News
Jury decision on the 2022 joint essay prize of the GAP and GPS
The Society for Analytic Philosophy (GAP) and Grazer Philosophische Studien (GPS) are pleased about the interest in the essay question: You can’t argue about taste, can you?
20 submissions were received (eight of which were from women). A jury consisting of nine experts thoroughly considered the contributions, which were rendered anonymous. After careful deliberation, the jury has awarded the prizes to:
- 1st Prize: –
- 2nd Prize: Aline Dammel (Georg-August Universität Göttingen): »Warum sich doch sinnvoll über Geschmack streiten lässt« (abstract)
- 2nd Prize: Matthias Luxenburger (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main): »Streiten über Geschmack – eine Frage des Maßstabes« (abstract)
- 3rd Prize: –
Members of the jury were Larissa Berger, Jochen Briesen, Elke Brendel, Alexander Dinges, Martina Fürst, Markus Kneer, Lisa Schmalzried, Markus Schrenk and Julia Zakkou. The winning essays will be published in the Grazer Philosophische Studien in the second half of 2023. We congratulate the winners and thank all participants for their contributions!
GAP statement on the draft law amending the Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz (German Act on Temporary Academic Contracts)
On March 17, 2023, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) presented the key points of a draft bill to amend the Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz (WissZeitVG). In response to the vehement criticism of this, not least from #ichbinhanna and #profsfuerhanna, the BMBF has already announced that it wants to discuss the question of the maximum duration of post-doc qualification time limits once again with representatives of trade unions, employee initiatives, universities and research institutions.
The Executive Board of the GAP very much welcomes this invitation to dialogue, because the amendment does not offer any decisive improvement: a maximum fixed-term for the post-doc phase of three years (as in the BMBF’s proposal) is, for example, too short for qualification for a university professorship. Regulations on the duration of fixed-term contracts also cannot guarantee what is needed above all: that the federal states and the universities create more permanent mid-level positions and/or tenure-track professorships.
Instead of new compromise solutions in the WissZeitVG, a joint federal, state, and university initiative would be desirable to provide the financial and legal means for this. Paradigm shifts could also be considered here, such as those already presented by the GAP (in a joint paper with the German Society for Philosophy DGPhil). The paper can be found here (in German).
Death of Ernst Tugendhat
Ernst Tugendhat (1930–2023) passed away on March 13, 2023, at the age of 93. Tugendhat made an important contribution to the new beginning of analytical philosophy in Germany after National Socialism. Stefan Gosepath has written a short obituary in appreciation of Ernst Tugendhat’s achievements.
Working Group on Ecological Sustainability
The working group on ecological sustainability has developed a Best Practices Guide to help make academic work in philosophy more climate-friendly. The document can be found here (in German).
Photo gallery from GAP.11 is online
September 30, 2022. Here can find photos from our congress “Philosophy and the Public” here (Photographer: Philipp Plum).