Grant-finding, as far as I know, is a google search issue. There are so many college scholarships that you may want to find a college scholarship database (like this ) to narrow it down.
For graduate school, the big ones that I know of are NSF, DOD, and DOE (for science), Hertz (for applied science), Soros (for immigrants or immigrants’ kids), and Ford (if you’re black, Hispanic, or Native American.)
One probably could not devise a better system for keeping people with humanistic values away from power than by confining them to decade-long graduate programs with a long future of transient adjunct positions making less than the minimum wage.
I agree. The odds are very much against you. And I say this as someone who likes the humanities and admires humanities professors.
If you have incredibly strong evidence in your favor that you’re a special case, go for it, though—but it should be incredibly strong evidence.
It’s possible that it’s easier to publish a philosophy book than to become a philosophy professor, if you’re good at networking. Or to get some attention for your ideas through podcasts, etc., which you’re already doing. If your goal is to do and write philosophy, optimize for that—it’s a different goal than becoming a professor.
Thanks. I’ve read many such articles more specific to philosophy, but that was one of the best. I don’t really want to go through all that crap, but unfortunately there aren’t many ways to do what I want with my life apart from getting a Ph.D. in philosophy.
How is “getting a Ph.D. in philosophy” (as a formal distinction) helpful to this goal? Purely as a source of funding? Attempt to stimulate academia from the inside to work on the problem?
As a source of funding, because SIAI is only one institution, whereas there are hundreds of decent philosophy departments I could apply to, however scarce positions are.
As an attempt to stimulate academia, because I am slightly more optimistic than SIAI’s staff that (a few) mainstream academics can contribute usefully to the project of designing Friendly AI.
Every philosopher I’ve found of actual personal interest in the modern day has crossed it with science or engineering of some sort (cognitive psychology, AI, etc). If you want to do philiosophy because you have an actual problem to solve, you’ll do something of interest and have a usefulness test to keep you on track.
“The degeneration of philosophical schools in its turn is the consequence of the mistaken belief that one can philosophize without having been compelled to philosophize by problems outside philosophy... Genuine philosophical problems are always rooted outside philosophy & they die if these roots decay... These roots are easily forgotten by philosophers who ‘study’ philosophy instead of being forced into philosophy by the pressure of nonphilosophical problems.”
The only one that comes to mind off the top of my head is the Institute for Humane Studies (which requires the topic of your research to be roughly politically libertarian.) I’m much less familiar with the humanities scholarships, and I think they tend to be smaller-scale and more scattered.
Grant-finding, as far as I know, is a google search issue. There are so many college scholarships that you may want to find a college scholarship database (like this ) to narrow it down.
For graduate school, the big ones that I know of are NSF, DOD, and DOE (for science), Hertz (for applied science), Soros (for immigrants or immigrants’ kids), and Ford (if you’re black, Hispanic, or Native American.)
Thanks. Know any for graduate school in the humanities?
Just don’t go.
Great link, especially this quote from Part 2:
I agree. The odds are very much against you. And I say this as someone who likes the humanities and admires humanities professors.
If you have incredibly strong evidence in your favor that you’re a special case, go for it, though—but it should be incredibly strong evidence.
It’s possible that it’s easier to publish a philosophy book than to become a philosophy professor, if you’re good at networking. Or to get some attention for your ideas through podcasts, etc., which you’re already doing. If your goal is to do and write philosophy, optimize for that—it’s a different goal than becoming a professor.
This is a stronger argument against a doctorate than a Masters degree, but I imagine that the same kinds of considerations apply.
Thanks. I’ve read many such articles more specific to philosophy, but that was one of the best. I don’t really want to go through all that crap, but unfortunately there aren’t many ways to do what I want with my life apart from getting a Ph.D. in philosophy.
What is it that you want to do with your life?
Help solve the Friendly AI problem.
How is “getting a Ph.D. in philosophy” (as a formal distinction) helpful to this goal? Purely as a source of funding? Attempt to stimulate academia from the inside to work on the problem?
Vladimir,
Yes; both of those.
As a source of funding, because SIAI is only one institution, whereas there are hundreds of decent philosophy departments I could apply to, however scarce positions are.
As an attempt to stimulate academia, because I am slightly more optimistic than SIAI’s staff that (a few) mainstream academics can contribute usefully to the project of designing Friendly AI.
Every philosopher I’ve found of actual personal interest in the modern day has crossed it with science or engineering of some sort (cognitive psychology, AI, etc). If you want to do philiosophy because you have an actual problem to solve, you’ll do something of interest and have a usefulness test to keep you on track.
--Karl Popper, Conjectures & Refutations, (pages 95-97)
The only one that comes to mind off the top of my head is the Institute for Humane Studies (which requires the topic of your research to be roughly politically libertarian.) I’m much less familiar with the humanities scholarships, and I think they tend to be smaller-scale and more scattered.