Departmental Newsletter: January 2025
Jennifer Jhun won the 2024 Ernest Nagel Early-Career Scholar Essay Award from the Philosophy of Science Association for her paper "Multi-Model Reasoning in Economics: The Case of COMPASS." She and her co-hosts (Scott Scheall, François Allisson, and Çınla Akdere) also received an Honorable Mention in the PSA Outreach and Engagement Award category for their podcast "Smith and Marx Walk Into a Bar." Last but not least, Jennifer has been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for her project titled "The Science of Antitrust."
Katherine Brading has received the Dean's Award for Excellence in Mentoring, and Caleb Hazelwood has received the Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching.
The Graduate School will host a reception at Penn Pavilion on Wednesday, April 2, from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm, to recognize all 2025 Dean’s Awards recipients. Faculty, staff, and students from the Philosophy Department are invited to join in this celebration.
In February, Kexuan will be commenting on a paper at the Feminist Philosophy Grad Conference in Arizona. Kexuan will also be presenting their paper “Crip/epistemology of Borderlands” at the 2025 philoSOPHIA transcontinental feminist conference in April.
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong's granddaughter continues to be the joy of his life. His AI business continues to take more time than expected. Still, he has managed to publish a new paper on contrastivism (available Open Access), his new paper on punishment was accepted in Criminal Law and Philosophy, and his paper with Laura Soter on moral judgments of refugees and immigrants was accepted.
Alex Rosenberg's new paper, "Solving the Explanation Paradox—One Last Attempt," was accepted in the Journal of Economic Methodology. His new book, Blunt Instrument: Why Economic Theory Can't Get Any Better, Why We Need it Anyway, is available from MIT Press in March.
Duke’s chapter of MAP (Yuan Dong, Emily Kluge, and Victor Crespo Santiago) hosted a Minorities and Philosophy Event on Saturday, January 18th. The event began on Saturday morning with a panel that discussed themes such as marginalization, the philosophical relevance of non-canonical texts, and professional experiences in Philosophy. The organizers thank Dr. Katherine Brading, Dr. Julianne Chung, Dr. Maya Kronfeld, and Dr. David Wong for their contributions. In the afternoon workshop, Dr. Andrew Janiak from Project Vox shared strategies for diversifying the syllabus to include non-canonical women philosophers, Dr. Janine Jones (UNC Greensboro) shared her knowledge of teaching philosophy to diverse undergraduates, and Emily and Victor led a discussion on research/citation justice. Thanks to all the participants who contributed to the event with their questions and lively discussion!
Last year, Maya Kronfeld had the satisfaction of seeing Nicole Zuraitis’ How Love Begins, on which she played keyboards, win a GRAMMY Award for Best Vocal Jazz Album.
Fast forward to the 2025 GRAMMY Awards. Once again, an album featuring Kronfeld as keyboardist – Taylor Eigsti’s Plot Armor – won for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. The recording also features jazz icons Terence Blanchard, Lisa Fischer and many others. (Listen to Plot Armor on Spotify)
Participating in two GRAMMY-winning albums in as many years is no small feat. For Kronfeld, an assistant professor in the Literature Program, it demonstrates her profound musical skill as well as the interdisciplinary focus she brings to Duke.
In addition to her primary appointment as an assistant professor of theory in the Literature Program, Kronfeld has recently received additional appointments in the departments of music and philosophy.
- excerpt from "Duke Today"
Paul Henne (PhD 2019) has received tenure at Lake Forest College!
Ask Tayfun, Or Don’t: The (Unsolicited™) Advice Column
This month I have some unsolicited advice for Reuben, who I’ve noticed has been coming to the department so early in the morning these days. If you are having any trouble sleeping, I know someone who can hook you up with some Taiwanese herbal remedies. Otherwise, sometimes when the sweet release of shut-eye eludes me late at night, I rehearse in my head those perennial questions raised by the great philosophers of old—“Is a void possible?” (Aristotle), “But what is this being we call fire?” (Du Châtelet), “Well, then, Adeimantus, don’t you think that one boxer who has had the best possible training could easily fight two rich and fat non-boxers?” (Socrates, Republic Book V). This not only puts one promptly to sleep but is conducive to all manners of interesting dreams.
If you have a question for Tayfun for the next newsletter, please send it to tayfun.gur@duke.edu... though you may get some advice even if you don't.