awards
Vallor Wins Covey Award
Shannon Vallor, professor of philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, holder of the Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence at the university’s Edinburgh Futures Institute, and director of its Centre for Technomoral Futures, has been named the winner of the 2022 Covey Award.
The Covey Award recognizes “senior scholars with a substantial record of innovative research in the field of computing and philosophy broadly conceived.” It is awarded by the executive board of the International Association for Computing and Philosophy (IACAP).
In a statement, IACAP Executive Director Steve McKinlay writes:
The board recognised Professor Vallors significant contribution to our field, both in academic as well as public spheres over the last two decades… Professor Vallor’s research explores how emerging technologies reshape human moral and intellectual character, and maps the ethical challenges and opportunities posed by new uses of data and artificial intelligence. Her work includes advising academia, government and industry on the ethical design and use of AI. Her current project examines responsibility gaps in the governance of autonomous systems, as part of the UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous Systems programme. She is the author of Technology and the Virtues: A Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting (Oxford University Press, 2016) and editor of the Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Technology (2022).She is the recipient of multiple awards for teaching, scholarship and public engagement, including the 2015 World Technology Award in Ethics.
Professor Vallor will present the Covey Award Keynote address at the IACAP 2022 Conference this summer. A list of previous winners of the Covey award can be found here.
Davis Is Sole Philosopher In New Class of ACLS Fellows
The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) has announced its new class of fellows, and there is one philosopher among them.
That philosopher is Emmalon Davis, assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan. She was awarded the fellowship for her project, “Paradoxes of Resistance: Maria Stewart’s Political Philosophy.” Here’s a description of it:
This project examines apparent contradictions in the political thought of Maria Stewart. It first taxonomizes scholarly efforts to recover Stewart’s political voice, and argues that while these efforts acknowledge Stewart’s place in the political canon, they do not fully engage the complexity of Stewart’s thought, especially the tension between her dual advocacy of insurrection and moral suasion. The study develops an interpretive framework in which Stewart’s materiality as a black woman, political thinker, and radical activist—in a society that does not provide the resources for her liberation—constitutes the starting point from which contradictions in her politics must be understood. “Paradoxes of Resistance” argues that these contradictions are not theoretical inconsistencies, but astute mappings of the paradoxical nature of resistance to oppression.
There were nearly 1000 applicants for ACLS fellowships this year, and only 60 were awarded. The awards provide $30,000 to $60,000 to support scholars during six to 12 months of research leave. You can view the full list of new fellows here.
Related: Philosophers and the ACLS
Kaplan Wins 2022 Rolf Schock Prize in Logic and Philosophy
David Kaplan, the Hans Reichenbach Professor of Scientific Philosophy at the University of California, Los Angeles, has been named the winner of the 2022 Rolf Schock Prize in Logic and Philosophy.
Professor Kaplan was recognized “for his contributions to the understanding of the role played by the extra-linguistic context for the semantics of natural language, for the logic of natural language sentences, and for the nature of belief.” The prize announcement notes:
Kaplan has made ground-breaking contributions to the understanding of the semantics of indexical expressions and their role in natural language. They include pronouns such as “I” and “him”, demonstratives such as “that girl”, and temporal adverbs like “yesterday”. The meaning of such expressions partly depends on the context in which they are used. To describe their role, Kaplan extended a framework of modern logic that is called possible-worlds semantics.
Its standard versions have two semantic levels, but Kaplan showed that indexicals require a third, intermediate level. The contents of speakers´ thoughts belong at this level. He also showed that this level has its own logic, which he chose to call the Logic of Demonstratives, and he developed the model theory—the formal semantic theory—for this logic.
The prize is 500,000 Swedish Kroner (approximately $53,000).
Schock Prizes are awarded in four categories: Logic and Philosophy, Mathematics, Visual Arts, and Musical Arts. They were established by bequest of Rolf Schock, a philosopher and artist, and awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The prize winners in the other categories this year were Jonathan S. Pila of Oxford University (Mathematics), Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas (Visual Arts), and Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson (Musical Arts). There is more information the prize winners here.
Previous winners of the Schock Prize in Logic and Philosophy include Dag Prawitz and Per Martin-Löf (2020), Saharon Shelah (2018), Ruth Millikan (2017), Derek Parfit (2014), Hilary Putnam (2011), Thomas Nagel (2008), Jaako Hintikka (2005), Solomon Feferman (2003), Saul Kripke (2001), John Rawls (1999), Dana Scott (1997), Michael Dummettt (1995), and Willard Van Orman Quine (1993).
Doctor Who features in most loved BBC Shows of all time
As part of the BBC Centenary celebrations, The One Show conducted a viewer poll to discover the most loved BBC TV shows of all time. The results were announced live on Friday evening, revealing Doctor Who to be the second-favourite show in the Corporation's history, only beaten by the ever popular Only Fools and Horses.
The poll featured some 50 programmes showcasing a variety of genre from throughout the BBC's history, as chosen by a panel of experts which included Sara Wallis, Mirror TV Columnist, David Butcher, Radio Times’ Choices Editor, Dick Fiddy, BFI Archive TV Programmer and Hanna Flint, Freelance Critic and MTV Movies Host.
The full Top 20 programmes are:
- Only Fools and Horses
- Doctor Who
- Strictly Come Dancing
- Line of Duty
- Call the Midwife
- Gavin and Stacey
- Fawlty Towers
- Blackadder
- The Morecambe and Wise Show
- The Vicar of Dibley
- Dad's Army
- Planet Earth I and II
- Killing Eve
- Dinnerladiers
- Yes Minister / Yes Prime Minister
- Sherlock
- The Good Life
- Top of the Pops
- The Royle Family
- Blue Peter
The One Show presenter Alex Jones said:
It’s been a joy to look back and celebrate some classic TV shows from the BBC’s history as part of BBC 100. There’s been an absolutely huge response from our lovely viewers and though we couldn’t fit everything onto the list, our viewers have shown so much love for these classic shows that have connected with them across generations.
The full programme, including articles on many of the shows in the poll and guide through some of the objects illustrating the BBC's history, will be available via the BBC iPlayer<\/a> for the next four weeks.