Ned Block (Philosophy, NYU) writes:
I just got my copy of the Guggenheim Foundation report for 2004 and was shocked to find that by their own reckoning, they gave NO fellowships to philosophers in 2004. A closer look at the list reveals that actually they gave one in 2004 to Peter Kivy whom they classified in the field of Literary Criticism! Their web site shows, ostensibly, 3 awards in 2005 that involved philosophy, one to Eckart Förster on Kant and Hegel, one to Alexander Jones (who is a professor of classics, history and philosophy of science and technology) and one to Gerald Postema on philosophy of law. Looking back over the last few years, there seems a strong bias against certain central non-historical areas of analytic philosophy. Since 2001: I counted only two that I would categorize in any of metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of language, mind, math, logic or science (and one of those two had a continental and probably historical aspect), even as they regularly give out 2 or 3 in many subfields of history and literature. For example, in 2004, they gave out 3 in medieval literature plus another in medieval history, 3 in Iberian and Latin American history, 4 in near eastern studies, 2 in American literature, 2 in folklore and popular culture and 4 in history of science and technology. (These listings by fields are in the annual reports sent to former fellows but do not appear to be on the web. But the web does have an annual list for each year from 1925.) A quick scan of the awards they have given since 1980 suggests a change of policy in the 1990s compared to the 1980s when awards in the areas of philosophy I mentioned were much more numerous as were total awards to philosophers. I estimate that they gave out 50% more fellowships to philosophers in the 1980s than in the 1990s. Maybe some of your readers will have some insight into what is going on that will lead to a letter to the Foundation. The selection committee of 2004 was Neil J. Smelser, Roger D. Abrahams, Lynn A. Hunt, Jack Miles, Peter H. Raven and J. Robert Schrieffer.
An unknown here is how many philosophers have been applying for these awards. Comments are open for any additional information or insight into what is going on here. (Remember: comments may take awhile to appear; please post only once.)
