The following appeared in Volume 98, Number 1 (Fall, 1998) of the APA Newsletters

This is the third installment in a series of short reviews of electronic journals (e-journals) devoted to philosophical topics. Previously reviewed journals are listed at the end of this article. Both of the e-journals described here are hosted in England, but their aims and features are quite different.

1. The Philosophers’ Web Magazine at http://www.philosophers.co.uk/index2.htm is edited by Jeremy Stangroom and Julian Baggini. This web site does not concentrate on professionally academic work in philosophy. It is aimed at a broad audience. The magazine’s contents include news items related to philosophy, brief biographical sketches of philosophers, writings related to education, articles of interest to a broad audience, reprints of classic articles, book reviews, interviews with philosophers, and several other kinds of material. It is indeed a magazine devoted to philosophy. The materials posted on the web site are freely accessible, with the exception of an archive, which is described below. There is also a companion printed magazine, to which the web site advertises paid subscriptions. I have not seen the printed magazine, but its current table of contents is posted at this web site. It appears that the contents of the online journal and the print journal overlap, but they are not identical. The Philosophers’ Web Magazine is an affiliate site of Barnes and Noble, the booksellers. It contains advertising and facilitates online book purchases.

There is too much content in this magazine to summarize in a short review, but a brief survey of the 1998 summer issue should provide an idea of what to expect. The issue begins with a few news items: one pertains to a conference on The Philosophy of the Environment organized by the King’s College, London Center for Philosophical Studies, another is about a new statue of David Hume in Edinburgh, another is a notice of the death of Martin Hollis, and there are several others concerned largely with topics in applied ethics. In addition to these news items, there are other notices about reports in the news media about philosophers and philosophical issues. There is a discussion forum on psychiatry and psychological counseling, including counseling by philosophers. There are some papers and reports from a 1997 conference on environmental ethics. There is a short essay on Heidegger by Iain Thomson. There are several expository or historical essays, some book reviews, and a review of an internet site. There are three "essays": "Ghosts and Minds" (in the philosophy of mind) by Michael C. LaBossiere, Harwood’s Wager (on the philosophy of religion) by Robin Harwood, and "Existentialism – an ethical dilemma?" by Ion Georgiou. There are some additional items on more specific matters.

The well-known magazine, Scientific American, was established in 1845 and is apparently still going strong. I have long hoped to see a similar magazine devoted to philosophy. However, there is no doubt a much larger readership available for science and science-related articles than for philosophical articles. A print magazine on philosophy, similar to Scientific American, might not be able to survive financially. I would like to believe that The Philosophers’ Magazine can be successful, but, judging by its similarity to The Philosophers’ Web Magazine, improvements are needed. The Philosophers’ Web Magazine is not presently of the quality of Scientific American, either in terms of the length and depth of its major articles or in terms of the distinction of its writers. Nevertheless, The Philosophers’ Web Magazine contains much that is interesting and useful. It certainly does a good job of relating philosophical ideas to practical concerns, ranging from consciousness to ghosts to cloning.

The Philosophers’ Web Magazine should be watched closely by academic philosophers, students, and all other persons interested in philosophy and its relations to everyday affairs. Unfortunately, at the present time, August, 1998, it has two features that would tend to discourage this. First, the web site is something of a teaser—after reading some of its online content, one is often encouraged to subscribe to The Philosophers’ Magazine for additional, related material. Second, only the current issue is available free of cost online. Previous online and printed issues are archived online together, but access to them is limited to persons who have subscriptions to The Philosophers’ Magazine. The first feature is annoying, but I can see some justification for it. But the second feature is especially vexing. If a free e-journal wants to attract a large and devoted audience, it should at least make the past few issues available online. Perhaps the editors will reconsider their policy about online archives. In spite of these reservations, The Philosophers’ Web Magazine, and perhaps its sister print journal, are promising ventures worthy of our attention.

2. As Monty Python would say, "and now, for something completely different": According to its own description, "Connexions is a web journal for cognitive scientists." It is located at the University of Sheffield at http://www.shef.ac.uk/~phil/connex/index.html. "The Connexions web site aims to provide a forum where graduate researchers in philosophy of mind and cognitive science can exchange ideas and submit their work to the scrutiny of their peers. The site is not intended as an alternative to traditional publication. Rather, it will offer researchers the chance to publicise their work-in-progress and to expose it to friendly but informal criticism." Connexions invites articles in artificial intelligence, cognitive neuroscience, philosophy of mind, linguistics, and related subjects. The focus is on theoretical discussions, rather than experimental results, and it is intended to be an interdisciplinary journal for the philosophy of mind and cognitive science. It is primarily interested in papers submitted by graduate students, but will also publish articles by other researchers. Submitted papers are anonymously refereed. Connexions is edited by K. Frankish, Cathy Grant, and T. E. Dickins, all at the University of Sheffield.

Connexions is fairly new, and so far has only published three issues. The published articles tend to focus on such topics as information processing cognitive science, connectionist models of mind, and intentionality. These are all topics that have received much attention in recent years, so persons interested in philosophy of mind or cognitive science would find them to be of interest. In particular, they are frequently topics of concern in graduate research and dissertations, so it is not surprising to find them in a journal of this kind.

In addition to major contributed articles, Connexions also publishes commentaries on these articles. It publishes reviews, and maintains a list of ongoing discussion notes submitted by readers via e-mail. I believe that this web site could be very useful to researchers in the philosophy of mind. I would especially encourage graduate students working in this area to consult it regularly, and to contribute papers and commentaries to it. This can provide a useful way for graduate students to obtain international responses to their ongoing research.

The Philosophers’ Web Magazine and Connexions are both useful additions to the growing collection of philosophical e-journals. Let us hope that they receive attention and support, and that they flourish.

The Electronic Journal of Analytic Philosophy
http://www.phil.indiana.edu/ejap/ejap.html

BEARS: Brown Electronic Article Review Service in Moral and Political Philosophy http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Philosophy/bears/homepage.html

Society for Philosophy and Technology Quarterly Electronic Journal
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/SPT/spt.html

PSYCHE
http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.au

Analyst
http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/academic/N-Q/phil/analysis/analyst/analyst.html

HYLE: An International Journal for the Philosophy of Chemistry
http://www.uni-karlsruhe.de/~philosophie/hyle.html