"Renowned philosophers back call to save under-threat degree at Dundee University"
The campaign to Save Philosophy at Dundee Continues! Here is the latest article, appearing in the Scotsman/Scotland on Sunday: https://www.scotsman.com/education/renowned-philosophers-back-call-to-save-under-threat-degree-at-dundee-university-8790728/
Here is a little bit of it, which details how we have hundreds of academics signing from Harvard to Tokyo, Sydney to Stellenbosch: “Dr Keohane said the signatories come from 87 different countries and include academics from six continents. They include the renowned philosophers Luciano Floridi, Catherine Malabou and Slavoj Žižek as well as the broadcaster John Suchet, who studied philosophy at Dundee from 1963 to 67. Dr Keohane said the global reach of the programme is illustrated also by the fact a graduate, Amanda Askell, helped write the constitution that governs how AI system Claude should behave. He said: “Amanda Askell began her undergraduate studies at Dundee in the joint Art and Philosophy honours degree. “She’s now a philosopher at Anthropic, where she led the writing of Claude's constitution - the document setting out the AI’s values and character. “That trajectory - from Dundee to one of the most powerful AI companies in the world - is exactly what’s on the table for closure.”
Also, two more specific points. 1) The British Philosophical Association (BPA) has been supporting us since the beginning, and now the American Philosophical Association (APA) is also becoming involved. They have asked for written testimony from current or former students, specifically, they are looking for “testimonials from your students and graduates that speak to the value of your program to their lives and careers”. If this is you, and you have not posted in the comments section of the petition, and wish to be included in a public statement, please email me (o.keohane@dundee.ac.uk) your testimony early next week. As well as a letter from the BPA in support of us, we also have letters of support from the UK Society of Women in Philosophy (SWIP) and the Society for European Philosophy (SEP), and more incoming from other parts of the world! 2) In addition, DUSA (Dundee University Students' Association) has also asked for student testimonies, which you can send here: representation@dusa.co.uk, so let your voice be heard!
-The Philosophy Team