. And if they want more guidance, I give them writing tips. Below are the criteria — in order of importance — and the tips.†
What this means: It should be difficult for me to misunderstand you.††
So don’t waste time crafting long sentences with big words. Instead, aim for a 6th to 9th grade reading level. Yes, I know: that’s not how many academics write.††† But many academics do not write well.
1st Writing Tip: Continue reading How To Write A Philosophy Paper: 4 Criteria, 9 Tips
You enrolled in a philosophy class? Cool! You might have heard a few things about philosophy. But — on average — few people know much about academic philosophy. So here’s a quick introduction to your first philosophy class. It’ll cover the basics of what your philosophy teacher cares about and what they probably expect from you.
The quality of our judgment matters in many contexts. It matters when we’re voting, when we’re raising children, and when deciding how to spend our time, etc. In each of these cases, we need to be able to
And this is similar to what we will do in a philosophy class. So your grade in a philosophy class is a matter of how well you understand, explain, and evaluate information — where “information” is just the stuff you read and discuss for class.
But that’s not very specific. You probably want to know how to evaluate and explain the information we come across in a philosophy course. For instance, is it enough to say, “I disagree with So-and-so because I believe that _______”? The short answer: no.
In a philosophy class, it doesn’t really matter what we believe. Academic philosophers care more about Continue reading 3 Tips For Your First Philosophy Class
Reality check: if I am not automatically notified of your research, I’ll almost certainly never know about it. And if I can’t find you online, you might as well not exist beyond your classroom, office, or lab. So if you’re an academic who wants people to actually read your work or even know that you exist, then read the following 250 words. They explain how to make your research followable and visible. It’s really, really easy. Don’t believe me? Check out the video below where I make a website in less than 10 minutes. So stop making excuses. In the words of the great philosopher, Shia Lebouf:
Last week, the Free Will & Science course finished up their poster sessions. It was one of the most enriching classroom experiences I’ve ever witnessed.† In case you’re interested, here’s a post about the why and how of classroom poster sessions — including templates for your own classroom. Continue reading Classroom Poster Sessions: A win for you and your students
