[Bups-dis] RE: What next for a 'newly qualified' philosopher?

[Robert Charleston]

I just thought I'd add a little here:

 

Congratulation on finishing, Paul! And I hope the job-hunting's going
well.

 

Warwick is a very good department, and they are highly active on the
national scene, with plenty of conferences, events and so on. You can
also be sure of a good reception for your continental work there. I'd
second James' suggestion that you go for a day to meet the people
involved, but rest assured the department enjoys a considerable
professional reputation.

 

The main challenge you'll face going from work back into academia will
be keeping your study skills fresh, and re-adapting to the day-to-day
life of postgrad study. For this, I'd recommend keeping *some* sort of
study going, if you can, especially in the last few months before you
start your next degree. And of course, remember that you are very
welcome to keep involved with BUPS until you've found a new departmental
'home'. The conferences would certainly be a help in keeping your
philosophical hand in - you could even be working on a paper to submit,
which would even give you some feedback for your ongoing work. And, of
course, bups-dis - now that it's fixed again - is always a reliable
place to find a bit of discussion if you can't find a local philosophy
group.

 

And as a final point, don't discount my old uni - the OU. They do very
affordable MAs and even doctorates, which you can study for while
working. Though the material may be a little analytic for your tastes!

 

If you're serious about your philosophy, coming back into academia for
an MA will stand you in very good stead when PhD. / D.Phil. proposal
time comes around, so look for whatever funding you can, keep in contact
with a couple of your existing tutors (you'll need them for references
for applications), and keep reading, and you'll certainly find something
interesting and involving to spend your time on. And you can use your
time to visit a few departments to see what you think. The Leiter Report
mentioned in the other posts is not the be-all and end-all - in fact I
think I really have to disagree with a couple of the relative rankings -
but it's definitely worth a read. It's here:
http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/ BUPS knows people at most of the
departments, so if you'd like to speak to someone at a particular place,
I'd just drop the chair an email asking!

 

Hope that might be (vaguely) helpful!

 

Rab.