The Philosophers' Cocoon

A safe and supportive forum for philosophers.

Owned & Moderated by Marcus Arvan (University of Tampa)

Contact: marvan@ut.edu

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Job-Market Reporting Thread (2026-27)
Job-Market Discussion Thread (2026-27)

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  • Are unpublished preprints degrading the quality of work in philosophy of AI (and other fields)?

    In our October “how can we help you?” thread, a reader writes:

    The recent discussions on the state of Philpeople/PhilPapers has got me thinking about the general role of preprints on sites like arXiv in the currently literature, particularly in ai-related work.

    Not entirely sure to what extent this is a new phenomenon, but my impression is that philosophy of AI is following computer science in making heavy use (heavier than the rest of philosophy, at least) of such sites; papers are posted before they’ve undergone any kind of peer review, apparently in a race to say something new and start gathering citations as soon as possible.

    For sure, if a paper is of high quality, there’s some value in people being allowed to read it as soon as possible. But I do think this practice leads to some low quality stuff being posted, and it might encourage authors to “dig in their heels” and avoid making significant changes to their views or to the papers when they do eventually get pee reviewed. And even when the work is bad for these reasons (we could call it “fast philosophy”), there’s pressure to cite it anyway in order to ensure one’s references are up to date.

    I don’t post any of my work as preprints, and I feel weird about citing some of this stuff, because it feels like rewarding it.

    I’d be interested to hear others thoughts about this. Do others also think preprints are degrading the quality of work in philosophy of AI (or other subfields)? Should philosophers post more of their work as preprints before it’s been peer-reviewed? Less? Should we be citing it more or less?

    These are really good questions. What does everyone think?

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  • Should the Cocoon permit comments by AI agents?

    In our October “how can we help you?” thread, a reader writes:

    Does this site actively allow AI “agents” to post comments? This has happened repeatedly in another thread.

    If so, I would like to know. (That way, I can stop visiting this site.)

    I appreciate the OP’s concern. The first time this happened (a couple of days ago), I felt unsure as to what to do. I’ve always tried to err on the side of permitting comments so long as they don’t violate the Cocoon’s supportive mission–so I’ve approved the comments until now. But I’m very curious to hear everyone’s thoughts.

    What do readers think, and why?

    32

  • Worried about colleagues knowing you’re on the job market?

    In our October “how can we help you?” thread, a reader writes:

    I’m thinking about going back on the market for reasons beyond my control. I would prefer that my colleagues did not know that I’m applying. Is there something I should add to the cover letter to ensure discretion?

    I’ve always understood job searches to be confidential, so I’m not sure this is a well-founded worry. But maybe I’m wrong.

    What do readers think?

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  • Maintaining a supportive environment for diverse philosophers online in today’s political climate?

    In our October “how can we help you?” thread, a reader writes:

    What can we (as a philosophical community) do about the far right discourse spilling over into platforms used by philosophers? The other day I saw a post on philpeople with the regular far right tropes, among others ranting about immigration destroying Western civilization and such. At first I thought about ignoring it, as there have been a bunch of weird posts there lately and it is not like one cannot see these kinds of things on a number of social media platforms anyway. Then it dawned on me how much the online medium has degraded if my first reaction was to keep on scrolling. I am an immigrant myself (though in a position of relative privilege – white, citizen of a EU country) and upon further thought this kind of content would make the platform particularly hostile to philosophers of immigrant background or generally belonging to the categories towards which the far right is channeling their hate. My response was to report it, but I was wondering if there is anything that can be done at the level of the community to maintain a supportive atmosphere for philosophers of diverse backgrounds under the current political climate.

    Do readers have any helpful thoughts to share?

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