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    The McMaster Department of Philosophy has now put together the following notice commemorating Barry: Barry Allen: A Philosophical Life Barry…

Girls, Women, and Philosophy

Some of you may remember that when I blogged here last fall, I ruffled some feathers with my women and philosophy post. My primary criticism was that the discipline isn't doing a good job of reaching out to and encouraging young girls and women who may be interested in studying philosophy. 

But, rather than having that discussion all over again, I'd like to share a 1.5 minute video I created that promotes philosophy to girls and young women.

One thing to keep in mind with these promo videos is that they're not designed to teach philosophy, so it's a good idea to make the content a bit more user-friendly. If you want to give it a try on your own, here are two quick tips:(1) shorter is almost always better and (2) stick with a limited color and style palette. Also, consider tossing around ideas with a non-philosopher and have them review your videos–a lay person's perspective will more closely match that of your intended audience. 

As with the two videos I posted earlier this week:

  1. This video is shared under the creative commons copyright. Please feel free to use or modify it, but if you do so, please make it available to others. 
  2. You can download the video, saved as mp4, here
  3. The video was created with VideoScribe. If you have the software, you can download the raw file (file extension scribe) here

As I mentioned in the last post, I'm willing to donate my time to help anyone interested in creating some cool 30-second promos. You can reach out to me directly at the following email address: mycoffeepotproductions at gmail dot com. If you don't want to email me, but you have some ideas to share, use the comments! 

 

 

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3 responses to “Girls, Women, and Philosophy”

  1. I enjoyed the minimalist form of your brief video. Please post a link to the advertised solution to Fitch's Paradox. Thanks.

  2. As young girls are, presumably, under 10, surely "young girls and women" is an odd couple of groups for the discipline to reach out to? You later mentions "girls and young women", so I expect the first phrase is an error, but people do sometimes refer to women in their late teens and early twenties as "young girls", so I'm not sure.

  3. I did and do like the video, and I do think they will be helpful in reaching out to females.

    As far as what age to start reach out, I think it would be beneficial to have philosophy courses introduced earlier- instead of later (i.e. junior high instead of high school).

    An introduction to topics such as logic and reasoning, ethics, law, philosophy of mind and science, metaphysics, and epistemology maybe incorporated into an introduction course or two.

    Studying philosophy helps develop critical thinking skills, real-life decision making skills, and problem-solving skills. The sooner these skills are learned, the better, in my opinion.

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