Philosophy in the News
- Eudaimonia 101
One school in the UK turns to the teachings of Aristotle in an attempt to boost pupil wellbeing. Welcome to Eudaimonia 101
- Do We Exist Just to Be Made Useful?
Irish President M.D. Higgins, who has been an advocate fof philosophy in schools, cautions against engineering our education systems as though the ultimate aim of education is to make us "useful." Higgins was speaking at the 2019 Irish Young Philosopher Award ceremony.
- Who’s a Cute Dog?
Philosophy majors set out to determine who has the cutest dog. The results? As complicated as you might expect. (See also summary coverage in Daily Nous.)
- Real Socrates
Will the real Socrates please stand up.
- Saint Anselm: Weird With a Beard
Anselm of Canterbury (11th century) argued that once a man is old enough to have a beard, it is unbecoming for him not to have one. In a recent paper, philosopher Henry Pratt (lightheartedly) takes up the challenge of the ethical and aesthetic obligations of facial hair.
- Hiking with Nietzsche
19th century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was a great hiker who spent much of the last decade of his life in the high country of Switzerland. John Kaag is a 21st century philosopher who travelled to the Swiss Alps with the aim of hiking the same trails as Nietzsche, and putting into practice some of Nietzsche's recommendations for "becoming who you are". In his memoir Hiking With Nietzsche, what John Kaag finds is that following in the footsteps of the great German thinker requires big shoes. (audio)
- Emotions and Climate Change
Are fear and anger rational responses to climate change?
- Philosophy Beyond Outrage
Nonviolent resistance could help confront righteous indignation and show us a path beyond the polarised present.
- First Tolerance and Something About a Comet
Pierre Bayle, widely read in the 18th century, offered the first distinctly secular justification of multicultural tolerance in his 1982 "Various Thoughts on the Occassion of a Comet."
- Wittgenstein’s Hut
A new exhibition at the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society presents replicas of three huts of 20th-century philosophers who did some of their most important thinking in conditions of exile.
- True Confessions
Resentment, blame and guilt are generally placed on the negative side of the ledger of human emotions. Nobody particularly enjoys the way they feel. But they are morally important all the same, both in the public sphere and in the realm of interpersonal relationships. And guilty confessions, while sometimes making us feel uncomfortable, can be valuable in communicating respect. (audio)
- Freedom of Association and Otherwise
The Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a new entry on freedom of association. The entry surveys several philosophical debates about the nature, scope, and value of our freedom to associate with other people in these different ways as well as our freedom to dissociate both from particular people and from people in general.
- Chief Ethics Officer
The C-suite has a new denizen. A few forward-looking companies have instituted a chief ethics officer position. This executive helps steer corporate values more broadly—and recently has been at the center of the discussion of how AI algorithms get used.
- The Race to Ethics
Can ethics be a competitive advantage in the booming artificial intelligence industry?
- Q&A: Quantum and Albert
Philosopher David Albert thinks there might be a “clear and straightforward” way of thinking about quantum phenomena.
- When Is a Woolly Mammoth Not a Woolly Mammoth?
If creatures just like tigers developed independently on some other planet, it is generally agreed that those wouldn't be tigers -- not the very same species. So, what if you went all Jurassic-Park on some woolly-mammoth DNA. Would the resulting creature count as member of a species that went extinct eons ago?
- The Philosopher and the Lie Detector
An incident, during office hours, with a philosopher's lie detector inspired this Yale student's debut novel.
- Mugged By Reality
Watching reality TV probably won't give you square eyes. But might it deform your character? With its parade of ghastly characters and displays of toxic behaviour (eagerly abetted by producers with an eye on the ratings), reality TV draws increasing concern from observers who fear that cast, producers and audiences alike could be participating in something morally reprehensible. (audio)
- What Is It Like to Have a Sixth Sense?
If you could add a novel sense beyond the normal five, what would you want it to be? (audio)
- Giving Philosophy the Business
Humanities subjects such as philosophy are just as vital to the future labor market as computer science, law, etc.