The Force of Non-violence

An interview with philosopher Judith Butler about her recent book The Force of Non-Violence.

When the Clique Clicks and How

Philosopher Katherine Ritchie discusses the ontology of social groups. (audio)

A Brief History of Free Speech

What is free speech and how entitled to it are we?

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a new entry on category mistakes. Category mistakes are sentences such as ‘The number two is blue’ or ‘Green ideas sleep furiously’. Such sentences are infelicitous in a distinctive sort of way.

Post-Cartesian Stress

Mind-body dualism getting you down? You bet it is! We continue to think of mental and physical health as clearly distinct and isolated domains.

What’s Your Excuse?

Philosopher Pauline Silwa explains the difference between a good excuse and a bad one.

Tolerance and Its Limits

What should we do with people with whom we radically disagree: tolerate, shun, or persuade? (audio)

$188 Million for AI Ethics Institute and Humanities Hub

The gift from entrepreneur Stephen Schwarzman will go to Oxford University. It will create a humanities hub for interdisciplinary research and an AI Ethics Institute housed under the department of philosophy.

Humans: The Irrational Animal

Philosopher Bence Nanay argues that our complex imagination makes us more irrational (not less) than other creatures.

A Crisis of Health in the Open Society

Karl Popper’s idea of “the open society” was developed in response to mid-20th-century totalitarianism, and it promoted values of inclusivity, transparency and democratic freedom. Today, some fear that the open society is under threat, with negative consequences for a lot of things we’ve come to take for granted – including public health. (audio)

Glaucon’s True Fate

Socrates attempted to turn Plato’s brother Glaucon from the path of tyranny. But did he really succeed?

Do the Right Thing, Inc.

Companies are putting more explicit emphasis on their ethical standards both publicly and internally. So what do ethics officers actually do?

Life with Robbie

A review of Dumouchel and Damiano’s recent book Living with Robots.

Why Free Will Is Real

An interview with philosopher Christian List on the subject of his recent book Why Free Will is Real.

When We Should Ban Human Car Drivers

Philosopher Jonathan Webber argues that once we have driverless cars, we need to prohibit human drivers.

No Theology Without Philosophy

A basic understanding of philosophy is needed in order to really understand theology.

Causation and the Return of Free Will

An interview with philosopher Carolina Sartorio. “When we act freely we are sensitive to reasons in the appropriate way.”

What’s an Ai Ethicist to Do?

A look at what a corporate AI ethicist does. Article is based on an interview with Microsoft’s head of AI Policy and Ethics. (Sadly, the person who holds this position has no training in ethics.)

Grist for the Conflicted Mill

Is it better to choose a life of suffering or live happily in somebody else’s vision? Discussion of an essential tension in the thought of John Stuart Mill. (audio)

Fellow Creatures Great and Small

An interview with philosophy Christine Korsgaard about her recent book Fellow Creatues: Our Obligations to Other Animals.

David Chalmers and a Superintelligent Ai Order Chips

An interview with philosopher David Chalmers on artificial general superintelligence and virtual worlds.

Decoding Denis Diderot

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a new entry on Enlightenment thinker Denis Diderot which offers to extract and ressussitate the philosphical strains in Diderot’s work.

Philosopher Who Hung the Moon Very Nearly Hung for It

2,500 years ago, the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras correctly determined that the moon was a mountainous body that reflected light from the sun. This allowed him to explain lunar phases and eclipses. In politicized Athens, it also got him sentenced to death and then exiled.

The Doctor Said “Just Try Not to Think”

After a head injury, a philosopher must get total brain rest for recovery: no reading, writing or even thinking. “But, I’m a philosopher!”

Your One-way Ticket to Immortality

Want to live forever? You might change your mind a million years down the line.

How Much Does the Future Weigh?

How should we conceptualise human well-being over time and across generations? How ought the interests of people in the distant future to be taken into account when we make our own decisions? A new entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy discusses F.P. Ramsey’s approach to this problem

Ethics of Speech Analysis

Speech is at the heart of social interactions, and we unwittingly reveal much about ourselves when we talk. Your voice data is now picked up in so many ways. So, what happens when voice collection starts analyzing not just what we say, but how we say it?

Do You Know Where Your Brain (Data) Is?

Increasing use of brain data, either from research contexts, medical device use, or in the growing consumer brain-tech sector raises privacy concerns. And that foil hat is not going to help you anymore.

Read Like a Philosopher!

Philosopher David Concepción tells you how (and why it’s hard).

Philosophy of Macroevolution

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a new entry on the philosophical discourse on macroevolution. Macroevolution refers (most of the time, in practice) to evolutionary patterns and processes above the species level. It is usually contrasted with microevolution, or evolutionary change within populations. One question that looms over philosophical work on macroevolutionary theory is how macroevolution and microevolution are related.

Plato on the Value of Philosophy

An interview with philosopher Tushar Irani about his recent book Plato on the Value of Philosophy: The Art of Argument in the Gorgias and Phaedrus.

Decisionmaking as Making

The decisions you make aren’t just about what you want to do; they’re about who you want to be. For centuries, philosophers have tried to understand how we make decisions and, by extension, what makes any given decision sound or unsound, rational or irrational.

Mortality Also Means Being Born

The Beauty Imperative

What does it mean when beauty moves from aesthetic choice to ethical ideal? (audio)

Pentagon Seeks Principles for AI

The Pentagon is seeking a set of ethical principles for the use of artificial intelligence in warfare. The principles are intended to guide a military whose interest in AI is accelerating and to reassure potential partners in Silicon Valley about how their AI products will be used.