I do not if this has been suggested or attempted before at ILP but:
Philosopher of the Month?
Every month ILP sponsors discussion of a noted Philosopher and his or her ideas. For the period of that month a sticky is made for a thread in the main Philosophy forum concerning discussion of said philosopher. Included will be links to various works of the Philosopher and sites detailing the Philosophers various ideas and thei impact on philosophy and the world at large.
The next month, the thread is un-stickied and new one concerning a different philosopher takes its place at the top of the page. The older thread isn’t necessarily removed, but it risks losing attention as forum goers gravitate to the newest topic of discussion. Each month the new philosopher, as chosen by the staff, or even a poll on the main Philosophy forum, replaces the last one.
Goals of this project:
Increase philosophical discussion by highlighting philosophic thinkers.
Increase awareness and understanding of important philosophers and their ideas.
Further integrate philosophical discussion with other discussions here at ILP.
Decrease or remove misconceptions concerning certain philosophers.
Increase the overall quality of debate in regards to Philosophy itself.
I think that would be an ingenious way of focusing our efforts around here, for those interested. I’m not likely to wake up one day and be all interested in, say, Spinoza, for instance. But if he’s the PHILOSOPHER OF THE MONTH I’d see at as a convenient and welcome opportunity to fill in my Spinoza gaps. I’ll probably never read any more Hegel on my own, but bring him in for a month and I’m sure it will ameliorate my Hegel lexicon for whatever that’s worth. I hope we do this, GCT. You should receive special honors for such a useful idea. And a side-commendation for being one obnoxious-looking Mexican.
I like this idea. Would you be willing to be in charge of it? If yes, then please PM me a more detailed run through of how it would actually work and what would be the guidelines of the discussions.
I will go ahead and post this here as opposed to stating in PM as I must decline. As simply and honestly as I can put it, I don’t know enough about a majority of philosophers in general to conduct this sort of exercise.
Noting that it could involve quite a bit of work for someone not familiar with the particular topic, that is if we assume the discussion will be moderated to some degree, then I am clearly so not the person that needs to do this.
However, it struck me that people have, by and large, their favorite philosophers that they might read more in depth and, therefore, might be more knowledgeable about. You could ask for volunteers.
This is if you don’t want to ask the staff to run it.
If none of this sounds feasible then, and only then, I will umm, volunteer to run it for a month. That way it at least gets attempted and we see if such an idea can really work, how much time and effort it requires and so on.
If that is what you want, for me to try it for a month then just ask me to PM you again and we will discuss it further, but know that I must insist that I get to pick the philosopher. Because if your idea is to have me conduct a discussion on some British Empiricist, I will start weeping now.
Ok well, maybe I misunderstood your idea but it seems that a knowledge of philosophers is not what is required. The content would come from the membership of ILP, but there needs to be someone who is facilitating it. Some of the duties would include:
Setting up the sticky threads every month
Choosing a philosopher, this could be done by a vote or general consensus or just by picking one out of that. It doesn’t really matter since we can all learn and contribute whatever philosopher is in the limelight
Provide links to good websites which contain relevant information on the philosophies of that months philosopher. Also could cite published material, extra reading etc. Maybe even links to posts on ILP?
Moderate the discussion. Keep it on topic, enforcing the usual ILP rules.
I imagine there is more than this but the idea of being in charge doesn’t require you to be a genius philosopher.
If you’re still not keen, I open up the floor to others who would be interested in taking charge of this.
I think this is a good idea and am very interested in helping make it happen. As far as I can see, nothing has come of it so far (unless I missed something…).
I think the key to success here is to copy/paste the most lively and ‘defining’ (‘key points’) selections from an individual’s work, along with the most easy-to-understand commentary, and criticism, which makes it ‘plain’ to the ‘layman’. A looong original post will kill it – only the essentials should be mentioned at first. A lot of work must go into this (if you’re starting from scratch), so help from more knowledgeable ILP members is key. Also, a photo and brief bio. and well-known quotes (if any) of the philosopher inside the original post also will help cultivate ‘interest’ in the thread.
I think the first sticky should be to introduce what the Philosopher of the Month threads will be all about, announce who the first featured philosopher will be (chosen by thread-starter), and invite knowledgeable or curious ILP members to PM what typed material, links, photos, etc., they have or find on a particular philosopher (with deadline).
At the bottom of every Philosopher of the Month thread, do something like this:
Next month’s featured philosopher, by popular demand, will be ______, hosted by _______, ______, and ______ (SNN: just showing how it doesn’t have to be a one-person thing, but can be a collaborative effort). Please PM the host(s) by mm/dd/yyyy with any typed material, links, photos, etc., you have or find on this philosopher (if your contribution is used, you will be given credit) [ don’t say that unless the host(s) want(s) help ] – also PM me by that date with your vote on the next featured philosopher. ILP members, alone or in collaboration, are welcome to host any Philosopher of the Month thread.
Sounds Great. I nominate “She who changed her name”. Sorry Ben, I know I said I would do it, but if I haven’t shown it already, I am too flaky to provide the level of dedication you were asking for and that it would require to get this to work.
I’m on a Martha Nussbaum kick. How do I go ahead and get this started (if that’s okay with whomever it needs to be okay)? I can’t do stickies, so I’ll need atleast one Mod to help me (assuming they can all do stickies).
Anybody who wants to go in on this with me, PM me.
