Philosophy in the News
- Cake or Biscuit? Only the Philosopher Knows for Sure
The so-called Jaffa Cake is a delicious structure consisting of a small sponge with a chocolate cap covering a veneer of orange jelly. It is arguably Britain's greatest invention after the steam engine and the light bulb. But is a Jaffa Cake actually a biscuit? Important? Yeah, when you set out to make the world's biggest one.
- Unconscious Intelligence and Other Nightmares
Philosopher David Chalmers worries we are on the brink of creating a world devoid of consciousness. Discussions of the emergence of superintelligent machines often presume that eventually AIs will become conscious, but why think that? Instead, we could be creating a world endowed with artificial intelligence but not actual consciousness.
- The Dream of Enlightenment
Pierre Bayle was one of the most famous and respected philosophers of his day, but few today know much about him. Anthony Gottlieb, author of a recent book about the early Enlightenment, The Dream of Enlightenment, argues that Bayle should be better known, particularly for his views on religious toleration, scepticism, and the secular state. (audio)
- What Kind of a Fact Is a Flying Pig for Kant for Example?
An interview with philosopher Jessica Leech.
- Mental Maps: My Way or the Highway
Could you find your brain on a map? Could you find a map on your brain? Do we have maps in the brain? How else can we understand how we find our way around? Neuroscientist Kate Jeffery discusses recent findings about how animals represent the world around them. (audio)
- Is Morality Our Rock or Merely Fiction?
We all want to do the right thing. But from suicide bombers to Catholic priests, we have never been able to agree on what the right thing is. Should we give up on morality and see it as a fiction designed to justify beliefs? Or, despite our disagreements, is it still the most important tool we have to measure human behaviour? (video)
- The Morality of Targetted Killings
Is the targeted killing of ISIS figures morally justified? Although some have very strong convictions about this question and they might think answering it to be quite simple, a fuller examination reveals it to be a rather complicated matter. The issue of whether such killings are justified breaks down into at least four different questions which we would want to have answers for.
- Marx’s Soho, Bentham’s Booth & Wittgenstein’s Grave
Wittgenstein's grave, Jeremy Bentham's Auto-Icon, Karl Marx's flat in Soho, London... Welcome to Philosophy Sites a podcast all about places that are linked with philosophers. (audio)
- Dennett on Technological (and Political) Change
An interview with philosopher Daniel Dennett on the fragility of civilisation in face of overwhelming technological change, and, inevitably, politics.
- What’s on Your Philosophy Playlist?
For singer-songwriter José González it is the Philosophy Bites podcast. Now that's what we call style.
- An Ethics of Truth
A review of Jason Neidleman's Rousseau's Ethics of Truth: A Sublime Science of Simple Souls. Neidleman conceives of Rousseau as engaged in a project that he calls an "ethics of truth". This ethics of truth consists in the conviction that knowledge of how best to live and how to achieve a state of communion with a variety of different objects (other people, nature, God) is available to human beings provided they listen to the simple voice of nature and conscience and are not distracted by the artificial obstacles that society places in the way of self-knowledge and the good life.
- Agnotology & the Propogation of Ignorance
Agnotology is the study of wilful acts to spread confusion and deceit, usually to sell a product or win favour. The BBC talks with historian and agnotologist, Robert Proctor.
- Conscious Thought
Conscious thought allows us to think about the world, but also about counterfactual situations. It is part of what makes us human. Keith Frankish discusses the nature of conscious thought. (audio)
- Dante as Philosopher
Italy's greatest poet Dante Alighieri was also something of a philosopher, as we learn from his Convivio and of course the Divine Comedy.
- Nobel Laureate to Study Philosophy
Nineteen-year-old Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai aims to study philosophy at Oxford.
- Public Engagement and How Not to Be Unimportant
An interview with philosopher Rebecca Kukla.
- Where to Start Reading Philosophy?
Philosophers make suggestions for good self-study.
- How to Tame Your Political Emotions
We need … to investigate, and to cherish, whatever helps us to see the uneven and often unlovely destiny of human beings in the world with humor, tenderness, and delight, rather than with absolutist rage for an impossible sort of perfection. Maria Popova shares highlights from Martha Nussbaum's book Political Emotions.
- Maximum Security Ethics
Local coverage of philosopher Jennifer Lackey's ethics course for maximum security inmates.
- Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing, Leibniz?
You know you want to know.