Top Philosophy Blogs
Share the Top Philosophy Blogs on
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The Equivalence of Mass and Energy
[Revised entry by Francisco Fernflores on June 23, 2010. Changes to: Main text] First published Wed Sep 12, 2001; substantive revision Mon Sep 13, 2004 Einstein correctly described the equivalence of mass and energy as "the most important upshot of the special theory of relativity" (Einstein, 1919), for this result...
[New Entry by John Bishop on June 23, 2010.] What is faith? This entry focusses on the nature of faith, although issues about the justifiability of faith are also implicated.......
Ethics in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism
[New Entry by Charles Goodman on June 22, 2010.] Buddhism represents a vast and rich intellectual tradition which, until recently, received very little influence from Western philosophy. This tradition contains a variety of teachings about how to live and what to do in various situations. Buddhism tells us to purify...
[Revised entry by Robin S. Dillon on June 21, 2010. Changes to: Bibliography] Respect has great importance in everyday life. As children we are taught (one hopes) to respect our parents, teachers, and elders, school rules and traffic laws, family and cultural traditions, other people's feelings and rights, our country's...
[Revised entry by Maurice Hamington on June 15, 2010. Changes to: Main text, Bibliography, notes.html] Jane Addams (1860 - 1935) can be labeled the first woman "public philosopher" in United States history. The dynamics of canon formation, however, resulted in her philosophical work being largely ignored until the 1990s.[1] Addams...
Feminist Philosophy of Language
[Revised entry by Jennifer Saul on June 15, 2010. Changes to: Main text, Bibliography, notes.html] Much of feminist philosophy of language so far can be described as critical - critical either of language itself or of philosophy of language, and calling for change on the basis of these criticisms. Those...
The Brooks Blog
British education budget to be slashed by up to 25%
The BBC has the full details here. An excerpt:"[. . .] Education spending in England could be cut by as much as 25% over the next four years, the Chancellor has said.But George Osborne said in his Budget statement that he recognised the "particular pressures" on the education system.Teachers and...
Good news for fellow Irish football fans
France has been eliminated from the World Cup. Details here. For those who don't follow Ireland's team, see here as to why this would be welcomed by Irish fans....
Some James Brown . . . complete with some dangerous dance moves!...
. . . as we will learn the new budget details (and, most importantly, the budgetary cuts coming our way). There has been much speculation about these cuts and the money is on these cuts will be larger than most of us have seen in a long time. Of course,...
Martha Nussbaum's graduation address to this year's Chicago Law School class
. . . can be found here. Excellent, as usual....
CFP: Between Rawls and Religion
Call for PapersBetween Rawls and Religion: Liberalism in a Postsecular WorldLUISS University & John Cabot University, RomeDecember 16-18, 2010Speakers include:Alessandro Ferrara (Rome)Andrew March (Yale, tbc)David Rasmussen (Boston College)Johannes Van Der Ven (Nijmegen)Maeve Cooke (Dublin)Paul Weithman (Notre Dame)Peter Jonkers (Tilburg)Samuele Sangalli (Pontificia Univ. Gregoriana)Sebastiano Maffettone (LUISS)Stephen Macedo (Princeton)Tariq Modood (Bristol, tbc)Theo...
The Prosblogion
Hey, Remember _God and Other Minds_?
[This post is not wholly unrelated to this one, which is a point I'll be harping on for, oh, say, the next 30 years. It's also not wholly unrelated to my recent confession concerning naturalism.] So Al is retiring as we know, and many people have been reminiscing about various...
Updated 6.12.10 I mean to say I’m not essentially a person. Let’s say someone is a person if and only if he possesses self-awareness, consciousness, rationality, the ability to communicate, and so on. Call that the standard view. The standard view is found in Singer, Glover, Tooley, Lowe, Williams, McMahan,...
Prosblogion's Sixth Anniversary
Over the weekend Prosblogion passed the six year marker. This year we served up well over 850,000 page views to over 375,000 visitors, and we climbed to over 10,000 comments. (Hmm I wonder which philosophy journals get that many page views?) Thanks to all the contributors for their efforts in...
What does an open-theist non-open-future deity know?
Suppose that the future is not open, so that there are non-trivial truths about what people will freely do. (If we want more precision, we may suppose unrestricted bivalence, excluded middle and the rule: (exists(t) & t>now & ~will-hold-at(p,t)) → will-hold-at(~p,t).) According to ot, God does not know all such...
Must theists reject the modal ontological argument?
N.B. This post belongs to Stephen Maitzen I take it that the modal ontological argument (for instance, in Plantinga’s version) requires a principle at least as strong as B: If possibly necessarily P, then P, where the modal operators are read in the metaphysical (or “broadly logical”) sense. That is,...
Plantinga's EANN argues that evolutionary naturalism is self-defeating, i.e., the belief that naturalism (N) & evolution (E) is true defeats itself because E&N imply that probability that we are reliable (R) is low or inscrutable, which in turn provides a defeater to the belief that E&N are true. One of...
Talking Philosophy
Image via Wikipedia When people debate about topics such as same sex marriage and “don’t ask, don’t tell” the discussion inevitably turns to whether being a homosexual is a matter of choice or not. When discussing the matter of choice, it is important to distinguish between sexual orientation and sexual behavior. Laying...
Here at TPM, we’re very keen that people should friend us, follow us and do other social networking type things towards us. So here are the relevant details: Facebook – We have a Facebook group here. Please join! Twitter – There are two Twitter things that you will almost definitely want to...
Is it Rational to be Optimistic or Pessimistic?
An optimist is someone who looks at the bright side of life and expects good things to happen. A ‘cock-eyed’ optimist is one who believes, against all the odds, that everything will turn out all right in the end. Against this, the pessimist looks at the dark side of life...
Image via Wikipedia Dahlia Lithwick wrote an interesting essay in the June 14th issue of Newsweek about the law and beauty bias. This got me thinking about the issues she raised. It is reasonable well established that attractive people generally have an advantage over people who are less attractive. It is also reasonable...
One general challenge is getting people to act properly. What counts as proper behavior is, of course, a rather contentious matter. However, it seems reasonable to believe that at the most basic level harming others is not proper behavior. It can be argued that self interest will motivate people to act...
Image via Wikipedia Pitcher Armando Galarraga almost pitched a perfect game. At the last moment a player got a hit and raced towards first base. The ball was hurled to the first baseman and it came down to one critical call by umpire Jim Joyce. Joyce judged that the runner was safe....
Logic Matters
The blog is dead .... long live the blog!
After almost 500 posts, this will be the last post here, meaning at this URL ........ but I'll be continuing the Logic Matters blog at logicmatters.net (and all the posts here at Blogger have been imported to that address, though the aesthetics are at the moment a bit primitive).Geeky explanation:...
Here now is the fifth episode on the idea of a primitive recursive function. The preamble explains why this matters and where this is going. [As always, I'll be very glad to hear about typos/thinkos.]The previous episodes are available:Episode 1, Incompleteness -- the very idea (version of Oct. 16)Episode 2....
Philosophers don't get asked often enough to write for the newspapers and weeklies: so it is really annoying when an opportunity is wasted on second-rate maunderings. Michael Ruse writes in today's Guardian on whether there is an "atheist schism". And he immediately kicks off on the wrong foot.As a professional...
The Autonomy of Mathematical Knowledge -- Chap. 2, §§3-5
To return for a moment the question we left hanging: what is the shape of Hilbert's "naturalism" according to Franks? Well, Franks in §2.3 thinks that Hilbert's position can be contrasted with a "Wittgensteinian" naturalism that forecloses global questions of the justification of a framework by rejecting them as meaningless....
The Autonomy of Mathematical Knowledge -- Chap. 2, §§1 & 2
Hilbert in the 1920s seems pretty confident that classical analysis is in good order. "Mathematicians have pursued to the uttermost the modes of inference that rest on the concept of sets of numbers, and not even the shadow of an inconsistency has appeared .... [D]espite the application of the boldest...
Here now is the fourth episode [slightly corrected] which tells you -- for those who don't know -- what first-order Peano Arithmetic is (and also what Sigma_1/Pi_1 wffs are). A thrill a minute, really. Done in a bit of a rush to get it out to students in time,...
In Search of Enlightenment
Where the Action Is: On the Site of the Playful Life (Part 7: In Pursuit of the Play Dividend)
This post in the latest installment in my series of posts on the importance of playThis morning I read this short article by Bertrand Russell entitled "In Praise of Idleness". As always, Russell is the perfect author to turn to for inspiration on bold and imaginative ideas. So Russell's...
Mating Competition and Mortality Rates
If you head over to this web page you can find the chart posted above which illustrates the difference in health and life expectancy for men and women in Canada. Why is it that men have higher mortality rates than women?This article in the latest issue of Evolutionary Psychology...
Annals of the NY Academy of Sciences Publication
My paper "Why Aging Research?" is now published in the latest issue of the Annals of the NY Academy of Sciences. Here is the abstract:The American philosopher John Rawls describes a fair system of social cooperation as one that is both rational and reasonable. Is it rational and reasonable...
Genetics of Infectious Disease
The role our genes play in increasing or decreasing our susceptibility to various diseases has become an area of intense study in the biomedical sciences. News stories often report about studies that find that a particular gene increases the risk of various chronic diseases, like cancer and Alzheimer's disease....
TedMed Talk on Health of Brain
This is an excellent talk on one of the most important areas of scientific research today: how to develop healthy and happy minds. This topic should interest every educator, every parent and every person. The Hawn Foundation site is here. Cheers, Colin...
Recent posts at "In Search of Enlightenment" include the following series of posts on the importance of play:Part 1Part 2Part 3Part 4Part 5Part 6Cat Stevens captures the essence of play in this great song:Cheers, Colin...
AskPhilosophers.org | "All"
Question about Ethics - David Brink responds
All things equal, is it more important to save a young person's life than an old person's? Response from: David Brink It does seem plausible that all else being equal it is more important or at least more valuable to save the life of a younger person than that of an...
Question about Logic - Richard Heck responds
How do you show some conclusion of an argument cannot be derived in a complete system? Does one have to make the truth table to show that it is not valid and therefore, by definition it should be impossible for that conclusion to be derived? Response from: Richard Heck This question...
Question about Ethics - David Brink responds
Is it wrong to want power, just for the sake of power? Response from: David Brink Most people think that power, like money, is an instrumental good -- not good in itself, but rather good, if at all and because, it enables us to do other things that are good, prudentially...
Question about Logic, Mathematics - Allen Stairs responds
What is the relationship between mathematics and logic? Response from: Allen Stairs It's a good idea to start with a distinction. If by "logic" you simply mean something like "correct deductive reasoning," then logic is something mathematicians use -- as do people in any discipline.If by "logic" you mean the study...
Question about Logic, Religion - Peter Smith responds
I have recently stumbled upon a short book written by the Catholic theologian named Peter Kreeft. He deductively argued for Jesus’ divinity through an approach he summarized as “Aut deus aut homo malus.” (Either God or a Bad Man.) Basically, his argument works only on the assumption made by most historians....
Question about Logic, Religion - Charles Taliaferro responds
I have recently stumbled upon a short book written by the Catholic theologian named Peter Kreeft. He deductively argued for Jesus’ divinity through an approach he summarized as “Aut deus aut homo malus.” (Either God or a Bad Man.) Basically, his argument works only on the assumption made by most historians....
In the Space of Reasons
At the Sorbonne conference yesterday, I gave a presentation (here) to an audience which included Jerome Wakefield. My presentation, in a nutshell, was that the Wittgensteinian argument I’d deployed against Millikan in my 1998 book only worked against one of two reductionist aims. But that that is OK since that...
As I leave my socially solitary time in Paris (days spent at seminars and in conferences have their own logic and purpose and so don’t count here) I have been struck by the way that an individual existence can seem undermined or lacking in a kind of validity because it...
Sometimes when trying to write a paper or chapter, the glad start with which I begin (to use Wittgenstein's familiar phrase) proves mistaken. Although I thought I knew what I was doing it just doesn't seem to work. That, sadly, is how my introduction to tacit knowledge is at the...
Things have not quite worked out as I hoped when I arrived in Paris (thus). As I left England, my father fell gravely ill (full knowledge of the nature of which would have been reason not to come out) and thus anxiety about him has coloured my experience of my...
An introduction to tacit knowledge
Something is obviously wrong with my web connection today. Radio 5 sounded terrible this morning and I'm struggling to get through in Gmail and to my University. Seems like I won't be able to listen to today's episode of the Moonstone on Radio7. But blogger looks to be accessible. So...
Oddly a little depressed today, I've been thinking about values based practice. Here is a draft commentary with the usual warning of ongoing later editing. This is very rough: I have worked on this for only three hours this afternoon after a visit to the Pompidou this morning and a...
Manyul Im's Chinese Philosophy Blog
…and joined a group of scholars in launching a new group blog of Chinese and Comparative philosophy — Warp, Weft, and Way. This blog will remain on line indefinitely for archived reference, but postings and discussion will continue over at the new blog. I hope you will join the discussion over...
New SEP Entry on Neo-Taoism (xuanxue)
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on “Neo-Taoism”, by Alan Chan (at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, formerly of National University of Singapore’s philosophy deparment), just became available on October 1. From He Yan and Wang Bi to Guo Xiang — everything you wanted to know about post-Han Daoism, encyclopedically...
A little blogging while I’m running around and setting up the transition to the group blog… Chad Hansen’s translation of the Daodejing is available now. I happened to see it at the Yale Book Store, did a double-take, and snatched it up. It has a kind of boutique feel to it,...
Ivanhoe’s Lu-Wang School Translation Reviewed
Reviewed by friend of the blog, Justin Tiwald, at NDPR: http://ndpr.nd.edu/review.cfm?id=17606 It’s good to see updated translation of Wang Yangming and Lu Xiangshan’s Neoconfucianism. What else would be nice to have in English? ...
Transition to Group Blog in the Works
I’m working on the transformation of things. Thanks for being patient. I may actually blog before the transformation occurs; we’ll see. I’ll take more suggestions here for the name of the new blog, if something strikes your fancy. That’s still up in the air. Names that are named are not...
My apologies for the long lapse in blogging. As it turns out, I can’t simply sit reverently facing South in order to direct an academic program. I will begin blogging again in earnest next week. Also, in the near future I would like to turn this blog more formally into...
Philosophy by the Way
Thoughts sprout from my mind(Photo taken at the International Garden Festival, Château Chaumont, 2010)A reader who commented on my blog “The fluency of reality” (April 26, 2010) reproached me of having “too much turmoil in my mind”. I do not know whether he referred only to what I wrote there...
I shall not give an answer to the question of my blog last week. I simply haven’t one. At least not now; maybe later. However, when I had finished the blog, I had to think of a distinction by Aristotle that may be relevant for the answer on the question...
Let us suppose that I like gardening. I have a large piece of land behind my house and when I bought the house and moved there this piece of land was a wilderness. It was full of weeds. Birds and insects loved to live there and rabbits loved it, too....
Several times I wrote here about or I suggested that our mind is not only in our head. This may sound stupid for isn’t it so that our all our thinking takes place within our brain and that our brain is situated in our head? How can it be then...
One of the current themes in the analytical philosophy is the relation between body and emotions. On the one hand we have the view, like Antonio Damasio’s, that says that emotions are a kind of knowledge and that they are very important in the process of taking decisions. On the...
Philosophizing is like travelling in your mind. It is often full of unexpected experiences and often you do not know where it will bring you. And travelling can be a bit like philosophizing and bring you new experiences that make you think. Anyway, so it was for me last week....
Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog
American Academy of Arts & Sciences: Sins of Omission Revisited
With the recent elections to the AAAS, the good news is the Academy has, over the last few years, corrected many of the odd omissions noted here in the past. And yet, still, in surveying the current roster of members,......
Affordable Boutique Hotels in NYC
Others who travel to New York may find this information useful....
In Memoriam: John Haugeland (1945-2010)
I am sorry to report that Professor Haugeland, who just retired this Spring from the University of Chicago and whose distinguished career was marked by a conference this past May, has passed away. He was, of course, well-known for his......
The Royal Society's 2010 List of Best Science Books of the Year
Here. Several will no doubt be of interest to philosophers. Odd how a certain book scandalously recommended by a certain philosopher didn't make the list. Go figure....
Fun with Google Scholar and Philosophers
Canadian philosophers, in particular. Google Scholar has serious limitations (especially with respect to specialties, which vary dramatically in how well they are represented in cyberspace), as we've discussed before, but with those caveats in mind......
"Foundations of Religious Liberty: Toleration or Respect?"
For those interested, this is the final version, which will appear in a symposium issue of the San Diego Law Review on "Freedom of Conscience." Other contributors to this issue will include Michael Perry, Kent Greenawalt, Michael White, Andrew Koppelman,......
Sherryx's Weblog
Written by John Pickard Wednesday, 23 December 2009 with thanks: International Marxist website Many of us know that the origins of Christianity have nothing to do with silent nights or wise men. So what are its true origins? John Pickard looks at the reality of how this religion came about...
Problems of democracy in Pakistan: A Class Analysis
Written by Lal Khan in Lahore Tuesday, 22 December 2009 With thanks: International Marxist Website After years of military dictatorships followed by sham democracy, the situation in Pakistan has reached such a point that the masses are yearning for radical change. Their suffering is immense as the people at the...
Supreme Court Exceeded its Mandate: Asma Jahingir
’عدلیہ دائرہ کار سے تجاوز کر گئی ہے‘ علی سلمان بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، لاہور عدلیہ کا کام ارکانِ پارلیمان کی اخلاقیات کی جانچ پڑتال نہیں پاکستان انسانی حقوق کمشن کی چیئرپرسن عاصمہ جہانگیر نے این آر او کے بارے میں سپریم کورٹ کے فیصلے پر تبصرہ کرتے ہوئے کہا ہے ’عدلیہ...
Hossein Ali Montazeri Passes away!
His honourable eminence Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri passed away in the city of Qom in Iran. H.E Montazeri was one of the “grand Maraja” of Shia Islam. He was one the leaders of Iranian Revolution and was appointed as the successor to supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini. He developed serious differences...
فوج حق کو کچل نہیں سکتی فوج چاہے کسی یزید کی ہو لاش اٹھتی ہے پھر عَلم بن کر لاش چاہے کسی شہید کی ہو ...
The Temple of Justice and veneration of Capital: Supreme Court’s Decision on NRO
A Comment by Lal Khan of IMT (translated by AA from Tabqatti Jiddojehd) The recent Supreme Court’s recent decision declaring the NRO (National Reconciliation Ordinance) null and void has emerged as latest explosion in the series of tremulous events which have been arising from the severe political, economic and social crisis...
In Living Color
One thing I love about being a parent is getting to sample all the stuff my kids read, listen to, watch, etc. My own little cultural bubble gets a little dull, what with my perpetual affection for Joni Mitchell, literary fiction, and all. In the early years, you get to...
Having Reasons, Being Observant
As a fairly unobservant atheist (and fairly unobservant Jew), I have to respond to this post. It's one thing to have reasons to be an atheist (I do) and a Jew (I do), another thing altogether to adopt some level of "observance." You can have good reasons to be an...
The Philosophers' Magazine 50th issue is on the 50 greatest ideas of the 21st century (so far!). The magazine's website is publishing the ideas one at a time (you'll have to wait a long time for mine--I'm #27). Today's great idea (#2 in the series) is "public reason"--see here....
Angus wrote an awfully nice post about my book while I was gone, and asked a good question: in defending degrees of respect, with humans entitled to more, how much do I really diverge from Tom Regan's seminal book The Case for Animal Rights? Though Regan thinks every animal (or...
You go far away for a couple of weeks, and it kind of feels like big changes must have taken place in your absence. Maybe the oil spill got cleaned up. Maybe the new atheists stopped being upset about "accommodationists." Stuff like that. Alas, I see there's yet another round of...
The French seem to eat meat, meat, and more meat. Not only is there an absence of vegetarian options at most restaurants in Paris, but the meat options are on the barbarous side. As in: every menu seems to include pate au foix gras. We did visit one vegetarian restaurant...
Knowledge and Experience
What are teaching evaluations good for?
Over at Adventures in Ethics and Science, Dr. Freeride evaluates a recent study of how student academic performance is correlated with teaching evaluations. The study is Carrell, S., & West, J. (2010). Does Professor Quality Matter? Evidence from Random Assignment of Students to Professors Journal of Political Economy, 118 (3),...
Most of the time, the life of a female philosopher at a philosophy conference is the same as a male philosopher’s. Schmoozing, rehashing the last talk over coffee, last-minute work on your paper. So, how can you tell that you’re a female philosopher at a conference? ...
I've been thinking about interdisciplinarity lately. What it is, what sorts of problems of inquiry it's good for, what the obstacles to interdisciplinary research are, and how interdisciplinarity differs from other options such as multi-disciplinarity. This seems like a job for: social epistemologists!The NSF has released a study on US...
Mountain Gorillas in the Congo
Posted with a CSMonitor article titled "Want to save Congo's endangered mountain gorillas? There an app for that" and an earlier article "Standing up for Congo's rare mountain gorillas."In Virunga National Park,More than 120 rangers have been killed in recent years for trying to stop the trade in exotic animals,...
Philosophy Careers, Autonomy, and Self-direction
My university now offers a bachelor's degree in philosophy, and the degree program has been more successful in its first couple of years than anyone initially expected. Students are transferring in from other programs within the university, students are double-majoring (even with their other degree being in engineering!), and we've...
In my philosophy of science course, we've been discussing Bas van Fraassen's constructive empiricism and critiquing the observable/non-observable distinction. This movie is an artistic representation of magnetic fields, a useful supplement to our conversation.The filmmakers describe their work:Actual VLF audio recordings control the evolution of the fields as they delve...
Ethics Etc
7th Annual Metaethics Workshop in Wisconsin
The program for the 7th Annual Metaethics Workshop has been finalized and can be found here. It looks fantastic! The workshop will be held on Sept 24-26, 2010 in Madison, WI. Registration is free and all are welcome. If you would like to attend, please email Professor Russ Shafer-Landau (shaferlandau...
Shah on Mental Agency and Metaethics
Professor Nishi Shah (Amherst) recent gave a paper, which he co-wrote with Matt Evans (NYU), at the Oxford Moral Philosophy Seminar entitled “Mental Agency and Metaethics.” A copy of Nishi’s talk can be found here. Professor Shah would welcome any comments/suggestions. Here’s an abstract of his talk: Beliefs, desires, and...
Thomas on Practical Reasoning, the First Person, and Impartialism about Reasons
Professor Alan Thomas (Tilburg University) will be giving a talk on Monday, June 7, at the Oxford Moral Philosophy Seminar entitled “Practical Reasoning, the First Person and Impartialism about Reasons.” A copy of Professor Thomas’s talk can be found here. Professor Thomas would welcome any comments/suggestions. Here’s...
NYU Conference on Valuing Lives
The NYU Center for Bioethics, in conjunction with the NYU Environmental Studies Program, will be hosting ‘Valuing Lives: A Conference on Ethics in Health and the Environment’ on Saturday, March 5, 2011. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: Various policy issues in environmental and health-related matters force policymakers to trade human lives against other values....
The Experiment Month initiative is a program designed to help philosophers conduct experimental studies. If you are interested in running a study, you can send your study proposal to the Experiment Month staff. Then, if your proposal is selected for inclusion, they will conduct the study online, send you the...
Workshop on the Ethics of Self-Defence at Oxford
The Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict (ELAC) is holding a workshop entitled “Eliminative and Manipulative Agency in the Ethics of Self-Defence.” Date: June 15, 2010 Location: Old Indian Institute, James Martin 21st Century School, Oxford Time: 0900-1800 SPEAKERS Dr. Helen Frowe (Sheffield): ‘Threats And Bystanders’ Dr. Gerald Lang (Leeds): ‘Self-Defence And Agency’ Dr. Seth...
Stephen Law
Comment moderation is now on. Shame a loony has to mess it up for the rest of us.I am off doing via ferrata in the Dolomites till next Tuesday. So comments may wait a few days before appearing. Except for DMs which will compiled for benefit of the police....
...
Graham Taylor, England manager
Photo from my Flickr site (black and white photography). Graham managed my team Socrates Wanderers. We lost. Interviews with Taylor on my footballing peformance here....
Cheltenham Ladies' College Principal made to feel "slightly immoral"
Poor Mrs Tuck, who has felt victimized and "beaten up" - article from This is Gloucester. She couldn't really be quite as awful as this interview presents as being, could she? I advocate banning private schools altogether.Outgoing Cheltenham Ladies College principal Vicky Tuck says she was made to feel "slightly...
Just been reading philosopher Max Black's excellent piece on humbug. Black outlines a number of coping strategies re humbug. This had me giggling:Strongly to be recommended also are humor, parody, and satire. The glorious response, for instance, of the philosopher Samuel Alexander, in his deaf old age, shaking his ear...
Genuine or hot/cold reader (and selective editing)? You can probably guess what I think. Derren Brown recently said in passing it's a shame we cannot imprison psychic fakes and charlatans like in the old days. Let's bring those days back, I say. The "Luke" example at 3min 30 secs looks...
Jon Cogburn's Blog
Essential reading from Stanley Fish and Jonathan Kvanvig about the inanity teaching evaluation abuse
Article HERE. Money quote: Assessing teaching performance through student evaluations is still a terrible idea, and Texas is leading the way. Fish's reasoning behind this is compelling. Also please read Jonathan Kvanvig's report from the front lines HERE. Kvanvig shows......
great philosophy post-doc in Cairo!
Man this would completely rock. From Graham Harman's blog (HERE). If you are a recent Philosophy Ph.D. and don’t know where to work next year, you can apply for one of our recently announced postdoctoral teaching fellowships. The American University......
Iggy and the Stooges - Gimme Danger
...
In response to one of Pete's challenges: a really interesting defense of the use of "translation" as a guiding metaphor (or perhaps a rebuttal of the claim that it is a metaphor!) for understanding the interaction of objects HERE (Part......
post on Chapter II of Maimon's Essay
I did my post for the Maimon reading group over at Perverse Egalitarianism. It's HERE [the figure at left is Pete Wolfendale responding in the comments; I'm the anthropomorphized walrus out of frame, ducking and covering my head]....
...
Experimental Philosophy
Deep Trouble for the Deep Self
Hi Everyone, My name is David Rose and I am new to this blog and happy to be contributing. Jonathan Livengood, Justin Sytsma, Edouard Machery and I have written a paper discussing Chandra Sripada's Deep Self Model of intentional action.......
New experiments (perhaps) support the thesis that knowledge is sensitive to stakes
Hi Everyone. I am linking here a new paper with a bunch of new studies about knowledge and practical interests. The main claims are that (1) folk attributions of knowledge are sensitive to stakes, (2) the data presented supports Interest......
Knobe and Baumeister on Self-Control and Agency
...
I've had a chance to read Keith DeRose's very interesting & rich engagement with some of the experimental epistemology literature, and there's a lot in it that's clearly going to be useful to x-phi practitioners to learn from & absorb.......
'This American Life' meets Adam Arico
A recent episode of the NPR show 'This American Life' takes up the question of group agency and, in particular, the degree to which people are willing to ascribe psychological states to corporations. Oddly enough, the presenters end up getting......
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS The European Centre for Life Sciences, Health and the Courts, University of Pavia, in cooperation with the Court of Milan, Collegio Ghislieri in Pavia and the international group on Neuroscience & Law, announces the International Conference: “Neuroscience......