My Fellow Cocooners,
Each year I have (half-seriously) utilized the occasion of the US President's State of the Union Address to say a few things about the Philosophers' Cocoon–about where we have been, and where I, at least, wish the Cocoon will go in the coming year. I say I do this only half-seriously because, although I own and moderate the Cocoon, the Cocoon is fundamentally a group blog. I don't fancy myself its "president", or anything like that–and indeed, for reasons I will explain below, it tends to bum me out when people (sometimes) refer to it as "my blog." My biggest wish for the Cocoon, each and every year, is that it will increasingly realize its group mission to be, "a safe and supportive "grass roots" forum for early-career professional philosophers — graduate students, post-docs, and entry-level faculty members — to discuss their work, ideas, and personal-professional issues." Fortunately, by my lights, the Cocoon is improving in this regard: we have more and more contributors every year. Still, my single biggest wish for the Cocoon, this year as in the past, is that it will increasingly become a place where early-career philosophers (as a group, in the plural) contribute posts, discuss their work, etc.
Anyway, before I say some words that aim to encourage people in this regard–words, that is, to encourage people to become contributors, and for existing contributors to contribute more regularly–I suppose I will momentarily reflect on how things went on the Cocoon in 2015. In brief, I think it was a great year for the blog. Our readership has continued to rise (we now average 1,200-1,300 visits per day, sometimes going at high as 3,000+ visits), we have an increasing number of active contributors (Helen, Elisa, Moti, Trevor, Wesley, etc.), we had another great annual conference, and we've also had a number of series, and initiatives, that aim to help early-career philosophers navigate the job-market, publishing world, etc. In short, I think we've continued to do our best to be a safe and supportive forum for early-career philosophers to discuss their work, ideas, and personal-professional issues–and I thank all of our contributors, and readers, for making the Cocoon such a great place to be.
Now onto some (humble) wishes. Actually, I just have one wish–the same one as in past years: that a larger, more diverse body of early-career philosophers will choose to become regular contributors to the Cocoon, sharing their work, thoughts about personal and professional issues, to better realize the Cocoon's "grass roots" mission.
It doesn't take much searching of the philosophy blogosphere to see that there are many issues that philosophers, and early-career philosophers in particular, seem to be concerned about–to name just a few:
- The job-market
- The overall state of higher-education, and graduate programs in philosophy
- The role of prestige in hiring, publication, and inclusion in philosophical discussion
- Gender, racial, ethnic, and cultural equity in the discipline
- Etc.
Unfortunately, although it is sometimes (often?) prudent for people to discuss these issues in anonymity, this, in my humble view, is regrettable. It plays into a culture of fear in the discipline that, in my experience, is both very real and incredibly disheartening. The fact that there is a culture of fear in philosophy seems to me evident, not only from first-personal experience, but from the kinds of responses I got when I asked the Cocoon's readership why so few early-career people blog. Here are just a few of the responses I received:
Acedemic [sic] philosophy in the web 2.0 world has become so heavily "political," sensitive, and norm-volatile that any/everything you say can and will be held against you in the "court of public opinion." - Posted by: Anon | 07/26/2015 at 04:10 PM
I'm going on the job market for the first time this year and I don't want to say anything that will sabotage my job search. I tend to hold some unorthodox views socially and politically, so I've already decided that I won't blog until I get tenure (if then). – Posted by: AnonGradStudent | 07/26/2015 at 04:36 PM
especially in the US, non-tenured scholars are afraid of what could be thought about them by future commissions —no matter what they say. - Posted by: Elisa Freschi | 07/26/2015 at 05:21 PM
Like others, I fear that blogging might be held against me. Nothing is anonymous. If someone wants to identify you via an IP address, they probably can. The cost/benefit calculation doesn't make much sense for me, personally. Besides the possibility of making enemies, the time writing on a blog might be used to write papers… - Posted by: another grad | 07/26/2015 at 07:15 PM
I don't blog or post named comments on blogs (although I do frequent all of the major ones, with this one being most useful to me) because I don't want my name attached to anything an advisor, admissions committee, search committee, etc. may see. It is important to have a very controlled online presence. – Posted by: Anonymous | 07/27/2015 at 12:26 AM
I think this is incredibly unfortunate because, in my own experience, living in fear is awful. Before I started blogging on the Cocoon, I felt alone in the discipline–toiling away in obscurity, with concerns and frustrations I felt like I couldn't air to anyone (lest I be judged), etc. And it was disheartening. It led to feeling alone and frustrated–in some of the ways one commonly sees anonymous commenters expressing anger, frustration, etc. on philosophy blogs all over the place.
Because, in my experience, living in this kind of fear is disheartening–and, perhaps more importantly, because I have found that such fears to be largely (if not entirely) overblown–I would like to take this opportunity to encourage more people to blog publicly on the Cocoon. Although I cannot speak others, the people I know who blog publicly here (myself, Helen, Moti, Elisa, etc.) do not appear to have suffered in the ways the above commenters worry about. Their performance on the job-market doesn't appear to have been undermined, they didn't make wanton enemies, etc. Sure, some of us have said controversial things, including things that others haven't liked (including, in my own case, some things I would take back). Still, by and large, I have not seen the kinds of worries the above commenters worry about be realized. The people I know who blog did not do worse on the job market after becoming bloggers. If anything, they seemed to do better. Finally, my experience has been that as long as one tries to blog respectfully–not engaging in the kinds of mudslinging that is common in some places–blogging publicly can be very liberating. If there are things you care about–the state of higher-education, the profession, whatever–blogging publicly can provide a platform for advocating for change. Yes, some people may judge you, and yes, you may say some things you regret (I certainly have). But, I truly believe, on the basis of almost four years blogging, that you don't have to live in fear.
I truly believe that we can we can work together to make our world, and discipline, a better place; that the Cocoon can be a small, but not insignificant, forum for doing so; and that the more early-career people who take part in the Cocoon as contributors, the more good we may be apt to do, if only by supporting and encouraging one another, and providing a safe and supportive forum for discussion. So, please, if you are a professional philosopher (grad student, faculty member, etc.) and have any interest in becoming a contributor, please do not be afraid. Just shoot me an email at marvan@ut.edu. I would love to have you aboard. 🙂
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