The European Research Council (ERC) recently announced the winners of their sizable “Consolidator Grants,” and several philosophers were among them. They are: A.J. Cotnoir (University of St Andrews) “Instruments of Unity: the Many Ways of Being One” We perceive unities everywhere: from ant colonies to cellular automata, from organisms to organisations. Yet we have little understanding of the general constraints by which they are unified. The Instruments of Unity Project tackles this abstract question in a way that provides concrete applicable answers. The core hypothesis: unity is a complex pluralistic phenomenon, requiring a multifaceted theoretical approach. We identify unity relations across a variety of formal settings in a way that is receptive to insights and tools from the cognitive and computing sciences, even addressing the ‘meta-question’ as to whether there’s any unity to the different types of unity. We plan to apply the resulting framework to problems in metaphysics, social ontology, and formal ontology.
grants
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has announced the recipients of their latest round of grants, and a number of philosophers are among the winners. They and their projects are: Jacob Beck (York University) Minds without Language: Research and writing leading to a book offering a pluralistic account of the processes of human thought informed by cognitive science. $60,000 Jeffrey Brower (Purdue University) Aquinas on Space and Spatial Location: Research and writing leading to a book on philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas’s (1225–1274) theories on motion, space, and location. $60,000 Stephen Darwall (Yale University) Modern Moral Philosophy After Kant: Research and writing leading to a book on the history of moral philosophy from the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries. $60,000 Jennifer Lackey (Northwestern University) Epistemic Reparations: Research and writing leading to a book on the rights of victims to epistemic justice by being known and heard by the parties who wronged them.
The American Philosophical Association (APA) has announced which projects will be funded during the 2022-23 academic year by its Diversity and Inclusiveness Grant Program and its Small Grant Program. The APA’s Diversity and Inclusiveness Grant Program each year has up to $20,000 to fund “one or two projects aiming to increase the presence and participation of women, racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, people of low socioeconomic status, and other underrepresented groups at all levels of philosophy.” This year, the grant-funded projects are: The Lavender Library: Institutionalizing Access to Queer Theory, Courses and Speakers at a Regional Comprehensive University in the South ($10,000) According to the Public Religion Research Institute, Arkansans are the least supportive of measures to protect LGBTQ+ people from discrimination compared to all states (3/26/19).