Xref: utzoo comp.ai:4774 talk.philosophy.misc:2929 soc.college:3842
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!bloom-beacon!usc!bbn!bbn.com!djoslin
From: djoslin@bbn.com (David Joslin)
Newsgroups: comp.ai,talk.philosophy.misc,soc.college
Subject: Re: Light duty philosophy only?
Message-ID: <45984@bbn.COM>
Date: 22 Sep 89 21:57:17 GMT
References: <45694@bbn.COM> <45934@bbn.COM> <3457@tahiti.cs.glasgow.ac.uk>
Sender: news@bbn.COM
Reply-To: djoslin@BBN.COM (David Joslin)
Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., Cambridge MA
Lines: 33

In article <3457@tahiti.cs.glasgow.ac.uk> (Gilbert Cockton) writes:
>In article <45934@bbn.COM> djoslin@BBN.COM (David Joslin) writes:
>>However, their PhD program seemed geared towards heavy duty
>>philosophy 
>... and hard thinking gets in the way of serious AI? :-)

That is from my summary of e-mail responses, of course, and not something
I said.  But it gives me an excuse to ask another question. 

I asked for information about PhD programs that combined AI and philosophy.
I had assumed that it didn't really matter whether the degree came from
a Philosophy department or a Cog Sci department or a CS department.  I
assumed that having a PhD in Philosophy, with classwork and research
leaning strongly toward theoretical AI, would still allow me to teach
in a CS/AI department.

I've gotten some negative feedback about this, however, including some
comments to the effect that few CS departments would consider hiring
somebody with a PhD in Philosophy, especially as the number of CS PhDs
continues to grow.  Is this true?  Would my MS in CS (and BS in EE) 
make any difference?  Would a PhD in Philosophy, even with strong ties
to AI research, really limit my options so severely?

In the end I probably wouldn't let it prevent me from going to the
school that seems to have research closest to the kind I want to do,
but I'd like to have realistic expectations about job prospects.

David   djoslin@bbn.com   POBox 1592, Cambridge MA 02238
Just machines that make big decisions,
Programmed by fellows with compassion and vision....
What a beautiful world it will be,
What a glorious time to be free.
	-- Donald Fagin, "I.G.Y."