The Introduction to Philosophy series blazes along, and represents a great example of what can happen when a community comes together around open textbook creation. To join the momentum, get involved as an author or reviewer, or join the project to add your expertise as a copyeditor or proofer, to help with formatting and design, or just to stay informed!
What started as a conversation between series editor Christina Hendricks and Rebus founder Hugh McGuire first turned into an idea for a single textbook. That idea expanded into a more robust range of subject areas, and from there into a full gamut of introductory textbooks that now cover nine major areas of philosophy. By the beginning of next year, three titles will be approaching their release dates, meaning that they will be available for adoption and use for courses starting in the 2019 academic year!
A very gratifying piece of news is that, having welcomed two new collaborators, we now have a dedicated editor for each of the nine textbooks. Valery Vinogradovs is our new Aesthetics editor and replaces Scott Clifton, who had to step away from the project after making many valuable contributions to the project. Valery has started looking over the chapters written to date, and will shortly craft a revised chapter outline, which we will then use to seek out additional authors.
Valery’s background includes a PhD from LaTrobe University, and his areas of specialization cover Kant’s aesthetics, moral psychology, and the philosophy of education. He has a particular interest in the work of Nietzsche, Montaigne, Aristotle, and Plato, and currently teaches in Australia at the Melbourne School of Continental Philosophy.
Our new editor for the Philosophy of Science textbook is Eran Asoulin. Eran’s first contact with the project was as an author, havingcontributed a chapter to Philosophy of Mind (edited by Heather Salazar). That sparked an interest in becoming more deeply involved with the project, which has now led to his appointment as one of our nine editors. Having just started in his role this past week, Eran is coming up to speed on the status of the book, while learning more about our processes and resources.
Eran is an accomplished author and teacher, with scholarly work spanning linguistics, philosophy, and cognitive science. His focus is the study of language and mind. In 2012, he earned his PhD from the University of New South Wales in Australia, and he currently lives and works in Sydney.
Count on hearing from Valery and Eran as their books take shape. Congratulations to both of them, and to the entire team as a whole, for their dedication and accomplishments—both past and yet to come!
The series will continue to roll along, and there will be new calls for participation, both in the form of writing as well as the all-important phases of editing and peer review. We’ll keep you informed, but you can always join the project now and sign up to the Forum to stay current.
And, as we mentioned, look out for the release of Philosophy of Mind, Ethics, and Logic early in the coming year!
Sydney photo by Leio McLaren (@leiomclaren) on Unsplash Melbourne photo by louis amal on Unsplash