Some of the most talented professional bloggers in the U.S. have backgrounds in philosophy. Is this just a coincidence or is there a causal relationship between philosophical training and the demands of professional blogging? In addition to learning about the philosophical backgrounds and abiding interests of three of the most prominent bloggers in the U.S., we'll discuss how the emergence of this new journalistic medium could provide a new substantive professional venue for some of our most talented students and a significant outlet for public philosophy.
Panelists
Andrew Sullivan is one of the world's most widely read bloggers. He started blogging in 2000, moving to The Atlantic.com in 2007 and then to The Daily Beast in April 2010. Andrew earned his Ph.D. in political philosophy from Harvard, winning the government dissertation prize. He is the author of five books including Virtually Normal: An Argument About Homosexuality; Intimations Pursued: The Voice of Practice in the Conversation of Michael Oakeshott; and The Conservative Soul: Fundamentalism, Freedom, and the Future of the Right. Read more of his work here,http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com.
Matthew Yglesias is the business and economics correspondent at Slate. He was previously at Think Progress, The Atlantic, TPM Media, and The American Prospect. His is the author of Heads in the Sand: How the Republicans Screw Up Foreign Policy and Foreign Policy Screws Up the Democrats, and the forthcoming The Rent Is Too Damn High. Hailed by E.J. Dionne at The Washington Post as "one of the smartest voices in the blogosphere," Matt has a B.A. in philosophy from Harvard. Read more of his work here, http://www.slate.com/authors.matthew_yglesias.html.
David Roberts is a Staff Writer at the environmental magazine Grist. He received an M.A. in philosophy from the University of Montana and was well into a Ph.D. in philosophy on pragmatism and ethics at the University of Alberta before turning to a series of professional writing positions in the high tech sector in Seattle. Since joining Grist in 2003, he has become one of the most prominent environmental journalists and opinion writers in America, coining the now ubiquitous term "Climate Hawk." Read more of his work here, http://www.grist.org/people/David+Roberts.
Session organizer and chair, Andrew Light, is Associate Director, Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, George Mason University, and a Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress, Washington, D.C.