Philosophy

  • Most Topular Stories

  • Where are the Kants?

    Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog
    Brian Leiter
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:02 am
    Schwitzgebel discusses.

  • Descartes Philosophy

    The-Philosophy
    thephilo
    26 Jan 2012 | 6:14 am
    Rene Descartes is the most famous french philosopher. Indeed, Descartes got nice charts of works to his credit … among the best known: - Rules for directions of the mind (1628) - Discourse on Method, Preface to the Dioptric, the Meteors, and Geometry (1637) - Meditations on First Philosophy (1641) - Principles of Philosophy (1644) - The Passions of the Soul (1649) Descartes founded the modern rationalism, he pressed it to the forces of reason and evidence in order to achieve the real safely, the purpose of knowledge is to “make us like the master and possessors of nature “.

  • "What's the use of philosophy?"

    Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog
    Brian Leiter
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:55 am
    Gary Gutting (Notre Dame) comments, and a philosopher at Vassar offers additional thoughts.

  • Parenthood and Procreation

    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
    Elizabeth Brake and Joseph Millum
    26 Jan 2012 | 9:16 pm
    [Revised entry by Elizabeth Brake and Joseph Millum on January 26, 2012. Changes to: 0] The ethics of parenthood and procreation apply not only to daily acts of decision-making by parents and prospective procreators, but also to law, public policy, and medicine. Two recent social and technological shifts make this topic especially pressing. First, changing family demographics in North America and Europe mean that children are increasingly reared in blended families, by single...

  • Margaret Fell

    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
    Jacqueline Broad
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:50 pm
    [New Entry by Jacqueline Broad on January 26, 2012.] On the strength of her 1666 pamphlet, Womens Speaking Justified, the Quaker writer Margaret Fell has been hailed as a feminist pioneer. In this short tract, Fell puts forward several arguments in favour of women's preaching. She asserts the spiritual equality of the sexes, she appeals to female exempla in the Bible, and she reinterprets key scriptural passages that appear to...
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    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

  • Parenthood and Procreation

    Elizabeth Brake and Joseph Millum
    26 Jan 2012 | 9:16 pm
    [Revised entry by Elizabeth Brake and Joseph Millum on January 26, 2012. Changes to: 0] The ethics of parenthood and procreation apply not only to daily acts of decision-making by parents and prospective procreators, but also to law, public policy, and medicine. Two recent social and technological shifts make this topic especially pressing. First, changing family demographics in North America and Europe mean that children are increasingly reared in blended families, by single...

  • Margaret Fell

    Jacqueline Broad
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:50 pm
    [New Entry by Jacqueline Broad on January 26, 2012.] On the strength of her 1666 pamphlet, Womens Speaking Justified, the Quaker writer Margaret Fell has been hailed as a feminist pioneer. In this short tract, Fell puts forward several arguments in favour of women's preaching. She asserts the spiritual equality of the sexes, she appeals to female exempla in the Bible, and she reinterprets key scriptural passages that appear to...

  • Metaethics

    Geoff Sayre-McCord
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:30 pm
    [Revised entry by Geoff Sayre-McCord on January 26, 2012. Changes to: Main text, Bibliography, notes.html] Metaethics is the attempt to understand the metaphysical, epistemological, semantic, and psychological, presuppositions and commitments of moral thought, talk, and practice. As such, it counts within its domain a broad range of questions and puzzles, including: Is morality more a matter of taste than truth? Are moral standards culturally relative? Are there moral facts? If there are moral facts,...

  • Communitarianism

    Daniel Bell
    25 Jan 2012 | 10:06 pm
    [Revised entry by Daniel Bell on January 25, 2012. Changes to: Main text, Bibliography, Internet resources] Modern-day communitarianism began in the upper reaches of Anglo-American academia in the form of a critical reaction to John Rawls' landmark 1971 book A Theory of Justice (Rawls 1971). Drawing primarily upon the insights of Aristotle and Hegel, political philosophers such as Alasdair MacIntyre, Michael Sandel, Charles Taylor and Michael Walzer disputed Rawls' assumption that the...

  • Aristotle's Natural Philosophy

    Istvan Bodnar
    16 Jan 2012 | 11:54 pm
    [Revised entry by Istvan Bodnar on January 16, 2012. Changes to: Bibliography, Internet resources, notes.html] Aristotle had a lifelong interest in the study of nature. He investigated a variety of different topics, ranging from general issues like motion, causation, place and time, to systematic explorations and explanations of natural phenomena across different kinds of natural entities. These different inquiries are integrated into the framework of a single overarching enterprise describing the...
 
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    Talking Philosophy

  • Education & Unions

    Mike LaBossiere
    25 Jan 2012 | 4:12 pm
    While there are many excellent schools, there are also serious problems plaguing American and other education systems. People are, of course, eager to point fingers and these fingers are often pointed at teachers’ unions. Being a professor at a state school, it should hardly be a surprise that I am a member of the UFF, NEA and AFT. Because of this, my writing on this subject should be read with a critical eye so as to catch any bias in my claims or any trickery in my argumentation. One stock argument against unions is based on the claim that the teachers’ unions are aimed at the…

  • Disclosure. Deception. Duplicity. Defamation.

    Russell Blackford
    25 Jan 2012 | 12:07 am
    Here in Australia there is an interesting debate going on around the views of Melinda Tankard Reist (“MTR”), a high-profile anti-abortion and anti-pornography activist, and Jennifer Wilson, a relatively obscure (at least until now) blogger and occasional online op.ed writer. The dispute blew up in public when Wilson received some kind of letter of demand, with a threat of defamation action, from MTR’s lawyers over some highly critical comments on Wilson’s blog. The comments included claims to the effect that MTR is driven by conservative theological views that merit…

  • Religion for Atheists: An Interview With Alain de Botton

    Jim P Houston
    24 Jan 2012 | 12:29 pm
    Alain de Botton, co-founder of London’s School of Life and author of The Consolations of Philosophy, has been kind enough to provide an interview for Talking Philosophy about his new book Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believer’s Guide to the Uses of Religion. Readers are invited to share their thoughts on Atheism 2.0. and what we might usefully take from religion. You were brought up as an atheist – could you describe your earlier views on religion and how you came to have a more positive view of religion and religious practices? In my book, I argue that believing in God is, for…

  • Warbots

    Mike LaBossiere
    20 Jan 2012 | 11:05 am
    Image via Wikipedia The United States and many other nations currently operate military remote operated vehicles (ROVs) that are more commonly known as drones. While the ROVs began as surveillance devices, the United States found that they make excellent weapon platforms. The use of such armed ROVs has raised various moral issues, mainly in regards to the way they are employed (such as the American campaign of targeted killing). In general, ROVs themselves do not seem to pose a special moral challenge-after all, they seem to be on par with missiles and bombers (although the crew of a manned…

  • Freedom of Religion and the Secular State now published

    Russell Blackford
    16 Jan 2012 | 6:04 pm
    Freedom of Religion and the Secular State (by Russell Blackford, 2012) If we use Amazon’s date for it, at least the date that is there this morning, today is the publication date for Freedom of Religion and the Secular State. In practice, the book will be available at slightly different times in different countries. I see that Amazon UK actually has a date of January 6 on its site. I’m not sure when it will be in your local bookshop, but you should at least be able to get it now/soon from Amazon or Amazon UK … or direct from John Wiley and Sons if you have an account there.
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    AskPhilosophers.org | "All"

  • Question about Philosophy - Stephen Maitzen responds

    27 Jan 2012 | 6:59 pm
    I'm just getting into philosophy, thanks in no small part to this site! I was discussing it with a friend recently - a friend I admire as hard-working, intelligent and someone who challenges himself - and found out that he was actually a philosophy major in college (now he's a businessman). Naturally I was excited, but I was quickly discouraged as he explained that he had given up doing philosophy long ago and had no interest in it. When I asked him why, I received the following explanation, which confused me and I'm hoping to gain some clarity on it from this site. I hope it's not offensive…

  • Question about Feminism, Race - Stephen Maitzen responds

    27 Jan 2012 | 10:40 am
    Can a white male ever legitimately speak about racism or sexism? Response from: Stephen Maitzen As a white male myself, I guess I'm answering your question in the affirmative by even presuming to post an answer to it at all. Surely the question you asked is so broad that no one could reasonably answer it in the negative. Racism exists: some people or practices are racist. Sexism exists: some people or practices are sexist. There: I've said it, and I defy any reasonable person to deny my assertions or call them "illegitimate." Now, it's a harder and more interesting question exactly how much a…

  • Question about Existence, Science - Stephen Maitzen responds

    27 Jan 2012 | 10:16 am
    Is modern philosophy too abstract? I mean when it asks questions about being does it ask questions that about any kind of being when perhaps it could be asking question about the particular kind of being that we live in? I guess you could say the answer is no because philosophers deal with questions about science and science is about the world we live in. But is the kind of being of science the only "concrete" form of being that philosophers can ask about? I personally think that their is more to being than either physics or hyper-abstractions that only look at being in terms of temporarily,…

  • Question about Existence, Philosophers, Religion - Jonathan Westphal responds

    26 Jan 2012 | 5:36 pm
    Hello Philosophers! Can anyone defend the Ontological Argument against Kant's criticism that existence is not a predicate? Response from: Jonathan Westphal Some random suggestions: (1) David Pears pointed out that even if Kant's argument were wholly clear and wholly successful, which it is not, it could only show that existence is not an ordinary predicate, if it is a predicate. His view is that it is a predicate, just a very peculiar one; (2) There is also the view of the celebrated logician, mathematician and philosopher Bolzano, who writes in the Theory of Science ("Kinds of Propositions")…

  • Question about Existence, Philosophers, Religion - Allen Stairs responds

    26 Jan 2012 | 5:36 pm
    Hello Philosophers! Can anyone defend the Ontological Argument against Kant's criticism that existence is not a predicate? Response from: Allen Stairs Sure. Even if existence is not a predicate, it's at least arguable that necessary existence is. (As Norman Malcolm pointed out years ago, there really are two versions of the argument, and the second one deals with necessary existence.) We doubt that existence is a predicate because, roughly, saying that something exists tells us nothing about what it's like. Not so for necessary existence. Not just anything could exist necessarily. The…
 
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    Ethics Etc

  • Tim Maudlin in the Atlantic

    S. Matthew Liao
    28 Jan 2012 | 1:19 am
    Here is a very interesting interview with Tim Maudlin (NYU) about the philosophy of cosmology in The Atlantic: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/01/what-happened-be fore-the-big-bang-the-new-philosophy-of-cosmology/251608/ Do check it out!

  • CFA: Moral Psychology and Poverty Alleviation

    S. Matthew Liao
    28 Jan 2012 | 12:40 am
    Academics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP) Anniversary Workshop Where: New Haven, Yale University When: April 13, 2012 Deadline for submission: March 2, 2012 Sponsored by the Global Justice Program of the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Centrefor International and Area Studies, Yale University and the Program in Cognitive Science, Yale University Keynote Speakers: Paul Slovic, University of [...]

  • Society for Applied Philosophy 30th Anniversary Post-Doctoral Fellowship

    Kimberley Brownlee
    25 Jan 2012 | 4:58 am
    To celebrate its 30th anniversary, the Society for Applied Philosophy is pleased to announce a Call for Applications for the SAP 30th Anniversary Post-Doctoral Fellowship. The Fellowship is tenable for one-year in association with a UK Philosophy Department to work on a clearly defined research project in any area of practical or applied philosophy. The [...]

  • The Eastern APA Is Moving To Early January!

    S. Matthew Liao
    19 Jan 2012 | 10:57 pm
    It’s official! The Eastern APA is moving to early January starting in 2015. Based on the survey results, this should greatly improve the lives of many people in our profession. Certainly, it will improve mine and my family’s. A big thanks to everyone who completed the APA survey as well the surveys here and here [...]

  • CFP: Consciousness and Moral Cognition

    S. Matthew Liao
    31 Dec 2011 | 10:53 am
    Special issue of the Review of Philosophy and Psychology Guest editors: Mark Phelan & Adam Waytz Deadline for submissions: 31 March 2012 When people regard other entities as objects of ethical concern whose interests must be taken into account in moral deliberations, does the attribution of consciousness to these entities play an essential role in [...]
 
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    European Journal of Philosophy

  • J. L. Austin and Literal Meaning

    Nat Hansen
    19 Jan 2012 | 3:29 am
    AbstractAlice Crary has recently developed a radical reading of J. L. Austin's philosophy of language. The central contention of Crary's reading is that Austin gives convincing reasons to reject the idea that sentences have context-invariant literal meaning. While I am in sympathy with Crary about the continuing importance of Austin's work, and I think Crary's reading is deep and interesting, I do not think literal sentence meaning is one of Austin's targets, and the arguments that Crary attributes to Austin or finds Austinian in spirit do not provide convincing reasons to reject literal…

  • What's Wrong with the Experience Machine?

    Christopher Belshaw
    19 Jan 2012 | 3:29 am
    AbstractNozick's thought experiment is less effective than is often believed. Certainly, there could be reasons to enter the machine. Possibly, life there might be among the best of all those available. Yet we need to distinguish between two versions. On the first, I retain my beliefs, memories, dispositions, some knowledge. On the second, all these too are determined by the scientists. Nozick alludes to both versions. But only on the first will machine life have appeal.

  • Kant on Intentionality, Magnitude, and the Unity of Perception

    Sacha Golob
    28 Dec 2011 | 8:40 pm
    AbstractThis paper addresses a number of closely related questions concerning Kant's model of intentionality, and his conceptions of unity and of magnitude [Gröβe]. These questions are important because they shed light on three issues which are central to the Critical system, and which connect directly to the recent analytic literature on perception: the issues are conceptualism, the status of the imagination, and perceptual atomism. In Section 1, I provide a sketch of the exegetical and philosophical problems raised by Kant's views on these issues. I then develop, in Section 2, a detailed…

  • Traction without Tracing: A (Partial) Solution for Control-Based Accounts of Moral Responsibility

    Matt King
    28 Dec 2011 | 8:40 pm
    AbstractControl-based accounts of moral responsibility face a familiar problem. There are some actions which look like obvious cases of responsibility but which appear equally obviously to lack the requisite control. Drunk-driving cases are canonical instances. The familiar solution to this problem is to appeal to tracing. Though the drunk driver isn't in control at the time of the crash, this is because he previously drank to excess, an action over which he did plausibly exercise the requisite control. Tracing seeks to show that an agent's responsibility for some outcome (over which he…

  • Alasdair MacIntyre's Analysis of Tradition

    Tom Angier
    28 Dec 2011 | 8:21 pm
    AbstractI argue that, in analysing the structure and development of moral traditions, MacIntyre relies primarily on Kuhn's model of scientific tradition, rather than (as is held by at least two influential commentators) on Lakatos' model. I unpack three foci of Kuhn's conception of the sciences, namely: the ‘crisis’ conception of scientific development, what I call the ‘systematic conception’ of scientific paradigms, and the view that successive paradigms are incommensurable. I then show that these three foci are integrated into MacIntyre's account of the development of moral…
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    Journal of Philosophical Logic (Online First™)

  • Truth, Dependence and Supervaluation: Living with the Ghost

    5 Jan 2012 | 12:53 am
    Abstract  In J Philos Logic 34:155–192, 2005, Leitgeb provides a theory of truth which is based on a theory of semantic dependence. We argue here that the conceptual thrust of this approach provides us with the best way of dealing with semantic paradoxes in a manner that is acceptable to a classical logician. However, in investigating a problem that was raised at the end of J Philos Logic 34:155–192, 2005, we discover that something is missing from Leitgeb’s original definition. Moreover, we show that once the appropriate repairs have been made, the resultant definition is…

  • Paradox and Potential Infinity

    23 Dec 2011 | 10:52 am
    Abstract  We describe a variety of sets internal to models of intuitionistic set theory that (1) manifest some of the crucial behaviors of potentially infinite sets as described in the foundational literature going back to Aristotle, and (2) provide models for systems of predicative arithmetic. We close with a brief discussion of Church’s Thesis for predicative arithmetic. Content Type Journal ArticlePages 1-25DOI 10.1007/s10992-011-9218-yAuthors Charles McCarty, The Logic Program, Indiana University, 026 Sycamore Hall, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA Journal Journal of Philosophical…

  • Tensed Mereology

    22 Dec 2011 | 12:44 am
    Abstract  Classical mereology (CM) is usually taken to be formulated in a tenseless language, and is therefore associated with a four-dimensionalist metaphysics. This paper presents three ways one might integrate the core idea of flat plenitude, i.e., that every suitable condition or property has exactly one mereological fusion, with a tensed logical setting. All require a revised notion of mereological fusion. The candidates differ over how they conceive parthood to interact with existence in time, which connects to the distinction between endurance and perdurance. Similar issues…

  • Nothing but the Truth

    30 Nov 2011 | 3:21 am
    Abstract  A curious feature of Belnap’s “useful four-valued logic”, also known as first-degree entailment (FDE), is that the overdetermined value B (both true and false) is treated as a designated value. Although there are good theoretical reasons for this, it seems prima facie more plausible to have only one of the four values designated, namely T (exactly true). This paper follows this route and investigates the resulting logic, which we call Exactly True Logic. Content Type Journal ArticlePages 1-11DOI 10.1007/s10992-011-9215-1Authors Andreas Pietz, LOGOS-Group, Department…

  • Stratified Belief Bases Revision with Argumentative Inference

    25 Nov 2011 | 12:43 am
    Abstract  We propose a revision operator on a stratified belief base, i.e., a belief base that stores beliefs in different strata corresponding to the value an agent assigns to these beliefs. Furthermore, the operator will be defined as to perform the revision in such a way that information is never lost upon revision but stored in a stratum or layer containing information perceived as having a lower value. In this manner, if the revision of one layer leads to the rejection of some information to maintain consistency, instead of being withdrawn it will be kept and introduced in a…
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    Linguistics and Philosophy (Online First™)

  • Imperatives as semantic primitives

    13 Jan 2012 | 10:51 am
    Abstract  This paper concerns the formal semantic analysis of imperative sentences. It is argued that such an analysis cannot be deferred to the semantics of propositions, under any of the three commonly adopted strategies: the performative analysis, the sentence radical approach to propositions, and the (nondeclarative) mood-as-operator approach. Whereas the first two are conceptually problematic, the third faces empirical problems: various complex imperatives should be analysed in terms of semantic operators over simple imperatives. One particularly striking case is the Dutch…

  • Donkey anaphora: the view from sign language (ASL and LSF)

    20 Dec 2011 | 10:47 am
    Abstract  There are two main approaches to the problem of donkey anaphora (e.g. If John owns a donkey, he beats it). Proponents of dynamic approaches take the pronoun to be a logical variable, but they revise the semantics of quantifiers so as to allow them to bind variables that are not within their syntactic scope. Older dynamic approaches took this measure to apply solely to existential quantifiers; recent dynamic approaches have extended it to all quantifiers. By contrast, proponents of E-type analyses take the pronoun to have the semantics of a definite description (with it ≈…
 
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    Philosophical Studies (Online First™)

  • The evil of death and the Lucretian symmetry: a reply to Feldman

    24 Jan 2012 | 6:26 am
    Abstract  In previous work we have defended the deprivation account of death’s badness against worries stemming from the Lucretian point that prenatal and posthumous nonexistence are deprivations of the same sort. In a recent article in this journal, Fred Feldman has offered an insightful critique of our Parfitian strategy for defending the deprivation account of death’s badness. Here we adjust, clarify, and defend our strategy for reply to Lucretian worries on behalf of the deprivation account. Content Type Journal ArticlePages 1-7DOI 10.1007/s11098-011-9845-8Authors John…

  • Offline and online data: on upgrading functional information to knowledge

    24 Jan 2012 | 6:26 am
    Abstract  This paper addresses the problem of upgrading functional information to knowledge. Functional information is defined as syntactically well-formed, meaningful and collectively opaque data. Its use in the formal epistemology of information theories is crucial to solve the debate on the veridical nature of information, and it represents the companion notion to standard strongly semantic information, defined as well-formed, meaningful and true data. The formal framework, on which the definitions are based, uses a contextual version of the verificationist principle of truth in…

  • Knowledge-how, true indexical belief, and action

    24 Jan 2012 | 1:26 am
    Abstract  Intellectualism is the doctrine that knowing how to do something consists in knowing that something is the case. Drawing on contemporary linguistic theories of indirect interrogatives, Jason Stanley and Timothy Williamson have recently revived intellectualism, proposing to interpret a sentence of the form ‘DP know how to VP’ as ascribing to DP knowledge of a certain way w of VPing that they could VP in w. In order to preserve knowledge-how’s connection to action and thus avoid an overgeneration problem, they add that this knowledge must be had under a “practical”…

  • What is nonconceptualism in Kant’s philosophy?

    24 Jan 2012 | 1:26 am
    Abstract  The aim of this paper is to critically review several interpretations of Kantian sensible intuition. The first interpretation is the recent construal of Kantian sensible intuition as a mental analogue of a direct referential term. The second is the old, widespread assumption that Kantian intuitions do not refer to mind-independent entities, such as bodies and their physical properties, unless they are brought under categories. The third is the assumption that, by referring to mind-independent entities, sensible intuitions represent objectively in the sense that they…

  • Is there a phenomenological argument for higher-order representationalism?

    24 Jan 2012 | 1:26 am
    Abstract  In his 2009 article “Self-Representationalism and Phenomenology,” Uriah Kriegel argues for self-representationalism about phenomenal consciousness primarily on phenomenological grounds. Kriegel’s argument can naturally be cast more broadly as an argument for higher-order representationalism. I examine this broadened version of Kriegel’s argument in detail and show that it is unsuccessful for two reasons. First, Kriegel’s argument (in its strongest form) relies on an inference to the best explanation from the claim that all experiences of normal adult human beings…
 
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    Synthese (Online First™)

  • Theory change as dimensional change: conceptual spaces applied to the dynamics of empirical theories

    25 Jan 2012 | 12:53 am
    Abstract  This paper offers a novel way of reconstructing conceptual change in empirical theories. Changes occur in terms of the structure of the dimensions—that is to say, the conceptual spaces—underlying the conceptual framework within which a given theory is formulated. Five types of changes are identified: (1) addition or deletion of special laws, (2) change in scale or metric, (3) change in the importance of dimensions, (4) change in the separability of dimensions, and (5) addition or deletion of dimensions. Given this classification, the conceptual development of empirical…

  • Erratum to: Between proof and truth

    24 Jan 2012 | 12:13 pm
    Erratum to: Between proof and truth Content Type Journal ArticleCategory ErratumPages 1-2DOI 10.1007/s11229-011-0043-1Authors Julien Boyer, Ruusutarhantie 2B 13, 00300 Helsinki, FinlandGabriel Sandu, Ruusutarhantie 2B 13, 00300 Helsinki, Finland Journal SyntheseOnline ISSN 1573-0964Print ISSN 0039-7857

  • Branching in the landscape of possibilities

    10 Jan 2012 | 10:49 am
    Abstract  The metaphor of a branching tree of future possibilities has a number of important philosophical and logical uses. In this paper we trace this metaphor through some of its uses and argue that the metaphor works the same way in physics as in philosophy. We then give an overview of formal systems for branching possibilities, viz., branching time and (briefly) branching space-times. In a next step we describe a number of different notions of possibility, thereby sketching a landscape of possibilities. In the final section of the paper we look at the place of branching-based…

  • Causal foundationalism, physical causation, and difference-making

    21 Dec 2011 | 2:13 pm
    Abstract  An influential tradition in the philosophy of causation has it that all token causal facts are, or are reducible to, facts about difference-making. Challenges to this tradition have typically focused on pre-emption cases, in which a cause apparently fails to make a difference to its effect. However, a novel challenge to the difference-making approach has recently been issued by Alyssa Ney. Ney defends causal foundationalism, which she characterizes as the thesis that facts about difference-making depend upon facts about physical causation. She takes this to imply that…

  • Wittgenstein and the groundlessness of our believing

    20 Dec 2011 | 10:43 am
    Abstract  In his final notebooks, published as On Certainty, Wittgenstein offers a distinctive conception of the nature of reasons. Central to this conception is the idea that at the heart of our rational practices are essentially arational commitments. This proposal marks a powerful challenge to the standard picture of the structure of reasons. In particular, it has been thought that this account might offer us a resolution of the traditional scepticism/anti-scepticism debate. It is argued, however, that some standard ways of filling out the details of this proposal ultimately lead…
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    Experimental Philosophy

  • Society for Philosophy of Agency

    Thomas Nadelhoffer
    22 Jan 2012 | 6:44 am
    The new website for the recently formed Society for Philosophy of Agency is now up here.  The Society is now accepting applications for membership.  Membership is free and open to graduate students, professional philosophers, and researchers working on issues about human agency who work primarily in cognate fields (e.g., law, neuroscience, psychology, theology, etc.).  All you need to do to apply for membership is send an email to <philosophyofagency[at]gmail.com> with your name, email address, and institutional affiliation (if applicable).  You…

  • Doctoral or PostDoc position of interest

    Edouard Machery
    19 Jan 2012 | 8:33 am
    Dr. Niki Pfeifer (Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy, LMU Munich) offers under the usual equal opportunity conditions one doctoral researcher position OR one early postdoctorial researcher position (i.e., if the PhD is obtained after January 1, 2011) to work in the intersection of psychology, philosophy and cognitive science (65%, TV-L 13, up to 3 years). In both cases, the (post)doctoral researcher will focus on empirical work (developing the research hypotheses, designing psychological experiments and running the data analysis) in the field…

  • CFP: Computational Models of Mindreading

    Fiery Cushman
    9 Jan 2012 | 9:35 am
    Hi everyone, I wanted to distribute another CFP on behalf of some friends for a special issue that looks to be of interest to lots of folks in this group! Enjoy, Fiery ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Journal of COGNITIVE SYSTEMS RESEARCH Call for Papers Special Issue Computational Models of Mindreading special issue editors: Paul Bello (paul.bello@navy.mil) & Marcello Guarini (mguarini@uwindsor.ca) Mindreading, or the ability to represent and reason about the mental states of other agents and oneself, is a pervasive part of cognition that has yet to be deeply…

  • CFA: Intuitions, Experiments and Philosophy

    James Andow
    7 Jan 2012 | 9:22 am
    3rd Workshop of the Experimental Philosophy Group UK, 8-9th September 2012, University of Nottingham Deadline for Submission: 7th July 2012 Experimental Philosophy Group UK invites the submission of 500-word abstracts for 45-minute presentations or poster presentations on the subject of ‘Intuitions, Experiments and Philosophy’ for their upcoming workshop.  Keynote presentations will be given by Shaun Nichols (University of Arizona) and Simone Schnall (University of Cambridge). The following is a list of suggested types of content and possible topics: Presentations of new…

  • Response to Devitt and to Ichikawa, Maitra, and Weatherson

    Edouard Machery
    5 Jan 2012 | 1:15 pm
    Our response is on line on PPR's website.
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    Feminist Philosophers

  • Something to think about this semester…

    annejjacobson
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:28 am
    Philosophy teachers:  What kind of discussion might you aim for in your classes. Here are some comments I’ve heard over several decades: a. “You know how it is, if you’re going to say anything in a seminar, it has to be brilliant.” b. “This is the philosophical method: someone puts up a position and everyone tries to knock it down.” c. A dialogue: Speaker One: It’s as though you stand on the top of a hill, and say to your students: This is my position, and anyone who wants to have their own position has to knock me off first. Speaker Two: Yes,…

  • Reader Query: Feminist work on education?

    Jender
    25 Jan 2012 | 2:21 pm
    I need your help! I’m scheduled to teach a graduate course in Education that will be populated with Education graduate students. I taught a graduate seminar in Education within the past year, and it went great. (I am a Philosophy professor.) So I’ve been asked to teach another, and I’m curious to know what you would recommend for this course description, particularly regarding feminist interpretations of education: Course: Contemporary Philosophies of Education: Contemporary philosophical approaches to educational problems and issues, including: pragmatist, analytic,…

  • CFP: SWIP-UK panel at Joint Sessions, Stirling, July 2012

    stoat
    25 Jan 2012 | 6:11 am
    Society for Women In Philosophy (SWIP) UK – Call for Papers http://www.swipuk.org/ SWIP UK Panel at the Joint Session of the Mind Association and Aristotelian Society, University of Stirling 6-8th July 2012 At the 2012 Joint Session there will be a SWIP UK panel of papers devoted to topics in any area of interest to women in philosophy. We solicit full papers (2000 words) plus 250 word abstract, suitable to be delivered in no more than 20 minutes with a further 10 minutes for discussion. We encourage submissions from graduate students. (As with all the open sessions, papers accepted for…

  • Oscar Nomination: A cat in paris

    annejjacobson
    24 Jan 2012 | 5:16 pm
    We could hardly wait for the Sunday Cat to pick this up.  In case the trailer is unclear, the cat has a double life, one as a cat burglar’s helper and another as the beloved pet of a little girl whose police officer mother is after the man who murdered her husband. 

  • Is reasoning done best in groups? Or: And we thought stereotype threat was bad.

    annejjacobson
    24 Jan 2012 | 4:26 pm
    This  idea that we reason better in groups has received recent attention because of the Argumentative Theory. Thus, People mostly have a problem with the confirmation bias when they reason on their own, when no one is there to argue against their point of view. What has been observed is that often times, when people reason on their own, they’re unable to arrive at a good solution, at a good belief, or to make a good decision because they will only confirm their initial intuition.                                   On the other hand, when people are…
 
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    Gender, Race and Philosophy: The Blog

  • Table of Contents: Hypatia February 2012

    Sally
    15 Jan 2012 | 4:07 pm
    Hypatia © HypatiaVolume 27, Issue 1 Pages 1 - 240, February 2012 Introduction FEAST Cluster on Feminist Critiques of Evolutionary Psychology—Editor's Introduction (pages 1–2)Diana Tietjens MeyersArticle first published online: 28 OCT 2011 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1527-2001.2011.01239.x Articles Evolutionary Psychology, Ethology, and Essentialism (Because What They Don't Know Can Hurt Us) (pages 3–27)Letitia MeynellArticle first published online: 3 NOV 2011 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1527-2001.2011.01240.x “Not Much to Praise in Such Seeking and Finding”: Evolutionary Psychology, the…

  • Hypatia CFP: Interstices: Women of Color Feminist Philosophy

    Ron Sundstrom
    21 Dec 2011 | 4:39 pm
    Hypatia Special Issue: Interstices: Women of Color Feminist Philosophy Call for Papers Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy seeks papers for a special issue on women of color feminist philosophy. We welcome feminist philosophical scholarship with the aim of interrogating and/or demonstrating work created within the terrain of these three terms- women of color, feminist, philosophy. As the profession of philosophy has witnessed a small emergence of women of color who are pursuing academic degrees in philosophy as well as those who find philosophy useful in the service of other types of…

  • Number of women faculty in U.S. doctoral programs in philosophy

    Alia Al-Saji
    20 Dec 2011 | 1:38 pm
    The list of "Tenured/tenure-track faculty women at 98 U.S. doctoral programs in philosophy" has just been updated.  Thanks to Julie Van Camp for doing this. The 2011 list can can be found here.

  • The Status of Minorities in Philosophy

    Alia Al-Saji
    12 Dec 2011 | 10:53 am
    Graduate Conference and Workshop at Concordia and McGill Universities Keynote speakers:Alia Al-Saji, McGill UniversityAlexis Shotwell, Laurentian UniversityCFPWe invite quality graduate and undergraduate papers that address the themes of the conference: the problem of the under-representation of groups in philosophy or the implications of the status of minorities in the profession more broadly. For details regarding the theme of our conference and the workshop, please visit concordia-mcgill.blogspot.com.Papers in both “analytic” and “continental” traditions are welcome. Papers in…

  • PIKSI 2012

    Sally
    6 Dec 2011 | 9:09 pm
    Philosophy in an Inclusive Key: A Summer Institute for Undergraduates ROCK ETHICS INSTITUTE, THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY June 24 - July 1, 2012 Philosophy: Experience, Reflection,Transformation Ellen K. Feder, Director Associate Professor of Philosophy, American University Guest Faculty: Charles Mills, John Evans Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy, Northwestern University Elizabeth Millan, Professor of Philosophy, DePaul University Along with works in feminist, critical race, disability, and queer theory, students will read historical and contemporary philosophical texts…
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    The Prosblogion

  • Ross's Theory of Omnipotence Entails Double Predestination

    Kenny Pearce
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:56 am
    Let E (for 'election') be the proposition which says de re of each person who will in fact be saved that he or she will be saved. That is, E is the longest conjunction of the form 'John will be saved, and Mary will be saved, and Lois will be saved...' which is true. Let R (for 'reprobation') be the proposition which says de re of each person who will in fact be damned that he or she will be damned. The doctrine of predestination is the doctrine that God, from eternity, has issued an efficacious decree of election - that is, God, from eternity, effectively chose that E should be true. The…

  • Templeton Foundation Open Submission

    Matthew Mullins
    24 Jan 2012 | 1:32 pm
    As part of its spring open submission cycle, the John Templeton Foundation welcomes online funding inquiries in the areas of philosophy and theology. The submission window is February 1 to April 16, 2012. Proposed philosophical projects need not have religion or theology as a focus. To submit an online funding inquiry, please visit http://www.templeton.org/what-we-fund/our-grantmaking-process. Please note that the Templeton Foundation does not normally provide dissertation fellowships through this open submission process. For more information on the kinds of projects that the Foundation can…

  • Assoc for Phil of Judaism Symposium on Halakha

    Trent Dougherty
    23 Jan 2012 | 9:55 am
    The Association for the Philosophy of Judaism is now hosting a week long symposium on Philosophy in Halakha (Jewish law) on its site.

  • Northern Michigan Philosophy Lecture Series

    Kevin Timpe
    21 Jan 2012 | 8:55 am
    Many of you are familiar with Any Cullison's 'Young Philosopher' series at SUNY Fredonia. Here is another lecture series along the same general lines. This year's theme is 'Existentialism or Philosophy of Religion'. Submissions due by 17 Feb.

  • Reminder: Munich Summer School and Conference Submission Deadlines

    Yujin Nagasawa
    19 Jan 2012 | 8:43 am
    On behalf of Prof. Godehard Brüntrup As part of the Analytic Theology Project funded by the Templeton Foundation, the Munich School of Philosophy is organizing various philosophy of religion events and activities this year. Summer School: "Minds - Human and Divine" July 26 - August 4, 2012 In most cases, the organizers will be able to cover the full expenses of successful applicants; including tuition, travel, lodging and full-board (for both summer school and international conference). The specific terms will be negotiated on an individual basis. Application Deadline: February 15, 2012…
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    In Socrates' Wake

  • Talking the teaching talk, walking the teaching walk

    Michael Cholbi
    29 Jan 2012 | 9:20 am
    UPDATE: I posted this a few years back, but thought that it would be timely to re-post it now, as on-campus interviews are in full swing. Any other ideas on how approach a teaching demo are very welcome in the comments! Hiring season is on in the world of academic philosophy, and I thought a post on a common feature of the interviewing process might be welcome: the on-campus teaching presentation. Many hiring institutions ask candidates to do a teaching presentation as a part of their on-campus interviews. This is especially true for institutions with a strong teaching focus. To my…

  • Academically Adrift, the follow up

    Michael Cholbi
    26 Jan 2012 | 10:13 pm
    The authors of Academically Adrift (much discussed here last year) have released the findings of a follow up study concerning critical thinking, civic engagement, and post-collegiate employment. This looks like more good news for philosophy (if philosophy engenders critical thinking and civic engagement at least!) and bad news for business students: The study, “Documenting Uncertain Times: Post-graduate Transition of the Academically Adrift Cohort,” used the Collegiate Learning Assessment, a standardized testing evaluation of higher education, to compare the academic strength of 925…

  • One last reminder: The Good Life starts January 30

    Michael Cholbi
    26 Jan 2012 | 12:36 pm
    UPDATE: Chris tells me that those with access to library subscriptions to the Wiley Online Library can download the book section by section. Well, most of us are already enjoying said life, but our online discussion of Chris Higgins' The Good Life of Teaching begins January 30. Here's my earlier introduction. Added good news: Chris has indicated that though he wants to keep his nose out of our discussions initially, he'll do a guest post (a sort of 'reply to critics') once our discussion ends mid- February. I hope everyone will buy the book and join the discussion!

  • "Not all roads lead to oneself"

    Michael Cholbi
    24 Jan 2012 | 8:07 am
    The most recent edition of the APA Newsletter on Teaching Philosophy (available here) reprints a newspaper piece by Brown's Felicia Ackerman. In it, Ackerman states a rule she applies to her courses: "We never discuss our personal lives." As Ackerman observes, this rule may surprise some, since philosophy is thought to be "personal," especially the philosophical questions she addresses in bioethics. But here's Ackerman's rationale: "Intellectual discussion requires the unconstrained exchange of views," and the sharing of personal information, especially about "sources of distress" in people's…

  • Teaching Philosophy Conference CFP

    Nathan M Nobis
    17 Jan 2012 | 2:44 pm
    A Call for Papers from the American Association of Philosophy Teachers: Dear AAPT community, We've extended the deadline for proposals for the summer conference to be held at St. Edward's University in Austin, TX from July 25-29.  The new deadline is Thursday, February 9 and details are in the attached document.   Please consider submitting a proposal - we'd love to see you in Austin! And if you plan on attending the Central or Pacific APA meetings, the AAPT will be running workshops at each.  Details are at our website http://philosophyteachers.org/.
 
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    Philosophy by the Way

  • The pain of thinking

    22 Jan 2012 | 5:47 pm
    Montaigne is famous for his Essays. One of the striking things in this work is that it is full of quotations, mainly from classical authors. What not so many people know is that Montaigne had collected such quotations on the ceiling of the room in the tower of his castle where he wrote his essays. I was reminded of this when I saw a little booklet on the Internet, titled Montaigne’s Adages, compiled and translated by the Dutch historian René Willemsen (Rotterdam: Ad. Donker, 2011). Some years ago, I had visited Montaigne’s study, and I had seen the adages on the beams of the ceiling.

  • The illusion of authenticity

    15 Jan 2012 | 6:22 pm
    We are our customs, at least in a certain sense and at least for a part. We have seen it in my blog last week. Customs belong to those things that make us the persons we are. It is not only so that the customs we encounter already immediately after our birth “force” us to follow them. Usually we have the feeling that they really belong to us and that they are right. We support them so that they continue to exist. We have interiorized these customs and we believe in them. Once this is so, we can say that our following certain customs is authentic.Customs (especially those we call…

  • The customs we are

    8 Jan 2012 | 5:42 pm
    Customs play an important role in life. They are not simply like branches on a path that we throw away, when we think that someone can stumble over them. Or like cars we stop for, when we want to cross a road. Customs are not accidental but they guide our lives, they can give our stream of activities a certain rhythm and function as reasons for what we do. They are threads in life and help us get hold of what we do. So the Christian holidays, a kind of social customs, are for many people reasons to go church and for them they are highlights of the year. For others the vacations around these…

  • Of old customs

    1 Jan 2012 | 5:25 pm
    Somewhere in the beginning of his essay “Of ancient customs” Montaigne says that sometimes customs rapidly change and that what once was a custom often is ridiculed some time later. Especially in fashion this is the case: “When they wore the busk of their doublets up as high as their breasts, they stiffly maintained that they were in their proper place; some years after it was slipped down betwixt their thighs, and then they could laugh at the former fashion as uneasy and intolerable.” Therefore Montaigne wants to show that some customs are already old, while others aren’t “to the…

  • Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !

    23 Dec 2011 | 8:06 am
    Languages need not to divide us for in all languages we can express the same thoughts.Thank you for reading my blogs and meet you again in 2012!
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    The Brooks Blog

  • New website launched - thombrooks.info

    23 Jan 2012 | 11:34 am
    I have promised some big news on this blog in recent days. My first big announcement is twofold.First, I have launched a new website here - thombrooks.info. There are a few bugs left to fix and I expect the website will be 100% functional from tomorrow. The website will replace my current Newcastle site here. The new website will include the latest updates on new publications and media links.Secondly, I intend to spend much less time blogging to devote more attention to other projects, including writing more for other outlets. I had originally planned to close the blog entirely, but the shock…

  • The latest insights on publishing by journal editors

    18 Jan 2012 | 5:11 pm
    Many thanks to the organizers of the "Editors' Cut" workshop last week at the University of London. The event was enjoyable and the discussion wide-ranging and lively. Full audio of the different talks can be found here. Papers are forthcoming in Metaphilosophy.

  • Thom Brooks on "How Not to Save the Planet"

    18 Jan 2012 | 5:06 pm
    . . . can be freely downloaded here. The paper's abstract:"Climate change presents us with a pressing challenge. A global consensus accepts that human activity is responsible for climate change and its associated dangers. However, there is disagreement on how best to address this challenge. The essay argues that leading proposals are unsatisfactory, such as the ecological footprint and polluter pays principle. The reasons include that they do not effectively manage climate change and may contribute to further problems. We require a new approach to address climate change. "Comments most…

  • Thom Brooks on "Climate Change and Negative Duties"

    18 Jan 2012 | 4:20 pm
    . . . has now appeared in Politics and found here. The abstract:"Climate change and its harmful effects are widely accepted. A common approach is to argue along the lines of Mill's ‘harm principle’: if we contribute to climate change, then we are likewise responsible for harming others and we have a negative duty to reduce our carbon emissions. This article argues that a negative duty leads to a philosophical fork in the road which does not necessarily entail carbon emissions reductions. Arguments for such reductions require further supplementation to close off possible…

  • My final "new books" list

    16 Jan 2012 | 11:26 am
    Vittorio Bufacchi, Social Injustice: Essays in Political Philosophy. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.Jennifer Lees-Marshment, Political Marketing: Principles and Applications. London: Routledge, 2009.Anna Moltchanova, National Self-Determination and Justice in Multinational States. Dordrecht: Springer, 2009.A. Raghuramaraju, Enduring Colonialism: Classical Presences and Modern Absences in Indian Philosophy. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2009.Melinda A. Roberts and David T. Wasserman (eds), Harming Future Persons: Ethics, Genetics and the Nonidentity Problem. Dordrecht: Springer,…
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    Jon Cogburn's Blog

  • New C.V.

    Jon Cogburn
    26 Jan 2012 | 4:44 pm
    I just updated my c.v. HERE. In the two years I've been Director of Philosophy at LSU, the ratio of things I'm working on to things I actually have published has gotten too large. It will be really, really good in Summer not to have to do this stuff any more, though my focus is going to be on the book, so the set of partially completed articles may not diminish much any time soon. Anyhow, the impact it has on your research is one of the reasons that only people already promoted to Full should be Chairs or Directors. There are other reasons, ones that this fellow to the right could…

  • Kommunizm (Egor Letov) - Stop The Rolling Stones

    Jon Cogburn
    26 Jan 2012 | 12:59 pm
    My God, but punk rock from the Soviet Union was great. Fantastic essay HERE by Adam Curtis on music and youth rejection in the Soviet Union. Curtis is motivated by the thought that the widespread failure of communism to deliver what it promised is currently being repeated by neo-liberal regimes in the west, and that this is going to lead to the kind of collapse of belief that produces such great music in the Soviet Union. To right is Kommunizm's "Stop the Rollin Stones." It's fantastic, Curtis has a video form Letov's other famous band Grob for the song "Everything…

  • Fantastic new website for O-zone

    Jon Cogburn
    25 Jan 2012 | 12:54 pm
    The web-site for the new journal O-Zone has undergone a bit of a facelift and it's really cool. It's configured so that there will be links to conference presentations and things like that. Capsule credo for the journal: Located within a post-Kantian philosophical outlook, where everything in the world, from the smallest quarks to lynxes to humans to wheat fields to machines and beyond exist on an equal ontological footing, O-Zone: A Journal of Object-Oriented Studies invites new work that explores the weird realism, thingliness, and life-worlds of objects. Possible methodological…

  • more development of Meillassoux's argument in modal logic, plus a possible dialtheist problem

    Jon Cogburn
    25 Jan 2012 | 12:19 am
    I've had a couple of fantastic discussions with Levi Bryant about Graham Priest's connection to a slew of continental philosophers that Priest doesn't even mention in Beyond the Limits of Thought, and a bunch of weird things are popping out with respect to my current reading of Meillassoux. The most important connection is that Meillassoux several times makes the kind of argument Priest diagnoses and logically regiments, where it is shown that just articulating a limit (Closure) forces that very limit to be contradicted (Transcendence). Given my teaching rotation, I should be able…

  • Would you look at that?

    Jon Cogburn
    24 Jan 2012 | 7:48 pm
    I can't remember where Wittgenstein noted that saying the same phrase over and over again drains it of its meaning. Not only can't I remember where he wrote that, but I can't remember why he thought it was an interesting thing to say. In any case, it can be very funny, and I wish I knew why.
 
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    In Search of Enlightenment

  • EMBO Reports Paper Online

    27 Jan 2012 | 5:50 am
    My paper "'Positive Biology' as a New Paradigm for the Medical Sciences" is now published in the advance online section (for Jan. 27) of Nature's EMBO Reports. The abstract:Most basic and applied research in the medical sciences today is premised upon the presumption that well-ordered science requires us to prioritize what one can call “negative biology”. Negative biology is the intellectual framework that presumes the most important question to answer is- what causes pathology? Positive biology, by contrast, focuses on a different set of questions and priorities. Rather than making…

  • Enhancement Book (Chapter 1)

    25 Jan 2012 | 7:45 am
    Over the coming weeks I will be making my way through Allen Buchanan's new book Beyond Humanity? I am looking forward to reading this timely book which is written by a first-rate scholar who has made substantive contributions to various debates in practical ethics and political philosophy.My goal here on the blog is to make a few notes for each chapter, primarily for my own benefit so I can return at a later point to write something more substantive. So on to Chapter 1.Chapter 1 begins with a very useful characterization of the "anti-enhancement" stance. This characterization resonates with…

  • PSR Paper Published

    24 Jan 2012 | 10:40 pm
    My paper "Virtue Epistemology and the ‘Epistemic Fitness’ of Democracy" is now out in print in the latest issue of the journal Political Studies Review. The abstract: In this article I explore three distinct advantages of linking virtue epistemology to an epistemic defence of democracy. First, because intellectual agents and communities are the primary focus of epistemic evaluation, virtue epistemology offers political theorists the opportunity to develop an epistemic defence of democracy that takes ‘realism’ seriously (e.g. the cognitive limitations and biases of humans). Second,…

  • The Imperative to Relieve Pain

    18 Jan 2012 | 10:54 pm
    The latest issue of the NEJM has this interesting Perspective piece on pain in the US. Here is a sample:The magnitude of pain in the United States is astounding. More than 116 million Americans have pain that persists for weeks to years. The total financial costs of this epidemic are $560 billion to $635 billion per year, according to Relieving Pain in America, 1 the recent report of an Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee that we cochaired. And these figures don't include pain in children or people in long-term care facilities, the military, or prison. The annual U.S. expenditures related…

  • 5 Musicians, 1 Guitar

    15 Jan 2012 | 8:29 am
    Just discovered this band from Burlington. The video above is a real treat.Cheers, Colin
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    In Living Color

  • Atheist Temples

    27 Jan 2012 | 8:33 am
    This looks like a tower in which you'd imprison a princess for 100 years, but it's supposed to be a temple to atheism--or more precisely, a temple to science and nature.  More about Alain de Botton's proposal here.  His new book, Religion for Atheists, says religion offers people many needed things, and atheists shouldn't give them up.  We need temples, special days on the calendar, networks

  • Tightwaddery 101

    26 Jan 2012 | 8:09 am
    And I thought my classes were pretty fun and innovative.  Here's Emrys Westacott talking about one of his classes-- I teach a course here at the university called Tightwaddery, the Good Life on a Dollar a Day. It’s what we call an honours class, a two-credit evening class and it’s both serious and somewhat light-hearted. We read Epicurus, we read Thoreau, we read articles about consumerism

  • Sleep Remedy

    21 Jan 2012 | 11:19 pm
    This may help you sleep better tonight.  From Real Clear Politics--

  • Do animals have inherent value?

    21 Jan 2012 | 6:10 pm
    I haven't read it yet, but this post by Rhys Southan on whether animals have inherent value looks interesting. Also on my things-to-read list:  "Expected Utility, Contributory Causation, and Vegetarianism" (Gaverick Matheny).  You can find it here.

  • The Reasons behind Mormon Polygamy and Fecundity

    21 Jan 2012 | 2:28 pm
    This is fun!  From a book called Favorite Wife, by Susan Ray Schmidt. She was one of 10 wives of a man who had a total of 58 children before she left "the life" (oooh, creepy term!). So ... you've got God up there creating lots of spirit-children with heavenly Mothers (God is a polygamist!), and it would be a very bad thing if they didn't get to be born into fleshly bodies and raised in Mormon
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    Stephen Law

  • Graham Taylor, England manager, on my footballing performance...

    25 Jan 2012 | 11:49 am
    Just stumbled upon this and thought I'd post it again because it's cool....

  • Interview on The Philosophy Files

    25 Jan 2012 | 2:34 am
    The Complete Philosophy Files is The Philosophy Files and The Philosophy Files 2 combined into a single volume.Here is an interview I did for The Guardian newspaper when the The Philosophy Files was originally published way back in 2000.Asking all the right questionsPhilosopher Stephen Law tells Mel Steel why children are natural thinkers"I've always been struck by how philosophically minded children are," says Stephen Law. "They ask questions and they get an answer, and behind that answer they find another question to ask, and it doesn't take long before they're starting to question some of…

  • Poster idea

    24 Jan 2012 | 7:16 am
    Any teachers out there....I need some advice.I am thinking of producing a colourful A2 poster for schools promoting philosophy and my college. I was thinking on one side a "what is philosophy?" cartoon-type Philosophy Files thing, and on the other side a couple of discussion topics.However, what we really need is to target the right age group and get the poster put up on walls. Have any teachers out there got any advice in terms if what would be popular with teachers and encourage them to it up? In terms of raising awareness, we could actually aim at slightly younger kids. But is that…

  • Tickets for my events at the Oxford Literary Festival - buy here...

    23 Jan 2012 | 8:38 am
    You can buy tickets for my debate with Lord Richard Harries (Bishop of Oxford) at the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival on 29th March at 4pm here: box office.There are also tickets for my talk on Believing Bullshit, 10.00am the same day here: box office.

  • £500 A level philosophy essay prize - please spread word to your students...

    23 Jan 2012 | 4:32 am
    Heythrop Philosophy Essay Prize Competition 2012Heythrop College University of London is launching a new Philosophy Essay Prize, worth £500 which will be judged by Dr Stephen Law, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Heythrop College and the editor of the Royal Institute of Philosophy's journal THINK: Philosophy for Everyone.The competition is open to all those studying for any AS or A2-level examinations (or equivalent) in 2012.Entries should be no longer than 1500 words including footnotes but excluding references and can take any form e.g. essay, dialogue, etc. All sources must be…
 
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    Alexander Pruss's Blog

  • Copper pipe glockenspiel

    27 Jan 2012 | 6:11 pm
    My 6-year-old son and I built this copper pipe glockenspiel. Full build instructions with more photos are here.

  • A reason why voting methods are compromises

    27 Jan 2012 | 7:04 am
    Voting involves compromise on two levels. On the ground level, a vote involves coming to a compromise decision. But on the meta level, a voting system embodies compromise between different desiderata. Arrow's Theorem is a famous way of seeing the latter point. But there is also another way of seeing it, which in one way goes beyond Arrow's Theorem: while Arrow's Theorem only applies where there are three or more options, what I say applies even in binary cases. We suffer from both epistemic and moral limitations. Good voting systems are a way of overcoming these, by combining the information…

  • Presentism and Epicurus' death argument

    26 Jan 2012 | 8:52 am
    Becoming friendless is a harm, even if one does not know that one's last friend has just betrayed one. Likewise, one is harmed when the persons or causes one reasonably cares about are harmed, again whether or not one knows about the harm. But we also, I think, have the intuition that this is a different sort of harm from that which one undergoes when one loses an arm or when one is tortured. Call the first set of harms, extrinsic, and the well-being that they detract from extrinsic well-being, and call the second set of harms intrinsic. Apart from an incarnation, God is not subject to…

  • A dilemma for divine command theory

    25 Jan 2012 | 11:46 am
    Either God does or does not have moral obligations. If he has moral obligations, divine command theory seems to be false. Divine command theory comes in two versions: command theory and will theory. On command theory, an action is obligatory if and only if God commands it to one. But no one can impose obligations on himself by commands (one can impose obligations on oneself by promises, of course). On will theory, an action is obligatory if and only if God wills (in a relevant sense) one to do it. But what one wills oneself to do does not impose an obligation. That's all I'll say about this…

  • Beating Condorcet (well, sort of)

    24 Jan 2012 | 9:55 am
    This builds on, but also goes back over the ground of, my previous post. I've been playing with voting methods, or as I might prefer to call them "utility estimate aggregation methods." My basic model is there are n options (say, candidates) to choose between and m evaluators ("voters"). The evaluators would like to choose the option that has the highest utility. Unfortunately, the actual utilities of the options are not known, and all we have are estimates of the utilities by all the evaluators. A standard method for this is the Condorcet method. An option is a Condorcet winner provided that…
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    The Splintered Mind

  • The Base Rate of Kant

    Eric Schwitzgebel
    26 Jan 2012 | 4:45 pm
    People sometimes say that increasing specialization within philosophy means that there could never be another figure like Locke or Hume or Kant -- a figure with giant impact across a broad range of philosophical subdisciplines. The massive growth of the research university has created armies of specialists in each subfield whose copious volumes one must master to become a major player in the subfield; and no one person could master the work of a broad range of subfields. Let's consider the merits of this theory. First: Is there any need for a theory to explain the recent lack of Kants? Well,…

  • Broad-Ranging Interview on My Work

    Eric Schwitzgebel
    20 Jan 2012 | 10:29 am
    by Richard Marshall, here at 3:AM Magazine. Rereading the interview now, I find myself pretty happy with it, other than that I probably should have given somewhat briefer answers to the first few questions. This interview does a nice job of motivating and tying together, in an accessible way, the various themes of my work, which might otherwise seem to be unconnected (history of psychology, Chinese philosophy, the moral behavior of ethicists, science fiction, the untrustworthiness of philosophical intuition...).

  • Kant Meets Cyberpunk

    Eric Schwitzgebel
    19 Jan 2012 | 7:19 pm
    In 1992, my first year of graduate school, I read William Gibson's cyberpunk classic Neuromancer and, by chance, Kant's Critique of Pure Reason at the same time. It seemed to me that the two were intimately connected, but various older grad students in my Kant class pooh-poohed my ideas about this and I lacked the intellectual confidence to pursue it farther. But the thought has stayed with me. In Neuromancer, like in Tron, there's an artificial environment that one can travel in virtually. One "enters" it by jacking into a neural interface. Also like Tron, but unlike The Matrix, the…

  • Consciousness Online

    Eric Schwitzgebel
    17 Jan 2012 | 7:40 pm
    Consciousness Online is an online consciousness conference now in its fourth year, organized by Richard Brown. It will be happening February 17 to March 2. The program has a terrific line-up of speakers. Check it out!

  • The Crazyist Metaphysics of Mind: Short, Folksy Version

    Eric Schwitzgebel
    16 Jan 2012 | 8:21 pm
    Crazyism in the metaphysics of mind, as I define it, is the view that something bizarre and undeserving of credence -- something "crazy" -- must be among the core truths about the metaphysics of mind. On December 3, I presented a short, folksy version of this idea as a TEDx talk for the first of hopefully many TEDxUCR events. (Thanks, TEDxUCR organizers!) If you want more than a blog post but less than a 40-page manuscript (plus references), you might be interested to see the (poor quality but audible) TEDx video or prepared text.
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    In the Space of Reasons

  • UCLan PhD Studentships, School of Health

    25 Jan 2012 | 7:41 am
    Reference Number: RS/11/17-19 The School of Health wishes to appoint 3 full time PhD studentships.  Each studentship is tenable for up to 3 years for a PhD (via MPhil route) [subject to satisfactory progress].  The studentship will cover the cost of tuition fees for UK/EU residents plus a stipend (currently £13,590 per annum).  The successful applicant will start on 1 April 2012. International applicants may apply but will be expected to pay the difference between the UK/EU and International Fee Rate.Applicants need to undertake research projects within an area of…

  • CHSTM Mental Health Group Programme Jan - May 2012

    23 Jan 2012 | 3:09 am
    Centre for the History of Science, Technology & Medicine & Wellcome Unit for the History of MedicineMental Health Group Programme Jan - May 2012 Thursdays, 4.30.pm, Room 2.57, 2nd Floor, Simon Building, Brunswick St.26th Jan Matthew Smith, University of StrathclydeThe uses and abuses of the history of hyperactivity1st March Len Smith, University of BirminghamWork as treatment in the home and colonial lunatic asylum; England and the West Indies, 1815 – 1890 29th March Sarah Collins, University of Manchester Second stories: dementia, narrative and memory in conversation3rd May Jen Wallis,…

  • Metaphor and anomalous self-experience

    20 Jan 2012 | 9:17 am
    I have been having a look at Josef Parnas et al’s EASE: Examination of anomalous self-experience with the hope of adding discussion of its attempt to codify, or at least increase the degree of codification of, a complicated diagnosis based on anomalous self-experience to my chapter in the OUP Handbook of Philosophy and Psychiatry. But before turning to that I’m intrigued by an initial comment in the context of the difficulty of patients putting such abnormal experiences into words. The difficulty is this:The experiences may be fleeting, perhaps even verging on something ineffable. They…

  • Philosophy for the theory of translation and interpretation

    20 Jan 2012 | 5:55 am
    I’ve been invited to give a guest lecture on a post-graduate module on the theory of translation and interpretation here at UCLan. I learn that ‘part of the programme content involves studying post-structuralist approaches to fluid textual meaning and to the (im)possibility of equivalence and semantic fidelity within translating, especially of literary texts with fluid meaning, which are open to interpretation/deconstruction by individual readers and translators’. So that prompts the question of which bits of the philosophical larder to raid, of what is sufficiently-free standing to be…

  • Language and cold symptoms

    12 Jan 2012 | 3:46 am
    I’ve spent the last three days not just working from home but from bed, laptop nestling in a growing mountain of tissues, mug of lemsip in hand, and angry and apparently underfed cats shouting from the doorway. A cold, in other words. I wonder whether there’s any truth in the idea that if one can be ill for a few days, after a period when it would have been very difficult to be, then one is more likely to be so. The only upside of still feeling lousy on, unusually, a third day is that – irrationally perhaps – this suggests to me a thorough biological underpinning (even if…
 
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    FmI - Masonic Traveler

  • Is Change A Dirty Masonic Word?

    BeeHive
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:45 pm
      I was coming home from work the other day and listening to the radio when the announcer said that the production of CDs was slowly being stopped. The era of the CD is over. Oh my, I wondered, what am I going to do now? And then I realized that I hadn’t even gotten rid of all of my 8 track tapes yet.   Now I know how my grandfather felt. He was born in 1881 and died in 1980. He once told me that he had seen the advent of what was then every modern invention, from the mass use of the auto, to the radio, to TV, the airplane, the refrigerator, air conditioning and on and on. When he…

  • 10% Effectiveness

    TimBryce
    18 Jan 2012 | 7:32 am
    Hmm… I came across an interesting management study today that discussed the ineffectiveness of managers. This study is equally applicable to the fraternity and may give us some insight why the fraternity is floundering. In a study by academics Heike Bruch and Sumantra Ghoshal, they revealed some interesting impressions of the decisiveness of managers: “What we found in our research surprised us. Only about 10 percent of the managers took purposeful action.” The remainder were busy, just not very effective: 40 percent were energetic but unfocused; 30 percent had low energy,…

  • Supply Side Versus Vulture Freemasonry

    BeeHive
    17 Jan 2012 | 10:59 pm
    Reflecting on the last few years in Freemasonry, I have been remembering what a friend of mine always said, “Nobody knows who we are anymore.”  This was always followed by an intense debate over modern Freemasonry’s use of Institutionalized charity to solve that problem.  He thought all the charity work was great and just the thing to get Freemasons noticed.  I thought it was too expensive and time consuming, taking away from the practice of Freemasonry. DGM Michael T. Anderson PHA MLK Parade If you want people to know who you are then connect with the community.  This means getting…

  • Understanding the Moral Law on MLK day.

    Greg
    16 Jan 2012 | 5:57 am
    On this national Holiday, we are to reflect and celebrate one of the greatest Americans in our pantheon of Founding Fathers, D. Martin Luther King, Jr.  One of his many contributions to our American way of life came at one of his darkest hours which produced one of his brightest writings in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail.  In it, king gives us an insight to the truth behind his protests and a reflection in how far afield we, as a nation, have walked from justice which we derive out of our own understanding of the moral law. Masonry speaks at many levels about the Moral Law, how it is a…

  • Rewarding Incompetence

    Greg
    9 Jan 2012 | 2:39 pm
    It’s not about “taking turns”; it’s about getting the job done properly. (Click for AUDIO VERSION) Throughout the corporate world we have seen examples of the Peter Principle in practice, whereby people rise above their level of competency; people who make a mockery of their job and discredit their company and themselves in the process. Perhaps they were promoted because nobody else wanted the job or perhaps they were simply selected based on seniority; maybe they politicked for the job and were rewarded not for what they had accomplished but their ability to kiss the…
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    Cognitive Philosophy

  • Philosophers’ Carnival – January 9, 2012

    Greg
    9 Jan 2012 | 11:06 am
    Welcome to the January 9th edition of the Philosophers’ Carnival! A showcase of the best philosophy blog posts from around the internet from the last three weeks. Thanks to everyone that submitted*, and enjoy the show! Philosophy of Mind In Art and the Limits of Neuroscience, Alva Noe questions whether neuroscience is really the proper evaluative tool for studying art, and discusses what the role of the brain is in accounting for consciousness. Guest contributor to Cognitive Philosophy, Polo Camacho, discusses the fallibility of our perception in I’ll Believe It When I See It.

  • I’ll Believe It When I See It

    Polo
    3 Jan 2012 | 3:58 pm
    The lawyer leans over the witness stand, piercing holes of disbelief into the witness. He matter-of-factly paces towards her. She is one of the few witnesses at the crime scene. Her palms are sweaty and she’s fidgety from all the coffee from earlier. “Tell us what you saw on the night of Thursday, August 11th, 2011!” Questions flood her mind: How can I be asked to report on experiences I may or may not have had? I was present, but does being present guarantee an accurate experiential report? Maybe my opinion is tainted by others’ opinions? HELP! It is here that she is asked to…

  • Call for submissions: Philosophers’ Carnival

    Greg
    14 Dec 2011 | 2:42 pm
    On January 9th, Cognitive Philosophy will be hosting the Philosophers’ Carnival, a roaming showcase of the best philosophical blog posts from the previous three weeks. The Carnival is put together through submissions, but you do not have to be the author of a blog post to submit one.  More info about the Carnival and submission guidelines can be found here: http://philosophycarnival.blogspot.com/ For this coming carnival, the following topics will be given priority: philosophy of mind philosophy of language philosophy of action ethics metaethics epistemology philosophy of science…

  • Is Implicit Memory Actually Memory?

    Greg
    23 Oct 2011 | 7:02 pm
    Implicit memory is normally thought of as a type of memory where past experiences influence current thought and behavior, but without conscious awareness of those previous experiences. How does this work? Is there a “thing” in the brain we can point to and say “this is an implicit memory?” And is “memory” even the best term for it? Let’s start with organisms that have no explicit memory, and with a simple biological organism without even the ability to learn. It has a certain cellular structure, and that structure is static for all its life, it has no memory. Sensory signals…

  • In Defense of Nostalgia

    Greg
    28 Aug 2011 | 11:58 pm
    I’m a bit of a pack rat. Once something enters my possession I have a really tough time letting it go. Long after it’s outlived any sort of seeming utilitarian value, I’ve still got it. I’ve got vhs tapes that not only will I never watch again, I can’t watch again, since I don’t own a vcr. I have cassette tapes that have a similar useless role. I’ve boxes of Star Wars toys. I have all sorts of nick knacks that have come into my possession over the years that not only don’t have any practical value, it’s arguable they never did. I have so…
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    Philosorapt[E]rs

  • state of nature (Humor)

    24 Jan 2012 | 10:26 pm
    Permalink | Leave a comment  »

  • philosophy for children

    21 Jan 2012 | 12:21 pm
    The central pedagogical tool and guiding ideal of Philosophy for Children is the community of inquiry. With this tool students work together to generate and then answer their own questions about the philosophical issues contained in purpose written materials or a wide range of other resources. Thinking in the community of inquiry is critical, creative, collaborative and caring. In the community of inquiry students learn to respect, listen to and understand a diverse range of views. The process of philosophical exploration in this environment encourages students to take increased…

  • Well Argued PIPA &SOPA

    19 Jan 2012 | 12:46 pm
    Permalink | Leave a comment  »

  • SOPA & PIPA: Bye Bye Free Internet

    19 Jan 2012 | 12:22 pm
    In simplistic form, corporations are yet again trying to censored the internet under the guise of anti-piracy... any company site that links to pirated material could face criminal charges. Thus wikipedia, google, youtube, flickr, amazon and all those other useful sites that take you to other sites would be gone. I think that piracy is a problem but this is not how to solve it...  I might be wrong about this last point but in connection with the Patriot Act, if you mention anything that may be a "national threat" such as talking about Marxism, or any critique of government,…

  • On the Absurdity of Academic Publishing: a Parable

    13 Jan 2012 | 1:48 pm
    A fun story about the absurdity of academic publishing HERE"Jack is a sheep farmer. He gets some government subsidies, and also works long hours to keep his sheep happy and healthy. When his beasts are ready for slaughter, he offers them to an abattoir. The abattoir is very choosy and may reject Jack’s sheep, which is a disaster for him, as there is no other route to the market. If he is lucky the abattoir will accept the animals, slaughter them and sell them, at a large profit, to the supermarket. Jack does not see any of this money. The populace struggle to afford the price of meat,…
 
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    Philosorapt[E]rs

  • state of nature (Humor)

    William Parkhurst
    24 Jan 2012 | 10:26 pm
    Join me on Twitter or Facebook for updates. Please email suggestions, links and questions to PhilosoraptErs@gmail.com

  • philosophy for children

    William Parkhurst
    21 Jan 2012 | 12:21 pm
    The central pedagogical tool and guiding ideal of Philosophy for Children is the community of inquiry. With this tool students work together to generate and then answer their own questions about the philosophical issues contained in purpose written materials or a wide range of other resources. Thinking in the community of inquiry is critical, creative, collaborative and caring. In the community of inquiry students learn to respect, listen to and understand a diverse range of views. The process of philosophical exploration in this environment encourages students to take increased…

  • Well Argued PIPA &SOPA

    William Parkhurst
    19 Jan 2012 | 12:46 pm
    Join me on Twitter or Facebook for updates. Please email suggestions, links and questions to PhilosoraptErs@gmail.com

  • SOPA & PIPA: Bye Bye Free Internet

    William Parkhurst
    19 Jan 2012 | 12:23 pm
    In simplistic form, corporations are yet again trying to censored the internet under the guise of anti-piracy... any company site that links to pirated material could face criminal charges. Thus wikipedia, google, youtube, flickr, amazon and all those other useful sites that take you to other sites would be gone. I think that piracy is a problem but this is not how to solve it...  I might be wrong about this last point but in connection with the Patriot Act, if you mention anything that may be a "national threat" such as talking about Marxism, or any critique of government,…

  • On the Absurdity of Academic Publishing: a Parable

    William Parkhurst
    13 Jan 2012 | 1:48 pm
    A fun story about the absurdity of academic publishing HERE"Jack is a sheep farmer. He gets some government subsidies, and also works long hours to keep his sheep happy and healthy. When his beasts are ready for slaughter, he offers them to an abattoir. The abattoir is very choosy and may reject Jack’s sheep, which is a disaster for him, as there is no other route to the market. If he is lucky the abattoir will accept the animals, slaughter them and sell them, at a large profit, to the supermarket. Jack does not see any of this money. The populace struggle to afford the price of meat,…
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    That's Too Thin

  • Old and New Old

    Vitaly Pimenov
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:18 pm
    There were times I felt I have something to say and that was enough to start speaking. Today, looking back at everything I’ve written here regarding education, I see that it worths nothing, there were no work behind these words, no experience, no life, no vision, no passion, nothing but an illusion of “something I can speak of”. No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

  • We were nobodies

    Vitaly Pimenov
    5 Jan 2011 | 4:05 pm
    Someone in the mirror who was more real than was I. Someone at the cafe who had more coffee to drink than words to speak. Someone on the street asking for the rain to wash the world away. Someone in the bedroom who can’t sleep because life goes on without him. We were nobodies.     Photo by Peter Lindbergh. No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

  • Time Transfixed

    Vitaly Pimenov
    9 Jul 2010 | 4:19 pm
    Strangely, when I look at this painting, it reminds me of “zero vanguard” – cosmonaunts who were involved in experiments before 1961. Time Transfixed. René Magritte, 1938 No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

  • Malcolm will return shortly…

    Vitaly Pimenov
    9 Apr 2010 | 1:46 pm
    Paris Culture I heard some people were really surprised to discover Malcolm McLaren genius beyond Sex Pistols. If only we could open our eyes more often. Maybe then we could learn to appreciate good people before they are gone. Related posts: Rethinking Education Pt.14: Laptops And Digital Teachers It is not about technology at all, don’t be surprised.... Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

  • Rethinking Education Pt.19: Reading for Children

    Vitaly Pimenov
    27 Mar 2010 | 3:43 pm
    Related posts: Rethinking Education Pt.10: How To Change The World How to change the world choking with human-made problems? I... Rethinking Education Pt.16: Test Infected Schools If you want to loose control over something, automate it.... Rethinking Education Pt.13: Religion And Education I have a tricky question for you: when transforming education... Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
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    Global Patriot

  • SOPA & PIPA – Designed to Limit Your Freedom

    Global Patriot
    22 Jan 2012 | 8:26 pm
    While kudos are due to the many millions of global citizens who loudly protested the proposed SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) legislation, which resulted in the bills being shelved, it is likely that similar bills, with similar restrictions on our freedom to communicate, will come to light after the presidential elections.“Congressional leaders on Friday indefinitely shelved two antipiracy bills that had rallied the Internet and rocked Capitol Hill, dealing a major defeat to the traditional media industry while emboldening a new breed of online political…

  • Climate Change Predictions – Twenty Years Ago

    Global Patriot
    16 Jan 2012 | 6:06 pm
    I often ask people just how long we’ve know about climate change / global warming. Those folks who have been following the topic have an answer that’s in the ballpark, but at least half of those questioned reply along the lines of, “Probably 7 or 8 years.”“Current human activities – such as the widespread burning of fossil fuels to run power plants and vehicles – are releasing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere (gases so named because they trap heat much as the glass in a greenhouse does).If present trends continue and…

  • Is It Time to Reset Your Behaviour in 2012?

    Global Patriot
    1 Jan 2012 | 7:36 pm
    It’s become a common practice at the beginning of a new year to re-evaluate where we’ve been and set our sights on the upcoming twelve months.  My forward focus is always the same, how to make the world a better place, but as the saying goes, the devil is in the details, and that means evaluating just who we are on the inside, what makes us tick, or tock, and think about how we might change our behaviour.Beyond my own soul searching (damn I need to be far more focused and productive!) I spent some time looking at what others were posting with regards to their plans for 2012 and…

  • The Single Best Thing We Can Do for our Health!

    Global Patriot
    18 Dec 2011 | 9:42 am
    A close friend once said, “To be human, is to have ailments.”  This wasn’t meant to be a depressing statement, but rather a simple reminder that the human body has a tendency to break down over time.  Some of us don’t give the matter much thought, choosing to live a life of indulgence, only to live out our later years paying the price.  Many others spend considerable effort attempting to mitigate the process by eating only organic foods, consuming the latest supplements or adopting very strict diets.In this fascinating video, Dr. Mike Evans, founder of the Health…

  • Giving 2.0 – The Time Is NOW

    Global Patriot
    11 Dec 2011 | 7:16 pm
    For generations, the expression, “Tis better to give than to receive” has resonated with most of us, regardless of our nationality, ethnicity or religion.  Not because we were told to think that way, or because we read it in a holy scripture, but because the selfless act of helping others nourishes our soul in such a fundamental way.Within Giving 2.0: Transform Your Giving and Our World, Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen provides an update on the nature of giving, and the art and science of philanthropy.  A brilliant book indeed, Laura offers much more than I expected, moving beyond…
 
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    The-Philosophy

  • Descartes Philosophy

    thephilo
    26 Jan 2012 | 6:14 am
    Rene Descartes is the most famous french philosopher. Indeed, Descartes got nice charts of works to his credit … among the best known: - Rules for directions of the mind (1628) - Discourse on Method, Preface to the Dioptric, the Meteors, and Geometry (1637) - Meditations on First Philosophy (1641) - Principles of Philosophy (1644) - The Passions of the Soul (1649) Descartes founded the modern rationalism, he pressed it to the forces of reason and evidence in order to achieve the real safely, the purpose of knowledge is to “make us like the master and possessors of nature “.

  • Confession of a Child of the Century – Musset

    thephilo
    24 Jan 2012 | 5:23 am
    Confession of a Child of the Century is the only novel written by Musset. This novel tells the tumultuous story of Musset and Sand, who had a stormy passion and devastating. Sand later deliver his own version of their relationship in Him and Her. Beyond the biographical, through the hopes, disappointments, morbid jealousy, fits of violence naratteur of this confession is a book with a thesis on the romantic, considered the disease of the century, causing the loss of the generation. This generation was born on the decline of the empire built by…

  • Crime and Punishment – Dostoevsky

    thephilo
    20 Jan 2012 | 4:10 am
    Crime and Punishment is a novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky, one of the founders of the modern novel. Crime and Punishment tells the story of redemption. This novel deals with the question of responsibility for the actions of each individual, background of struggle between God, morality and the theory of the Superman. Summary of Crime and Punishment: Raskolnikov, the main character, is a former student who had to interrupt his studies for lack of money. Solitary dreamer, Raskolnikov rejects collective morality. He considers himself an extraordinary man and wants to test the limits of his freedom by…

  • The Fall – Camus

    thephilo
    20 Jan 2012 | 4:06 am
    The Fall of Camus explores the theme of guilt: the thesis of this philosophical novel in one sentence: we are all responsible for everything. If the plague was focused on the action, the Fall for its analysis of the theme of inaction and its consequences. Summary of the Fall by Camus The Fall is indeed the story of a confession of a man to another in a bar in Amsterdam, in the form of a monologue. Jean-Baptiste Clamence, former Parisian lawyer, recounts the events that changed his life. Before this event, Clamence describes himself as a perfect selfish love of life itself. Until the evening…

  • Unbearable Lightness of Being – Kundera

    thephilo
    20 Jan 2012 | 3:59 am
    Milan Kundera is a leading contemporary writers. Author whose life was tormented by communism, Kundera left Czechoslovakia to seek refuge in France in the mid 70s. Most of his novels (The Joke, Life Is Elsewhere, Laughable Loves, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, …) are novels that can be described as philosophical: they are all directed to people facing with history, politics, their destiny. But perhaps the Unbearable Lightness of Being, which can be regarded as subject to philosophical analysis. Summary of The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Kundera: The Unbearable Lightness of…
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    Philosophy News

  • Boghossian to Speak on Religion as a Delusion

    26 Jan 2012 | 10:29 am
    Dr. Peter Boghossian of Portland State University will be giving a speech at Portland State titled, “Jesus, the Easter Bunny and Other Delusions: Just Say No!” The talk is being sponsored by the Freethinkers of Portland State University. Dr. Boghossian has been stirring up some controversy with his thesis that the cognitive processes that are used to form religious beliefs are unreliable and draw people away rather than towards the truth. Philosophy News interviewed professor Boghossian recently about his ideas and Peter has appeared on the Lars Larson show and has been the subject of…

  • Listening to the Universe

    23 Jan 2012 | 2:29 am
    As a philosopher, I’ve spent a good deal of my adult life trying to master the intricacies of logic and apply what I’ve learned to life. While logic has and continues to serve my life in positive ways that I could not have imagined when I began studying it, I’ve had to undergo some correction in the extent to which I’ve attempted to apply logic and reason to “being in the world.” When we encounter something positive and powerful, I think we have a tendency to want to maximize its effectiveness. When the cook in your home finds a dish everyone likes, that…

  • Becoming a Better Knower

    20 Jan 2012 | 12:35 am
    The current period in the West has been called “The Information Age.” We are inundated daily with data, some of which we have a responsibility to synthesize, understand, and do something with. As information and access to it grows at an inconsumable rate, what we would claim to know doesn’t necessarily grow with it and so few would want to say we live in a “Knowledge Age.” Knowledge can be wily, unwieldy, opaque at times, and, at the end of the day elusive. Knowledge is a fundamental practical problem. Each of work hard every day to better understand the world around us and to find…

  • Wanna Be A Philosopher?

    18 Jan 2012 | 7:05 pm
    Here’s some guidance and resources that might help. By Aidan McGlynn, a postdoctoral research fellow and convener of the Self-Knowledge pilot project at the Northern Institute of Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen.

  • CFP: Extended Deadline for APT Conference

    18 Jan 2012 | 6:44 pm
    THE NINETEENTH INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP-CONFERENCE ON TEACHING PHILOSOPHY St. Edward’s University Austin, Texas July 25 - July 29, 2012 Proposals for interactive workshops and panels related to teaching and learning philosophy at any educational level are welcome. W e especially encourage workshops and panels on the following topics: innovative and successful teaching strategies professional issues connected to teaching how work in other disciplines can improve the teaching of philosophy engaging students outside the classroom innovative uses of instructional technologies the challenge of…
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