The Philosophers' Cocoon

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Job-Market Reporting Thread (2026-27)
Job-Market Discussion Thread (2026-27)

  1. Just saw that there’s a new editorial assistant at AJP. Is this related to what Anonymous of Oct. 10 says…

  2. I have some courses I’ve taught many, many times. With those, every time I teach it I try to pick…

  3. I have had two very different tenured jobs: one at a typical 4 year state college, and one at a…

  4. Does anyone know anything about delays at Mind and Language? I have had a paper under review for 18 months,…

  5. I do a mix. I usually teach the same classes each year (but they’re diverse, some in my aos and…

recent posts

about

  • Applying for jobs without a letter from one’s postdoc supervisor?

    In our September “how can we help you?” thread, a reader asks:

    I’m wondering if anyone has experience or advice on applying for jobs as a postdoc without a letter from your current supervisor. Things started out well, but deteriorated after several months for reasons that remain somewhat mysterious to me. Recently my supervisor told me they will not be writing me a letter. I have strong letters from my dissertation advisor and other faculty I worked with during grad school which I can use (they’ve all been updated). But I’m not sure how to navigate not having a letter from my current position (for instance, how to talk about the situation if I’m asked directly about it).

    I’m very sorry to hear this happened to the OP. Do readers have any helpful insights to share?

    8

  • Disconnected from the public/social aspects of the profession?

    In our September “how can we help you?” thread, a reader asks:

    I know this is a little open-ended, and is more a confession than a question, but does anyone feel just ‘disconnected’ from the more public-facing sided aspects of the philosophy community? There’s a vibrant philosophical community on social media, a vibrant community of people at conferences. Is it odd to just…not care? I enjoy my colleagues, my friends from grad school, the scholars working on adjacent work to mine, but beyond that, I feel no real pressure to have a ‘presence’ as a philosopher in this social-philosophy-sphere. I enjoy my teaching, I enjoy doing my research, I enjoy chatting about my and others’ work when I’m at conferences, but the ‘being connected’ into ‘what’s going on’ in the discipline I just feel is not for me. I don’t care what people are arguing about, who said what, the newest controversy about rankings or AI or the APA…I just really couldn’t care less. Maybe relevant is that I’ve been tt job-hunting for a few years now, so admittedly perhaps there’s some disillusionment I feel. Idk. I guess I’m just curious about how others feel about this, if anyone commiserates, or if I’m just being a wet blanket.

    I empathize with the OP, particularly after becoming a father. I have a toddler and home and being present for her and invested as a parent has become a much larger (and rewarding) priority for me.

    What about other readers? Are you heavily invested in the public/social aspects of the profession, or are you more like the OP?

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  • A literature responding to prominent non-academic posts about AI?

    In our September “how can we help you?” thread, a reader asks:

    The Cocoon may not be the right venue for this query, but I’m looking for some direction when it comes to a literature base. Are there philosophers working in philosophy of AI that issue responses (direct or indirect) to the Dario Amodeis of the world? Amodei’s essays and pieces in the LessWrong part of the web are more complex than op-eds in periodicals, but I haven’t found a satisfying counterweight to these because it seems the actual work in philosophy of AI (viz., published in philosophy journals) is more fine-grained (as I think it ought to be). Thanks in advance for any leads.

    This is something that I’ve found to be very frustrating. It’s impossible to keep up with all of the blog posts (at Less Wrong, Anthropic, OpenAI) and non-peer-reviewed work that’s constantly being put out at an ever-fast and furious pace. We academics tend to move much more slowly and deliberately, and I think for good epistemic reasons. But the incentives in industry and public discussions on messageboards pull in the opposite direction. There are some people (such as Gary Marcus) who push back a lot in public venues (e.g. Substack) against the Dario Amodeis of the world, as well as an ever expanding list of online personalities. But in the academic world per se? I’m not sure. If I didn’t have a 3-year-old at home along with an academic career, I might spend more time trying to do this kind of thing myself–but alas, I just don’t have the time.

    Any helpful thoughts or insights from readers?

    1

  • TeachPhilosophy 101: an online resource

    David Sackris (Arapahoe Community College) writes in:

    The teaching resource Teachphilosophy101.org has recently been updated in a collaboration between the journal Teaching Philosophy and the Philosophy Documentation Center. TΦ101 presents strategies and resources for faculty members and graduate assistants who teach philosophy courses, especially at the introductory level. It also includes material of interest to college faculty generally.

    The mission of TΦ101 is to provide free, user-friendly resources to the academic community, and it is an especially useful resource for new college instructors. All materials on this site are provided on an open source license and you may print or distribute as many copies as you wish. All Teaching Philosophy articles linked to on TΦ101 are now open access. If you have questions or would like to contribute to TΦ101, please send an email to d26988123@gmail.com.

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