Who Makes Posthumous Art?
How should we think about works completed after an artist’s death? @ JSTOR Daily
Tripping Over the Number 4
What a trip! We all use numbers every day of our lives, and most of us fail to appreciate how mysterious they are. What exactly is a number? You can’t trip over the number 4, it has no physical properties, so in what sense can it be said to exist? If it’s just a symbolic representation, then why are numbers and other mathematical objects so effective in the real world – in solving scientific problems, in helping cicadas to evade predators, and so on? [audio] @ Philosopher’s Zone
What Is Harming?
“What is Harming?” Molly Gardner (UF). In /Principles and Persons: The Legacy of Derek Parfit,/ Oxford University Press. (Typescript downloadable @ PhilPapers)
A complete theory of harming should tell tells us what it is I interfere with when I harm you, and also ought to tells us how the harm to you is related to my action. I detail an account accoding to which harming is causally interferring in a certain way with someone’s well-being. A complete theory of harming can help us to answer questions about whether we can harm people with speech, whether we can harm the dead, and how it is possible to harm future generations.
Trust, Risk, and Expertise
How should experts communicate risk and what kind of trust should we place in them? [audio] @ Philosopher’s Zone
Against Persuasion
Everyone loves their own wisdom. What is hard is to love the wisdom one does not have. Philosopher Agnes Callard uses the example of Socrates to discuss the challenging interplay of wisdom and persuasion. @ Boston Review
Taylor Swift and the Liar Paradox
Line from Taylor Swift song sends philosopher into logical tailspin. @ Philosophy Now
Mind, Body and Mindbody
Descartes and Aristotle face off over the proper understanding of mind and body. [video] @ Mind Matters
Vaccination: Finding Ethical Balance
Countries around the world are moving variously on the vaccination of children. After all the data and risk-benefit analyses are done there remains a fundamentally moral question about the ethical balance between individual risk and community protection. @ Politico
Data Ethics in the Wild
Retracting unethical data sets is too little too late, because datamining is forever. @ Technology Review
Governing Now for Future Citizens
Philosopher Stephen Gardiner holds governments and institutions legally compelled to act for future generations as the only sure way to address the problem of /transgenerational avarice/ — leaving problems to future generations while reaping benefits now. [audio] @ Big Ideas (Australia)
Getting What You Want
Getting what you want. Lyndal Grant (UF) & Milo Phillips-Brown. Philosophical Studies 177 (7):1791-1810 (2020). @ Philosophical Studies
It is commonly accepted that if an agent wants p, they have a desire that is satisfied when p obtains. We argue that this principle is false. For example, Millie wants to drink milk but does not have a desire that is satisfied when she drinks spoiled milk. Our desires are ways-specific and this is grounded in the fact that desires are dispositional.
On Ibn Rushd (aka Averroes)
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a new entry on /Ibn Rushd/. Ibn Rushd — whose name was commonly Latinized as ‘Averroes’ in earlier times — was an Andalusian philosopher (1126–1198) is one of the great figures of philosophy within the Muslim contexts, and a foundational source for post-classical European thought. Ibn Rushd’s held that philosophy is capable of demonstrative certainty in many domains, that Aristotlean thought would be a central guide in this, and that philosophy should play a central role within religious inquiry. @ Stanford Ency of Philosophy
Thinking Like a Feminist
A discussion with philosopher Carol Hay what it means to think like a feminist. [audio] @ UnMute Podcast
Hate Speech, Porn and Other Thorny Things
A discussion with Oxford philosopher Mari Mikkola on hate speech and pornography. What is hate speech, and what are the limits of free speech? Should pornography be censored in the same way we censor speech? [video] @ Brain in a Vat (vlog)
On Self-Defense
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a new entry on the ethics of /self-defense/. Killing and harming others are paradigmatic wrongs. And yet, with the exception of strict pacifists, there is broad consensus in morality and law that defensive harm is sometimes permissible in cases of self-defense. However, it is surprisingly difficult to explain the grounds and limits of this permission. @ Stanford Ency of Philosophy
Trimming A.I. on the Bias
Philosophy major and CEO of Parity, Liz O’Sullivan, talks about using artificial intelligence to ferret out bias in artificial intelligence systems. @ New York Times
Philosophy and Love in Three Ways
On three ways philosophy can help us understand love. So, what’s not to love? @ The Conversation
On Moral Progress (or Not)
Host Myisha Cherry chats with philosopher Victor Kumar about moral evolution, moral progress, Us and Apes, Tik Tok, and so on. [audio] @ UnMute Podcast
AI Weapons and Moral Equality
“Autonomous weapons systems and the moral equality of combatants.” Michael Skerker, Duncan Purves (UF) & Ryan Jenkins. /Ethics and Information Technology/ 22 (3):197-209 (2020).
AI Social Impact Before the Fact
Stanford has instituted a new Ethics and Society Review Board which requires AI researchers to consider the social impact of their projects before they can be funded. @ Stanford Univ
Constructing Worlds Responsibly
“How (Not) to Construct Worlds with Responsibility”, Fabio Lampert (UF Alumus) & Pedro Merlussi, /Synthese/. @ PhilPapers
Taking a Spin with Spinoza (Literally)
Amsterdam offers a new cycling experience for philosophers. The Spinoza cycling route will push you to rethink our place in nature. The cycling tour is a continuation of the 10 Tiles Philosophical Walk, a free audio tour along 10 paving stones containing quotes from philosophers, and honoring Amsterdam as a free-thinking city. @ The Mayor
Eating Animals for Goodness Sake
Philosopher Christoper Bobier argues in a recent journal article that “the very virtues thought to motivate “virtuous modest veganism”—compassion, temperance, and justice—motivate the virtuous person to consume some animals.” (“What Would the Virtuous Person Eat? The Case for Virtuous Omnivorism”, /Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics/ 34, 2021) [Also see popular coverage of this at Big Think. @ Springer
At the Threshold of Knowledge
At the threshold of knowledge. Rodrigo Borges (UF). Philosophical Studies (2021). @ Philosophical Studies
Habits Are Us!!
Our habits illuminate who we really are in so many ways. Philosophers have looked at habits as ways of contemplating who we are, what it means to have faith, and why our daily routines reveal something about the world at large. In his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle uses the terms hexis and ethos – both translated today as ‘habit’ – to study stable qualities in people and things, especially regarding their morals and intellect. @ Big Think
Have We a Moral Duty to Get Vaccinated?
Bioethicist Travis Rieder argues that, while there may be overwhelming reasons to get vaccinated, these reasons do not constitute a moral duty. @ The Conversation
Finding the Human in the Humean
Scottish philosopher David Hume was an amiable 18th century gentleman – cultured, generous, well liked by all who knew him. And yet he’s become something of a “thinker’s thinker”, hugely admired by academic philosophers, but never quite managing to fire the public imagination or attain the mythic status of a Socrates or a Nietzsche. Philosopher Julian Baggini believes it’s time to embrace Hume as a philosopher who can teach us how to live. [audio] @ Philosopher’s Zone
Will Read Philosophy for $9 Million
Painting of “Philosopher Reading” sells for nine million dollars. Note: We would be happy to read philosophy in real time for considerably less. @ The Art Newspaper
Two Conceptions of Talent
Two conceptions of talent. Jaime Ahlberg (UF). Educational Philosophy and Theory 53 (8):777-788 (2021).
Zhuangzi, First Philosopher of Disability
Was this ancient Taoist the first philosopher of disability? Zhuangzi pushed back against the idea that “normal” is good and difference is bad 2,500 years ago. @ New York Times
The Edifying Effect of Philosophy
Do college philosophy courses affect the real-world choices of the students who take them? Yup. A first-of-its kind controlled study (not based in self-report) purports to shows us how. Takeaway: Even a single week’s lesson can have a notable impact. @ Daily Nous
Philosophy of Technology for $1.5 Million
The Philosophy department of McGill University receives a $2 million (CAD) donation to establish an endowed chair in philsoophy of technology. @ Daily Nous
Good Science Is Woke Science
Awareness of our biases is essential to good science, because ideological, social and political values always influence. Such values can light the way fo science or lead into darkness. @ Scientific American
On Inhumanity
Our capacity to do terrible things to each other seems boundless. But we’d find it a lot more difficult without recourse to a common conceptual trick: dehumanisation. Stripping others of their humanity is an essential step in the process of treating them like monsters — but how exactly do we do it? What stops us from doing it routinely? And if the category of “human” is a social construct — able to be granted or removed at will — what does that mean for the notion of human rights? [audio] @ Philosopher’s Zone
The Uncertainty of Life
Struggling with the uncertainty of life under coronavirus? Philosopher Patrick Stokes uses the work of Kierkegaard as a lens for our troubled times. @ The Conversation
What We Owe Each Other …Now
Michael Sandel looks at why some Americans refuse to social distance and wear masks, and what we own to each other during a pandemic. @ Harvard Gazette
Dan Dennett, Brain Whisperer
Profile piece and interview with philosophy Dan Dennett. “Learning depends on being able to extract information from your past and apply it in the future. All of life is a matter of exploiting the past to anticipate the present or the future.” [text & video] @ Tufts Now
Protagoras and the Measure of All Things
The /Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/ has a new entry on /Protagoras/. Protagoras (490–420 BCE ca) was one of the most important sophists and exerted considerable influence in fifth-century intellectual debates… Some of his views raised important philosophical problems, which were taken up by Plato, Aristotle, and many other philosophers. @ Stanford Ency of Philosophy
Monumental Ethics
Philosopher Travis Timmerman (recently seen on ABC News and cited in the Washington Post) discusses recent calls for changes in sites and parks named after a broad range of historical figures. @ Seton Hall University