Can There be Applied Philosophy Without Philosophy?

The paper is a critique of the dominant model of applied philosophy. As currently structured, courses in applied philosophy are a response of philosophy departments to administrative demands to increase enrollment units. In order to achieve this goal, the properly philosophical approach to matters of concrete social concern is dropped in favour of decontextualized, ahistorical, and uncritical applications of philosophical theories to immediate practical problems. Using the example of applied ethics, I argue that the key problem besetting current trends in applied philosophy is that they all fail to uncover the contradiction between given social regimes of value and the universal concepts which must be employed to legitimate those regimes. While it is an essential duty of philosophy to be relevant to the practical issues of the day, it must be relevant on philosophical terms. That is, the real application of philosophy to social problems is not the unthinking mapping of a particular philosophical theory onto a problem, but bringing to light the hidden value assumptions definitive of different societies, and shaking to the foundation their claims to legitimacy. I spell out this alternative approach to applied philosophy through an example drawn from my own teaching practice.     

Flocking to the crowd: Cultural entrepreneur mobility guided by homophily,market size,or amenities?

Economic activity and innovation clusters in urban areas. Urban economics points to important knowledge and productivity spillovers in cities, in addition to other factors like thicker markets, lower transportation costs, and consumptive amenities. Yet thus far little work has analyzed how these different factors drive migration decisions of arts-related entrepreneurs, especially when they work in online platforms for fundraising. We use data on the largest US crowdfunding platform to identify relocating creators, allowing us to identify which kinds of regions are attracting and retaining more of this sort of talent. We test for the influence of clustering based on homophily, migration to larger markets, and relocation toward particular geographic amenities. Overall we find the strongest evidence for homophily and some distinct tendencies favoring certain regional amenities. Importantly, we both identify general relocation patterns among crowdfunding creatives and break down the attracting features for different types of creators. An examination of (net) migration by different categories of projects, such as musicians or filmmakers, reveals important heterogeneity in the attractors. For example, musicians are drawn stronger music sectors, while writers seek more isolation from other writers. This helps inform the interregional competition for talent and “creative class,” especially among a group of relatively footloose arts- and culture-intensive entrepreneurs.

     

A skill development program for native students: Preliminary results

The increasing enrolment of Native students has not been matched by increases in success or retention rates. A skill development program designed for support service delivery to high risk students was provided for Native students in a liberal arts university. Assessment of the program in terms of academic performance, a demographic and perceived problem questionnaire, and anecdotal evidence resulted in support for continuation of the program and in planned modification of the orientation component.Although there has been a gratifying increase over the last decade in the enrolment of Canadian Natives in post-secondary programs (Sloan, 1981), this trend has not been followed by an equally increased success rate. Rather, Native students have exhibited high attrition rates paralleling the well-documented rates found in the primary and secondary school system (Sealey, 1980). In light of the lack of evidence for the effectiveness of traditionally-delivered student support services for Native students, efforts have been made to develop programs for Native students prior to admission (Grindstaff, 1970) or for those enrolled in a professional program (Read, 1983). The results of these special programs are encouraging, and consistent with the concept of special service delivery systems for high risk students (Smith et al., 1981).The present paper will examine the results of the first year of operation of a skill development program for Native students in a liberal arts university.