JFP and Agency

As you are probably already aware, the new Jobs for Philosophers is now online at the APA website.  A completely amateurish and unoffical search of the document (conducted by yours truly) brings out the following information:

Number of instances of the phrase 'free will' = 0
Number of instances of the phrase 'freedom' = 11 (but none use it in the sense we care about)
Number of instances of the phrase 'free' = 2(but none use it in the sense we care about)
Number of instances of the phrase 'moral responsibility' = 0
Number of instances of the phrase 'responsibility' = 2 (but neither uses it in the sense we care about)
Number of instances of the phrase 'agency' = 3 (one uses it in the sense we care about)
Number of instances of the phrase 'action' = 108 (all prefaced by the word 'affirmative')

Okay now for more interesting results:

Number of instances of the phrase 'ethics' = 267 (almost all in a sense we care about)
Number of instances of the phrase 'metaphysics' = 33
Number of instances of the phrase 'moral' = 16
Number of instances of the phrase 'moral psychology' = 0

For those of you on the market, happy hunting!

Comments

[Chris Franklin]

Wow! I sure hope things shape up in the next few years :)

[Kevin Timpe]

Yeah, this was a little disappointing.

By the way, what happened to the usual picture of the garden at the upper left?

[Neal]

I changed the picture on the upper left for a little variety -- now you should see a clipart that depicts a forking path with signs pointing in either direction. Is it not coming through?

[Kevin Timpe]

Yes, it comes through. I just noticed the change, that's all.

[Peter Brian Barry]

This actually calls to mind a question. When I went on the market two years ago, I perhaps made the regrettable mistake of listing "moral psychology" as my AOS. But if there are so few job listings calling for such a specialization, then it seems more advisable to assert something else.

There have been a few Gardeners who have recently had success on the job market--if I'm not mistaken, Eddy, Tamler, and Manny have all moved to greener pastures in the last few years. I am curious whether others advertise their AOS as "moral psychology" or "philosophy of action" or "free will" or if, instead, the declared AOS is something along the lines of "moral philosophy."

[John Fischer]

I think that it is probably desirable to figure out whether you are closer to M&E or Ethics (Moral Philosophy, broadly construed), and specify your AOS as either Ethics or M&E. The general problem, I think, is that free will/moral responsibility kind of falls between the two. This has been a problem for many years.

Again, I have called attention to the phenomena before, and I have tried my best to address it, but it remains: whereas free will/moral responsibility is one of the most active and lively areas of philosophical writing, conferences, and so forth, we are not front and center in the job market.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to improve the situation, let us know!!

[Eddy Nahmias]

I think your best bet is to list Free Will and Moral Responsibility as an area in addition to (or in parentheses after) some other area, such as Metaphysics or Ethics or perhaps Moral Psychology (which is where I put it, but only because I could also list Phil Mind/Phil Psych). And also, of course, one should make sure to have an AOS in one of those more general areas. But I would think anyone who is an expert in FW/MR will approach the question in such a way that they will need to be a specialist in one of the broader areas too. For the record, I count myself very lucky to have gotten such a wonderful job at FSU (soon to be, I suspect, a top 5 action theory school because of its new senior hires--and hopefully *not* because of its loss of a certain junior person!), and to have been able to move to equally green pastures here at Georgia State (and the Brains and Behavior program). Good luck to all Gardeners going on the market!

[Peter Brian Barry]

It just occurred to me that my suggestion that Eddy moved onto greener pastures could be taken as a slight to FSU's department--it probably doesn't help that my own Ph.d is from the University of Florida. It certainly goes without saying that FSU has made some outstanding hires across the board in recent years and in the last year in particular, nor that FSU should be among the top programs in free will/phil of action with Mele and Clarke and McKenna there. No hard feelings, I hope.