Philosophy in the News
- Crazy Little Thing Called
What is "love at first sight"? Until the final tears, things we call "infatuation" look pretty much like what we call "love at first sight."
- More Civility: Price $2 Million
Humility and Conviction in Public Life, an interdisciplinary endeavor at the University of Connecticut directed by philosopher Michael P. Lynch has awarded a total of $2 million to ten scholars engaged in various projects to improve public discourse.
- Just About Anything
Interest in the philosophy major has risen steadily in the past three decades. Graduates in philosophy inhabit Wall Street corner offices, roam the oak-paneled halls of the Supreme Court and reign over boardrooms in Silicon Valley. Learning "what you know and don't know and to think critically about the world you are in is useful for absolutely everything that you could possibly do in the future." (subscription)
- Ethics of Climate Economics
Despite their obvious importance, the ethical implications of climate change are often neglected in economic evaluations of mitigation and adaptation policies. Economic climate models provide estimates of the value of mitigation benefits, provide understanding of the costs of reducing emissions, and develop tools for making policy choices under uncertainty. They have thus offered theoretical and empirical instruments for the design and implementation of a range of climate policies, but the ethical assumptions included in the calculations are usually left unarticulated. ¶ This book, which brings together scholars from both economics and ethical theory, explores the interrelation between climate ethics and economics. Examining a wide range of topics including sustainability, conceptions of value, risk management and the monetization of harm, the book will explore the ethical limitations of economic analysis but will not assume that economic theory cannot accommodate the concerns raised. The aim in part is to identify ethical shortcomings of economic analysis and to propose solutions. Given the on-going role of economics in government thinking on mitigation, a constructive approach is vital if we are to deal adequately with climate change. The Ethical Underpinnings of Climate Economics. Adrian Walsh, Säde Hormio, and Duncan Purves (UF), eds. Routledge, 2017.
- Art, Art Thou Ended?
Artists and critics alike have claimed time and again that art is finished. But what could that even mean?
- Fighting the Ungood Fight
What should soldiers do in a war that ought not to be fought? Should they take part? If it's wrong for one country to declare war on another, isn't it also wrong for members of the armed forces to fight in that war? Often it is indeed wrong – but sometimes it may be the right thing to do.
- An Enquiry into War
Wars have been occurring for the past 10,000 years of human history in today's world of nuclear power, civil war and terrorism, is there any consolation to be had in the world of philosophy? (audio)
- Moral Grandstanding
Moral grandstanding is worse than being merely annoying. There are strong moral reasons to avoid grandstanding: it leads people to adopt extreme and implausible claims, and it devalues public moral discussion. But what is it and what are moral grandstanders trying to do?
- Thinking About Thinking About Thinking
...with Daniel Dennett. (audio)
- Your Bot Has Been Compromised
Machine learning algorithms are picking up deeply ingrained race and gender prejudices concealed within the patterns of language use.
- The Backfire Effect
The backfire effect is when "corrections actually increase misperceptions." Even given evidence against their beliefs, people maintain them, actually becoming even more strongly convinced of their beliefs.
- The Case for Less Work
The question of the proper number of working hours is one that has bothered economic and ethical thinkers for 2,000 years. As automation continues to alter our economy, it is a debate that is more relevant than ever.
- Employee Data Mining
It has now dawned on corporations that datamining their own servers can be a deep management asset: visualizing employee interactions, mapping domain expertise, replaying past events, tracking employee sentiment. But how we use or abuse digital technologies and the data they generate is one of the greatest ethical challenges of our time.
- She-hulk vs. the Pinocchio Paradox
Biographical piece on philosopher Roy T. Cook.
- The Myth of the Flow
In the myth of flow, the performer soars when the music starts. Do we acheive a state of flow when we are performing at our best? Philosopher Barbara Gail Montero discusses.
- Descartes on Opinion vs. Reason
It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to apply it well.
- Your Moral Meter Is Running
A data set 2,500 years in the making, i.e. recorded human civilization, gives us reason to think that most people make moral decisions in similar ways, based on prebuilt moral dispositions.
- What to Do with Your Organs
Just over 50 years ago, your body parts were useless without you. But today, those same parts—like your heart, kidney, or corneas—are scarce resources that can save lives. Medically, organ transplantation is an amazing step forward. But in its wake is a pile of questions that many of us have barely begun to ask. (audio)
- Timothy Williamson in the Unthinkable Chair
Philosopher Timothy Williamson talks about truth, post-truth, the dangers of relativism, and the political moment. "It's in the nature of opinions that people act on them, in ways that affect others as well as themselves, so it can't be morally indifferent what opinions they hold."
- A Science of the Soul
Daniel Dannett's lifelong quest to understand the making of the mind.