Philosophy in the News
- Liquid Modernity & the Spoke in the Wheels of AI
A discussion of the works of Zygmunt Bauman and Hubert Dreyfus. (audio)
- James Franco’s Philosophy Sideshow
Would you rather learn philosophy from James Franco or a professor of philosophy? Well, now you don't have to choose.
- Descartes Is Not Your Daddy
Descartes' strategy and pivot to self-knowledge were already at the time centuries old. It is no wonder his contemporaries were not very impressed.
- Say One Absolutely True Thing
Leave your certainties at the door as we enter the bedeviling matrix of truth. (audio)
- Newton and the Apple Bonkers
How did Isaac Newton, a young man whose family lived on a modest farm, figure out the theory of universal gravity, a scientific development that left the world forever changed? The happy truth of the real history is that Newton's discovery was even more amazing than the story of the apple falling from the tree implies.
- Internship for Engaged Philosophy
The Engaged Philosophy Internship Program (EPIP) connects philosophy graduate students with projects and interests outside of academia and includes work with community organizations and other non-academic partners. (See also coverage on Daily Nous.)
- Will Gene Editing Outstrip Ethics?
Genetic engineering is moving so fast, we must bring the philosophy and ethics toolbox to the floor of the lab itself, to the place where the lines need to be drawn in the first place.
- Death and Deprivation
What, if anything, is bad about death, apart from the process of dying? Death often involves deprivation - is that the what makes death bad? Maybe yes, maybe no. Philosopher Shelly Kagan discusses death and deprivation. (See also the wonderfully titled: "Is Death Bad For You?") (audio)
- The Importance of Philosophy in Science Education
Science brims with important conceptual, interpretative, methodological, and ethical issues that philosophers are uniquely situated to address
- Is Goodness Natural?
Philippa Foot was one of a group of brilliant women philosophers who swam against the tide of 20th-century moral thought.
- Kwame Anthony Appiah
A wide-ranging three-part interview of esteemed philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah.
- Big Ideas for Little Kids
In the "Philosophy with Children" course at Carleton College, students design and lead philosophy discussions for first and third graders.
- A Paradox of Aspiration
Sometimes we aspire to value things we do not value. But this is a little like wanting something that you don't want. If you don't now value what you want to value, why do you want to value it? Could your aspiration be anything by misplaced? (audio)
- Is Taxation Theft?
The assumption that you own the contents of your pay-packet, although almost universal, is confused, argues philosopher Philip Goff. There is no serious political theory according to which your pre-tax income is 'yours' in any morally significant sense. And this ought not surprise us, because you really don't have a moral claim to your gross income.
- Cosmic Dreams
Over 40 years have passed since string theory was first developed: what questions have been answered? Philosopher James Ladyman examines one of our strangest endeavours. (video)
- Modes of Being ala Mode
An interview with young philosopher Catherine Legg. Her current research bridges philosophy of language, logic, pragmatism, speculative metaphysics and ‘applied ontology'.
- How to Stay Hopeful in Dark Times
Hope might also be considered disempowering, if we see it as a form of passive endurance—waiting around for things to change. But hope is an active way of being. Philosopher Sandy Grant explains.
- The Battle of the Senses
If you want to really see the night sky without light pollution, you may now have to head to a dark sky reserve. But what will we do for the rest of your embattled senses?
- On Being Vulnerable
Doctrines of ‘invulnerability' like stoicism and Buddhism encourage us to approach trials in a way that spares us suffering. In contemporary culture, these doctrines sound ‘on the money'. But openness to suffering might in fact hold the key to a better life. It seems a counterintuitive claim but hurt and wellbeing might make compatible bedfellows. (audio)
- Dehumanizing Others
Our tendency to dehumanize the "other" has led to the greatest of atrocities in human history and is arguably responsible for such widespread social ills as racism, sexism, and xenophobia. Where does our tendency to dehumanize others come from? Is it based on bad arguments that can be rationally refuted, or are its origins deeper in the human psyche? (audio)