philosophy essay prize 2021

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The topic for this year’s Royal Institute of Philosophy essay prize competition is ‘Emotions’.

Each year the Royal Institute of Philosophy holds an essay prize competition.  The winner will receive £2,500 and their essay will be published in  Philosophy

Previous winners include Jonas Faria Costa’s ‘On Gregariousness’ (winner of the 2021 prize), Lucy McDonald’s ‘Please Like This Paper’ and Nikhil Venkatesh’s ‘Surveillance Capitalism: a Marx-inspired Account’ (winners of the 2020 prize), Georgi Gardiner’s ‘Profiling and Proof: Are Statistics Safe?’ (2019 prize winner) and Rebecca Buxton’s ‘Reparative Justice for Climate Refugees’ (2018 prize winner).

The topic for this year’s prize is ‘ Emotions ’. We intend this topic to be understood very broadly, so as to include related issues in any area of philosophy and from any philosophical tradition.

The winner will receive £2,500 and their essay will be published in  Philosophy . The submission deadline is 20 December 2022, 23:59 GMT. Entries will be considered by a panel of judges and the winner announced in Spring 2023.

In assessing entries priority will be given to originality, clarity of expression, breadth of interest, and potential for advancing discussion. All entries will be deemed to be submissions to  Philosophy .

In exceptional circumstances, the prize may be awarded jointly, in which case the financial component will be divided. The winning entry/entries will be published in the July 2023 issue of  Philosophy . Please submit entries by email to [email protected], with the subject line ‘Prize Essay’. The word-limit for the Essay Competition is 8,000 words.

Instructions for contributors can be found here: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/philosophy/annual-essay-prize

Entries should be anonymised and suitable for blind review. (Please note that Essay Prize submissions should be sent to the email address above and should not submitted through the ScholarOne).

The essay prize competition is now closed. 

The Philosophy Essay Prize

Each year the Royal Institute holds an essay prize competition. The winner will receive £2,500 and their essay will be published in Philosophy . 

2021 Topic: Self and Society

The topic for this year’s prize is ‘Self and Society’. We intend this topic to be understood very broadly, so as to include related issues in any area of philosophy. The following are illustrative examples:

Peer disagreement and epistemic partiality; judgement aggregation and social choice; the relations between group knowledge, individual knowledge and action. Self-knowledge and other minds. The importance of second-person judgement and knowledge. The role of intersubjectivity in language acquisition, communication, and shared linguistic understanding. How to understand first-person plural judgement and its significance. How to construe individual liberty within the social order. Our conception of ourselves and our ethical responsibilities and their relation to recognition of and by others in society. The balance between enforced restrictions to prevent the spread of disease in society and individual sacrifice; prioritizing treatment and vaccination locally and globally. The relation between society and its interests, and the collection of its individual members and their interests. The right to privacy and the use of data for social benefits. The impact of social media on individuals’ self-image. Individual identity and multiculturalism. The possibility or desirability of transcending the self. No-self metaphysics.

The winner will receive £2,500 and their essay will be published in  Philosophy .

The submission deadline has been extended to 20 December 2021. Entries will be considered by a panel of judges and the winner announced in Spring 2022. In assessing entries priority will be given to originality, clarity of expression, breadth of interest, and potential for advancing discussion. All entries will be deemed to be submissions to  Philosophy

In exceptional circumstances, the prize may be awarded jointly, in which case the financial component will be divided. The winning entry/entries will be published in the July 2022 issue of  Philosophy .

Please submit entries by email to [email protected], with the subject line 'Prize Essay'. The word-limit for the Essay Competition is 8,000 words.  Instructions for contributors can be found here.  Entries should be anonymised and suitable for blind review. (Please note that Essay Prize submissions should be sent to the email address above and should not submitted through the ScholarOne system.).

/ CFP: The 2020–2021 Charles S. Peirce Society Essay Prize

Cfp: the 2020–2021 charles s. peirce society essay prize.

The 2020–2021 Charles S. Peirce Society Essay Prize

Topic: Any topic on or related to the work of Charles Sanders Peirce.

Awards: $1000 cash prize; presentation at the Society’s next annual meeting, held in conjunction with the Eastern APA (in New York, NY, USA, Jan. 4–7, 2021); possible publication, subject to editorial revision, in the Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society.

Submission Deadline: August 1, 2020 Length: Because the winning essay may be published in the Transactions, the length of contest submissions should be about the length of an average journal article. The maximum acceptable length is 10,000 words, including notes. The presentation of the winning submission at the annual meeting cannot exceed 30 minutes reading time.

Open to: Graduate students and persons who have held a Ph.D. or its equivalent for no more than seven years. Entries from students who have not yet begun their graduate training will not be considered. Past winners of the contest are ineligible. Joint submissions are allowed provided that all authors satisfy the eligibility requirements. The essay may be in any language, provided a 1,000-word summary of the paper’s argument, written in English, is supplied. The winner will be required to present the paper in English and to translate it into English for publication in the Transactions.

Advice to Essay Prize Entrants: The winning entry will make a genuine contribution to the literature on Peirce. Therefore, entrants should become familiar with the major currents of work on Peirce to date and take care to locate their views in relation to published material that bears directly on their topic. Entrants should note that scholarly work on Peirce frequently benefits from the explicit consideration of the historical development of his views. Even a submission that focuses on a single stage in that development can benefit from noting the stage on which it focuses in reference to other phases of Peirce’s treatment of the topic under consideration. (This advice is not intended to reflect a bias toward chronological studies, but merely to express a strong preference for a chronologically informed understanding of Peirce’s philosophy.) We do not require but strongly encourage, where appropriate, citation of the Writings of Charles S. Peirce: A Chronological Edition. Ideally, citation of texts found in both the Collected Papers and the Writings should be to both CP and W .

Submissions should be prepared for anonymous evaluation. Authors who submit their entry electronically should be sure to remove any identifying information from their document properties/metadata. Entries must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. Cover letter or email should include complete contact information, including mailing address and phone numbers, and a statement that the entrant meets the eligibility requirements of the contest. Electronic submissions are preferred. Submissions should be sent as email attachments (Microsoft Word documents, RTF files, or PDF files only) to Richard Kenneth Atkins, Executive Director of the C.S. Peirce Society: peircesociety AT gmail.com. Please include “Peirce Essay Prize Submission” in the subject line of your email.

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Undergraduate History of Philosophy Essay Prize

Past recipients of the Undergraduate History of Philosophy Essay Prize:

• Kelly Dinneen (2019), “Freedom and Affection: Metaphysical and Moral Grounds for Duns Scotus’ Libertarianism”
• Alison Weinberger (2020), “Correlation is not Causation: Understanding the Scope of Aristotle’s Teleology in Light of Physics II.8”
• Rose Scotti-Burrows (2021), “A Modern Allegory of the Cave: Social Media and Misinformation”
• Not awarded (2022)
• Ellie McDonald (2023), "The Socratic Refutation: A Tool for the Paradigm-Challenging Elenchus”

Morris Judd Undergraduate Essay Prize

The Morris Judd Undergraduate Essay Prize is awarded to the best undergraduate essay submitted on any topic in the values area. The prize comes with a cash award of $500 as well as formal recognition of the honor at the Department’s spring commencement ceremony. The competition is open to all current CU undergraduates with a major or minor in Philosophy.

The prize is named for Morris Judd, a former Instructor in the Philosophy Department at CU who taught a variety of courses including several in the values area.  The Department held Judd to be an outstanding teacher, but his appointment at the University was discontinued in the early 1950s when he refused to answer questions about whether he had ever been a Communist.  You can find more information about his story here: http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_13137226

Past recipients of the Morris Judd Undergraduate Essay Prize:

• Toby Bollig (2018), “Is Circumventing the Euthyphro Dilemma by Appealing to God’s Nature Problematic?”
• Rebecca Mullen (2019), “The Moral Access Problem and Identifying Moral Expertise”
• Kelly Dineen (2020), " On the Uniqueness of Epistemic Buck Passing”
• Not awarded (2021)
• Britton Rufien, “An Objection to John Hick’s Soul-Making Theodicy” (2022)
• Not awarded (2023)

The Morris Judd Scholarship for Philosophy Majors

Undergraduate Philosophy majors at CU Boulder are eligible to apply for this scholarship ( https://colorado.academicworks.com/opportunities/12194) . In selecting recipients, the department will take into account academic excellence, contributions to the university’s philosophical community, and need. Applications from women and other underrepresented groups are particularly encouraged. The award amount is $2000 for one academic year.

A complete application for the Morris Judd Scholarship includes:

• One Letter of Recommendation (from a faculty member in the Philosophy Department)
• A One-Page (Single-Spaced) Personal Statement

In composing the personal statement, applicants should comment on their particular interests and projects in philosophy, as well as their post-college plans. In addition, they may elaborate on any special circumstances they would like the selection committee to consider, such as academic awards or honors, involvement in community outreach, bringing a unique or diverse perspective to the Department or the CU Boulder campus, and personal hardship or disadvantage (financial or otherwise).

The Morris Judd Scholarship is named after Morris Judd, who in the early 1950s was a faculty member in CU Boulder’s Philosophy Department. Although he was an outstanding teacher, his appointment was terminated when he and 50 other faculty members, staff, and students were investigated for alleged ties to the Communist Party.

Eligible students may apply for the Morris Judd Scholarship through the AcademicWorks portal, accessible through myCUinfo. The scholarship is awarded on an annual basis, with applications due April 15.

Past recipients of the Morris Judd Scholarship:

• Mattie McGarey (2018)
• Alison Weinberger (2019)
• Kelsey Grant (2020)
• Ian Gaskins (2021)
• Taylor Johnson (2022)
• Ellie McDonald (2023)

The Socrates Prize

The Socrates Prize is awarded each year at Spring Commencement to the undergraduate philosophy major(s) with the highest overall GPA.

Past recipients of the Socrates Prize:

• Toby Bollig (2018)
• Grey Shipman (2019)
• Kieran Britt, Stephen Troy, and Alison Weinberger (2020)
• Ben Deitsch and Charlotte Moore (2021)
• Derek Horn (2022)
• Henry Ediger and Aaron Gafari (2023)

The Paduano Family Scholarship

Undergraduate Philosophy majors at CU Boulder are eligible to apply for the Paduano Family Scholarship ( https://colorado.academicworks.com/opportunities/12851 ). The scholarship is based on both merit and need, with need more strongly weighted. Applications from women and other underrepresented groups are particularly encouraged. The award amount is $1000 for next academic year, 2021/22 .

A complete application for the Paduano Family Scholarship should include:

• Overall GPA
• Personal Statement (1/2- to 1-page, single-spaced)

In composing the personal statement, applicants should comment on their particular interests and projects in philosophy and elaborate on any circumstances they would like the selection committee to consider, including personal hardship or disadvantage (financial or otherwise), academic awards or honors, and involvement in community outreach.

Eligible students may apply for the Paduano Family Scholarship through the AcademicWorks portal, accessible through myCUinfo. The scholarship is awarded on an annual basis, with applications due April 15 .

Past winners of the Paduano Family Scholarship:

• Charles Doremieux (2020)
• Rose Scotti-Burrows (2021)
• Grace Patrick (2022)
• Ariadna Olivas (2023)
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IUHPST Essay Prize in History and Philosophy of Science 2021

The International Union of History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (IUHPST) is pleased to announce the outcome of the competition for the third IUHPST Essay Prize in History and Philosophy of Science. This prize competition seeks to encourage fresh methodological thinking on the history and philosophy of science as an integrated discipline. For this round of the competition the prize question was: “ What can history and philosophy of science, technology and medicine contribute to our current global challenges? ”

The winner of the 2021 prize is the essay entitled " Misinformation age: What early modern scientific fakes can tell us about today’s online fabrications " by Ms. Marlis Hinckley of Johns Hopkins University.

This thoughtful, provocative, and well-argued essay gives an illuminating analysis of how misinformation can spread, looking at the 16th century as a source of insight. Hinckley draws an imaginative and instructive parallel between 16th-century animal fakes (in particular, Aldrovandi’s “dragon”) and some salient current cases such as the impact of the Wakefield study on autism and vaccination, and the circulation of misinformation about COVID-19. The linkages she draws are keen, sensitive, plausible, and relevant. The historical work Hinckley presents is a deft and productive synthesis, succinct and filled with content. It genuinely integrates a philosophical perspective in order to understand the nature of information and to advance an ethical argument about responsible information-sharing. Hinckley opens up important practical questions and suggests that we need to craft a nuanced notion of “common sense” in order to guide people in sharing information with each other. We commend Marlis Hinckley for this bold and original essay, which takes a reflective look at history to challenge our present ways of life.

Ms. Hinckley received her prize and presented the content of their essay in a special session at the 26th International Congress of History of Science and Technology (ICHST) in Prague (online), 25–31 July 2021.

This prize is administered by the Joint Commission , whose remit is to make links between the work of the two Divisions of the IUHPST, namely the DHST (Division of History of Science and Technology) and the DLMPST (Division of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science and Technology). The panel of judges for the 2021 competition consisted of: Rachel Ankeny, University of Adelaide, Australia; Agnes Bolinska, University of South Carolina, USA; Hasok Chang (chair), University of Cambridge, UK; Benedikt Löwe, Universities of Amsterdam/Hamburg/Cambridge, the Netherlands/Germany/UK; Helen Longino, Stanford University, USA, Joseph Martin, Durham University, UK; Michael Osborne, Oregon State University, USA, and Dirk Schlimm, McGill University, Canada.

Call for Submissions (closed; deadline was 15 January 2021).

The International Union of History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (IUHPST) invites submissions for the 2021 IUHPST Essay Prize in History and Philosophy of Science . This biennial prize competition seeks to encourage fresh methodological thinking on the history and philosophy of science and related areas.

Entries in the form of an essay of 5,000–10,000 words in English are invited, addressing this year’s prize question: “What can history and philosophy of science, technology and medicine contribute to our current global challenges?” What constitutes a current global challenge is left to the judgment of the authors, but examples include the coronavirus pandemic, climate change, socioeconomic inequality, racism, the refugee crisis, and science denialism.

All entries should consist of original work that has not previously been published. Entries written originally in another language should be submitted in English translation, along with the name and contact details of the translator. Entries will be judged on the following criteria, in addition to general academic quality: direct engagement with the prize question, effective integration of historical and philosophical perspectives, and potential to provide methodological guidance for other researchers in the field.

The author of the winning entry will be invited to present the work at the 26th International Congress of History of Science and Technology (ICHST) to be held in Prague, Czechia, 25–31 July 2021. Presenting at the Congress will be a condition of the award.

The award will carry a cash prize of 1,000 US dollars and a waiver of the Congress registration fee.

Other strong entries will also be considered for presentation at the Congress. In order to ensure this consideration, entrants should submit the entry also as a standalone paper abstract for the Congress by the deadline for that, following the standard instructions indicated on the Congress website.

Entries are invited from anyone, without restriction of age, nationality or academic status. Co-authored work will be considered; if the winning entry is a co-authored work the cash prize will be shared out among the authors.

This prize is administered by the Joint Commission of the IUHPST , whose remit is to make links between the work of the two Divisions of the IUHPST: the DHST (Division of History of Science and Technology) and the DLMPST (Division of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science and Technology) .

Entries for the prize competition should be submitted in pdf format by e-mail to the Chair of the Joint Commission, Professor Hasok Chang , Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, hc372(at)cam.ac.uk . Any queries should also be directed to him. The deadline for submission is 15 January 2021 .

CURRENT ISSUE

News and announcements, res phil (spring) 2024 speaker series, res phil (spring) 2023 speaker series, 2023 res phil conference: alienation & the virtues: personal, social, & spiritual, ( more info ), res phil (fall) 2022 speaker series, scholarly works honorable mention, rp announces the 2021 essay prize, 2021 res phil conference: globalizing empirically-informed philosophy, res phil speaker series, online public event, rp announces the 2020 essay prize, now accepting paper submissions, rp announces the 2019 essay prize, temporary moratorium.

As of March 17th, 2020, The journal is imposing a temporary moratorium on paper submissions. There is a disruption in the normal review process that is being caused by the global health crisis. We aim to give our desk reviewers, external referees, and staff less voluntary service as they make changes at work and at home to adapt to new formats.

We will revisit the policy on the first of every month. Papers already submitted will be reviewed. We do not foreshadow a delay in the publication of the journal.

The 2019-20 Speaker Series

RP talks by Scott McDonald and Uriah Kriegel are postponed. See our speaker series page for more information and updates.

RP speakers in the Spring of 2020 include Scott McDonald (Cornell) and Uriah Kriegel (Rice). See our speaker series page for more information and updates.

In the Fall of 2019, we hosted Sarah McGrath (Princeton), who delivered her paper, "How Does Observation Contribute to Moral Knowledge?," and Jamie Dreier (Brown), who delivered his paper, " Two Models of Agent-Centered Value. "

Journal Sponsors Conference on Mass Incarceration and Racial Justice

Journal announces 2018 essay prize winner.

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