William James Prize

Summary

The Eastern Division will award the William James Prize to the best paper in the area of American Philosophy that is both (a) written by a philosopher who received the Ph.D. after January 1, 2007, or is a graduate student, and (b) accepted for inclusion in the Eastern Division program by the Program Committee through the normal process of blind-reviewing. Thanks to a generous gift from Professor and Mrs. John Lachs, the James Prize carries with it an honorarium of $300. For purposes of competition for the James Prize, American Philosophy is to be construed broadly as including not only studies of the work of significant thinkers in the history of American Philosophy but also creative extensions or applications of the ideas, methods or results of traditional American Philosophy to philosophical issues of current interest or lasting importance.

Submission Procedures

A paper may be submitted for the competition for the James Prize either as a colloquium paper or as a symposium paper. Authors who are willing to have a shortened version of a symposium paper considered as a colloquium paper should submit the shortened version, along with a shortened abstract, simultaneously with the submission of the symposium paper. Authors must comply with all rules, including those intended to insure the integrity of the process of blind-reviewing, that govern normal submissions to the Program Committee (see the APA Paper Submission Guidelines and the Eastern Division Paper Submission Information elsewhere in the Proceedings or on the APA web site (http://www.apaonline.org)). In addition, each submission for the competition for the James Prize must be accompanied by a letter from its author both (a) stating either the date on which the author's Ph.D. was granted if the author has already received the Ph.D., or the fact that the author is a graduate student if that is the case, and (b) expressing the author's wish to have the paper considered for the James Prize.

The competition for the William James Prize in 2012 will be judged by a subcommittee of the 2012 Program Committee. Its members are Laurie Paul (Chair of the Program Committee, serving ex officio), Richard Bett (Secretary-Treasurer of the Eastern Division, serving ex officio), and two other committee members.

In the event that no entrant marked specifically for the William James Prize competition is accepted by the Program Committee, the Program Committee will survey the Graduate Student Travel Stipend recipients to see whether any of those papers qualifies by topic for the James Prize. If one (or more) does so qualify, it (or the best one) will receive the William James Prize instead of a Graduate Student Travel Stipend. No paper may be awarded both the William James Prize and a Graduate Student Travel Stipend.