Last month, something unusual happened to an academic philosophy article. The news media reported on it. Shortly after the article was published in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, stories about it showed up in variety of venues, including: The Guardian The Telegraph The Times The Age The South China Morning Post The Independent (picked up by Yahoo News) Japan Today Radio France Internationale France 24 Barron’s Fatherly (picked up by MSN) The Swaddle Al Arabiya News Stylist Báo Hải Dương The Financial The Daily Mail The Philippine Star among others. How did this happen? It’s no mystery: Cambridge University’s Office of External Affairs and Communication wrote and distributed a press release for it. Granted, the article, “Gendered Affordance Perception and Unequal Domestic Labour” by Tom McClelland (Cambridge) and Paulina Sliwa (Vienna) seems more likely to hook a broader audience than the typical PPR output. Here’s the abstract: The inequitable distribution of domestic and caring labour in different-sex couples has been a longstanding feminist concern.
Public Philosophy and Outreach
Wisdom’s Edge Foundation is a non-profit organization that aims to bring philosophy-based classes to people who do not have access to traditional university offerings in philosophy. Wisdom’s Edge was created by Sophia Stone, associate professor of philosophy at Lynn University. She writes: In 2022, Wisdom’s Edge Foundation served 121 people by offering free philosophy discussions and activities. Sessions include in-person philosophy events to communities in St. Cloud, Minnesota and Palm Beach County in South Florida as well as on-line sessions to communities from Hawai’i to Florida and India. These sessions included traditional philosophy courses in Applied Ethics and the Philosophy of Religion as well as the History of Philosophy from Eastern and Western traditions. As an outreach organization, Wisdom’s Edge taught free philosophy courses in self-confidence to women in transition from homelessness, incarceration, sex-trafficking and domestic violence. Wisdom’s Edge offered two reading circles online, a mathematics and philosophy circle and a social/political and existentialist philosophy reading circle.