UK or SA PHD in philosophy?

Nothing to say that you wanted to read, you mean.

 

I didn't want to read about me as I am not the issue. Have you something to say about AIDS that is contrary to my comments?

 

I am indeed interested in teaching theology and philosophy. Actually what I would want to do is to teach in theology for a couple of years in a seminary and then teach philosophy in a secular university.

But, let's face reality. Having a PHD in theology from a conservative Baptist seminary does not open many doors to teach in a secular university.

That is why I want to get a doctorate in philosophy so I can teach in a secular university as well.

Thanks for all the recommendations about getting published and getting a teaching position. Any recommendations on getting a position given what I have just written?

Thanks!
Page

 

Yes. There's an old joke to which you should pay close attention:

Q: What's the first thing said by the person who's just received their PhD in Philosophy?
A: "You want fries with that?"

Every year there are perhaps hundreds of people in the USA who receive their PhDs in Philosophy. They all want the same job you want. There are only a small handfull of opportunities. They are willing to pay airfare to travel across the country for interviews. They are smart. They know academia. They are busy writing journal articles to plump up their resumes. They come from big name schools and have big name dissertation advisors. They've all had graduate teaching assistanceships and research assistanceships. If they don't get the job then they're bound for the fryerlator. Can you imagine their attitudes?

I don't mean to be totally discouraging, but if you think that earning a PhD in Philosophy is going to guarantee you some sort of teaching position then you are being rather naive. Don't take my word for it, check it out here:
http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com
You need to think about PUBLISHING as a means of distinguishing yourself. The fact that you have another PhD (in a discipline that is not entirely well received by many Philosophers) will not necessarily help you.
In any case, good luck.
Jack

 

Of course, for godsake... about nearly every point you made; from your opening volley that the AIDS epidemic in Africa is a lie; to your ridiculous assertion that it's malaria (and not AIDS) that's really the problem, but that AIDS is being claimed as the problem because something as mundane as malaria and the other more common diseases of that region wouldn't be as sexy and, therefore, money attracting; to your questioning the numbers of people dying there; to your suggesting that DDT is all Africa needs (I'm surprised you didn't say the KKK); to Mbeki's unbelievable and unconscionable statements being credible and that he stopped them merely because of "political pressure." You have got to be kidding!

But, you know what... Jack's right about hijacking threads. If you really want to debate this, either go hunt down the thread that I vaguely remember where we all talked about this before a bit (if you can even find it with the SEARCH function not working) and revive it; or start a new thread about it in either the off-topic or political forums... whichever you deem more appropriate. The political forum seems about right to me, but it would be your thread and so your call. Could we please do it that way? Please?

 

I don't know if that's necessarily true. And, anyway, you're leaving out a very viable and important middle ground: The religious college/university, that's nevertheless not as intense as an actual seminary. A guy with a PhD from a baptist seminary could certainly teach both theology and philosophy at an accredited religious (but not seminary) college/university. There are a bunch of them, as I'm sure you know, that aren't nutty and overly dismissive of secular things... to the point that they'd almost feel like being at a secular institution.

I think you could do so with the PhD you've already got... but that's just me.

What Jack said. Publish or perish.

 

The assertion is not ridiculous but factual. There is nothing 'mundane' about malaria which kills millions of human beings.

You are saying there are diseases there more common than the not-disease (syndrome) AIDS?

"sexy" is your term and your mentality.

As for 'money attracting': that came from an African medical clinic to an African fellow investigating the thing. IIRC, the investigater was named Attiyeh.

Questioning indeed. No one is tracking how many people are dying or from what.

I made no such suggestion. That is your Air America brain deflating.

You wouldn't want to try that defamatory rhetoric in front of my black niece or nephew, jackass.

As I said, Mbeki may not have been technically correct but he had an opportunity to save lives. The political pressure is anything but a joke.

Do you know that South Africa is using DDT?

Tell Janko.

 

Daily Mail

 

What kind of theology? And more to the point, what kind of philosophy? What is it about philosophy that attracts you? If you want to do research in philosophy, what would your research areas be?

I'm certainly no authority on philosophy hiring. But as an old philosophy major, I've seen the hiring process at my old school. (It seemed pretty typical.)

When openings appeared, they were in specific areas. The school needed somebody who could teach 17'th and 18'th century modern philosophers or the ancient classical philosophers or the philosophy of science or something. It was also hoped that the new hire would be a prominent enough individual to add to the department's luster a little. Competition was pretty intense. People flew in at their own expense from all over the country to interview and to give test lectures. (That created a great guest lecture series for us students.) I don't know for sure, but I'd bet that recommendations were important as well.

If you plan to jump from teaching theology to teaching philosophy, then that previous experience (to say nothing of your theology degree) might make you most suited for positions emphasizing the philosophy of religion. There's religious studies as well, a subject that's often combined into philosophy departments at some schools. Your education and experience could make you a pretty strong candidate for those jobs if you played your cards right.

Well, if you come from an environment where articles of faith are enforced and where thinking can only occur within the framework of the Bible being the inerrant word of God, that might suggest that you don't have the flexibility to approach the philosophy of religion in the free-wheeling way that philosophers do. If the goal was to teach religious studies, there might be questions about your ability to address the broader phenomenon of religion in a manner that doesn't presuppose the truth of one version of it.

So the doctrinal conservatism of your background (I'm just assuming that and I may be wrong) could be perceived as a negative in the secular context. Unfortunately, even if you do a second Ph.D. in philosophy, those concerns might remain if your previous experience was in a conservative seminary context.

So I'm inclined to suggest that regardless of whether or not you decide to do a second doctorate, if your goal is to teach in a secular university context and if you are coming from a conservative religious educational background, you probably want to do something to demonstrate your scholarly flexibility.

 

Gregg: Well done, stone china.
Bill Dayson: Most perceptive and helpful post! Baie dankie!

I didn't hijack anything.
I spoke of SA research centres and wished our enquirer the best. I still do.

 

Oom Janko is sounding more and more like a South African everyday.

It's scary.

 

Peer pressure.