How Philosophy Can Save Your Life
A philosopher is the selected recipient of the 2015 Hiett Prize in the Humanities ($50,000). (Includes video link to awardee Scott Samuelson’s TEDx talk, “How Philosophy Can Save Your Life”.)
Vaccines, Belief & Autonomy
Four philosophers discuss the issues about vaccination in light of the distressing outbreak earlier this year of measles that quickly spread to 24 states.
Will the Real Sciences Please Stand Up
How do you tell science from non-science? Famously, Karl Popper thought that the falsifiability of hypotheses was the best indicator. But there are problems with this simple idea. Philosopher Massimo Pigliucci discusses the demarcation problem. (audio)
Philosophy is a Bridge
The newly announced Berggruen Philosophy and Culture Center seeks to bridge a gap between East and the West through philosophy. The Center will manage a global fellowship connecting scholars from China, the United Kingdom and the United States; a $1 million philosophy prize; and an annual Aspen-Berggruen ideas competition. The founder of the parent Berggruen Institute said of the initiative “It’s so clear that different political traditions really come from different cultures, from different views of the world, which in the end have to do with philosophy, with religion, with thinking in general.” (UPDATE: Also covered in the New York Times.)
A 40 Year Walk For Philosophy
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a new entry on ‘Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi. ‘Abd al-Latif was a 12th century Bagdadi philosopher and polymath — a prodigious writer on philosophy and medicine. For more than forty years he travelled throughout Iraq, Syria and Egypt looking for a good teacher in philosophy.
On Non-Monotonicity
Say what?! If you have been so lucky as to take an introductory logic class, then the logic you learned was monotonic — where conclusions from premises are iron-clad. Non-monotonic logics try to model the very real circumstance of needing to draw conclusions under uncertain conditions — where sometimes knowing more (premises), undermines things you thought you knew (conclusions). Philosopher Malte Willer tells us about it. (audio)
The Minds of Animals
A new book makes a strong case for the claim that animals have rich mental lives, says Alva Noë, but falters on the idea that when it comes to knowing what others think and feel, we can only guess.
Philosophy of Architecture
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a new entry on the philosophy of architecture. The issues in the philosophy of architecture extend beyond matters of aesthetics to include considerations of ethics, social and political philosophy, and philosophical reflections on psychology and the behavioral sciences.
In Praise of Specialization
Philosopher James Ladyman argues that philosophy’s inaccessibility is actually a good thing — the result of philosophy’s deep engagement with the rest of our knoweldge.
Philosophy Across the Disciplines
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ recent study of dissertations in humanities disciplines suggests that philosophy is more deeply engaged with science and social science than are other areas of the humanities.
When Is a Blind Spot Not a Blind Spot?
Alva Noe reflects some recent science news about our literal (not metaphorical) blind spots.
The Case for Philosophy in High School
What should be surprising is not that a case must be made for philosophy in America’s high schools, but that philosophy hasn’t already become an integral part of our schools long ago. What is our problem?!
What is Duty?
What is duty? Why do we put ourselves under moral obligations to others? Philosopher David Owens discusses. (audio)
On Choosing Not to Choose
John Stuart Mill argued that it is in choosing for ourselves that we develop not only self-knowledge, but autonomy and personality — and that this formed the foundation of political liberty. But sometimes, having to choose can be a burden, a hazard, and even an obstacle to liberty. Professor of law Cass Susstein discusses themes from his recent book, Choosing Not to Choose, which argues that sometimes avoiding or delegating choice is an exercise of individual freedom. (audio)
Philosophy Majors Top All Humanities in Earnings Power
There is one humanities major whose graduates are doing quite well in the job market—and it’s philosophy majors. In a recent study of 1.4 million college graduates, a philosophy bachelors degree ranked higher than all other majors in the humanities in earnings power — from early career all the way to later career.
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Can We Improve? Or Is This It?
It’s easy to believe in our own moral progress, until the next personality crisis, the next bad decision, the next war.
The Challenge of Things
An interview with A.C. Grayling during the Festival of Dangerous Ideas. (audio)
Teaching the Classics in Women’s Prison
Philosopher Christia Mercer teaches the classics of literature and philosophy at a women’s prison as part of the Justice-in-Education Initiative.
Newton’s Influence on Kant
New research by philosopher Michael Friedman reveals how a lesser-known Kantian text serves as an important bridge between Kant’s concepts of metaphysics and natural science, as well as between defining periods in Kant’s development.
Is Having Kids Really So Terrible?
A new study suggests becoming a parent can have a dramatically negative effect on people. Philosopher Alva Noe says we should be surprised at this nor is it so bad a thing.
A Burning in the Soul
Young protesters in Ferguson and beyond are rekindling the spirit of W.E.B. DuBois and the civil rights struggles of the 1960s and ’70s. An interview with philosopher Cornell West.
Social Deprivation
We are a highly social species, but what follows from that? Do we have a right to human contact? Philosopher Kimberley Brownlee takes on the difficult question of what sort of contact we owe each other. (audio)
Knowledge Ventured, Knowledge Gained
An interview with philosopher Sara Uckelman who specializes in dynamic epistemology.
What Vegans Won’t Do
The strict abolitionist approach to animal cruelty has moral logic, but little practical use.
Be There Philosophy in This Irrational Man?
Woody Allen’s new film engages in philosophical conversation, in arguments and justifications for actions, though not much reasoning is seen in individual characters. Philosopher Alva Noë gives use the lowdown on Woody Allen’s philosophically-tinged film Irrational Man.
Embodied Mind Learns its First Word
How do we learn our first words? What is it that makes the linguistic intentions of others manifest to us, when our eyes follow a pointing finger to an object and associate that object with a word? Philosopher Char Engelland discusses themes from his recent book, Ostension, which explores the way in which ostension crosses the Cartesian boundary between body and mind. [audio]
Can We Still Have “Just Wars”?
Before we say categorically that there is a moral imperative to destroy groups like ISIS, we must consider the moral cost. An interview with political philosopher Cecile Fabre (Oxford).
Are You a Secret Agent?
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a new entry on the concept of agency. In very general terms, an agent is a being with the capacity to act, and ‘agency’ denotes the exercise or manifestation of this capacity…. Debates about the nature of agency have flourished over the past few decades in philosophy and in other areas of research (including psychology, cognitive neuroscience, social science, and anthropology). In philosophy, the nature of agency is an important issue in the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of psychology, the debates on free will and moral responsibility, in ethics, meta-ethics, and in the debates on the nature of reasons and practical rationality.
When It’s Nobody’s Business
A moral expectation of privacy can change the meaning of an act, even and especially if that act is exchanging sex for money. Philosopher Laurie Shrage discusses the issues.
To Merge With the Divine
Prohibited from the academy in the medieval period, some women turned to mystical traditions in their search for knowledge of and union with God. Philosopher Christina Van Dyke holds that this specifically mystical element — to not only understand the divine, but to merge with it — in turn lent such women a singular authority for their day. [audio]
A New Way to Look at Emotions
In her research, scientist Lisa Feldman Barrett concludes that emotions are not distinct entities inside us. Philosopher Alva Noë weighs in.
Against the Charge of Speciesism
Peter Singer famously argued that many of us are guilty of speciesism in our dealings with animals – we give unreasonable priority to humans over other the interests of other animals. Speciesism is like racism and other prejudices in many respects. Philosopher Shelly Kagan outlines and criticises Singer’s arguments for this position, and in the process makes some interesting points about prejudice in general.
Animals in Medieval Philosophy
Medieval ideas about what animals do and do not have in common with humans, and how we should treat them.
The Myth of the Intuitive
According to some experimental philosophers, analytic philosophers rely too heavily on an unsound method which involves arguing for philosophical conclusions from premises whose force rests solely in what philosophers find “intuitive” or “obvious.”…In The Myth of the Intuitive: Experimental Philosophy and Philosophical Method, philosopher Max Deutsch defends analytic philosophy against the x-phi critique by showing that, in fact, analytic philosophers do not, in fact, treat intuitions as evidence. [audio]
Philosophy Changing How Kids Think
In some ambitious K-12 schools across the country, philosophy courses have made tangible improvements to the way students learn. In these classrooms, teachers tackle big concepts like ethics and epistemology. They ask, How can we know what we know? – a classic epistemological quandary — but they use Dr. Seuss to get there.