Philosophy in the News
- Cutting Time on the Bias
Would you prefer to a) be having a bad headache right now, b) have a bad headache tomorrow, or c) have had a bad headache yesterday? Uh-huh. So, you are time biased! When you think about something happening you care about it in a different way depending on whether it is something that happened in the past, is happening now, or will happen in the future. Philosopher Meghan Sullivan argues that this "time bias" (caring differently in virtue merely of when something happens) is irrational and we should strive to be temporally neutral. (audio)
- Three Conversations About Death
1) With Fiona Jenkins on the epicureans vs the existentialists. 2) With Brooke Davis, author of the novel Lost and Found. 3) With Jennifer Rodger on the neuroscientist of death and near-death. (audio)
- Philosophy Student Wins $100,000 Essay Prize
A doctoral student working on the ethics of technology design has won the Nine Dots Essay Prize, for a 3,000-word essay answering the question "Are digital technologies making politics impossible?" The winner receives $100,000 and a chance to expand the essay into a book, to be published by Cambridge University Press. (Cf. also Daily Nous)
- Our Uncommon Common Humanity
The concept of a common humanity sounds like a good idea, but making it happen is complicated amidst 21st-century-style disruption. Raimond Gaita is one of our most esteemed moral philosophers, and he's on the case. (audio)
- Suffering and Sentencing
In an extraordinary court case, a Rutgers University philosopher received a 12-year jail sentence for having sex with someone who can't speak. Peter Singer—ethicist and Princeton professor—says the sentence was too harsh because there's no evidence she caused any suffering. It raises the question of whether ‘suffering' is an appropriate moral guide to sentencing—is that what matters? Are there cases where no-one suffered but we still want harsh sentences? (audio)
- Artificial Autonomy
The coming A.I. singularity? It's not the intelligence, it's the autonomy, stupid.
- Princess Leia: Not Really a Princess!
We know that Princess Leia doesn't actually exist — she's a fictional character, and you play along with me in pretending that this person exists, so that we can all enjoy the movie. So, when we speak of Princess Leia do we speak of anything at all and if so, what sort of thing is that? (Cf. further reading). (audio)
- Bo Diddley: Roughneck Buddha
The improvisational mind is empathic and an underappreciated source of wisdom. In the words of Bill Evans, it can show a person "a portion of himself that he would not discover otherwise." Philosopher and jazz and blues musician, Stephen Asma, reflects on his times with Bo Diddley and other legends.
- Electrons, Love and Divine Fine-Tuning
What enamoured electrons might reveal about a divine plan. (audio)
- Extended Mindware
Does your mind extend beyond your skull? Andy Clark, who developed the theory of the extended mind with David Chalmers thinks it does. He explains the idea here. (audio)
- Making Sense of Things
An interview with philosopher Adrian Moore.
- How Philosophy Can Help
Philosopher Angie Hobbs discusses how teaching philosophy can help combat extremism, by nurturing empathy and rational thought. "Young people today are constantly at risk of indoctrination – whether deliberate or inadvertent. This can be by advertisers, politicians, religious extremists or the media. But the teaching of philosophy can help young people think for themselves, challenge misinformation and resist attempts to indoctrinate them."
- A New Hope
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a new entry on the concept of hope. Even though hope has historically only rarely been discussed systematically—with important exceptions, such as Aquinas, Bloch and Marcel—almost all major philosophers acknowledge that hope plays an important role in regard to human motivation, religious belief or politics.
- Wants: Dead or Alive
Is it moral to respect the wishes of the dead, above the living?
- Philosophy at a Distance
A listing of free online Philosophy courses & MOOCs from various universities and colleges.
- Philosophy Is a Great Major
But you don't have to just take our word for it.
- Spy in Your Pocket
It is difficult to opt out of services like Facebook that track us on the internet; IMSI-catchers can ‘vacuum' data from our smartphones; data brokers may sell our internet profile to criminals and/or future employees; and yes, we should protect people's privacy even if they don't care about it. Carissa Véliz (University of Oxford) warns us: we should act now before it is too late.
- Category 55 Emergency Doomsday Crisis
The APA talks to philosopher Todd May who is a philosophical consultant for the NBC television show The Good Place talks about the show and the advent of philosophical ethics on primetime television.
- Curb Your Robocar
In the event of unavoidable accidents, should the decisionmaking of your automated vehicle take the personal characteristics (age, gender, physical or mental condition) into account? Should your vehicle be required to take over if it can prevent an accident? These and other matters are addressed in Germany's ethics guidelines for Automated and Connected Cars.
- Evidence and Ideology
From drug laws to terror threats, we want political decisions to reflect the facts. But is objective evidence impossible and the facts ours to interpret? Philosopher Nancy Cartwright investigates. (free online course)