Philosophy in the News
- Casino Philosophicus Royale
You could say that life is a gamble—from the casino to the surgery. Yet few fully comprehend the concept of probability. It might seem overly mathematical, but lurking underneath are some far-reaching questions about cause and effect; freedom and determinism; and whether a roulette wheel will necessarily spin red after rolling black thirty times. Darrell Rowbottom knows that in life—as in the casino—the stakes can be high. (audio)
- Why Do Animals Age?
And, since this is philosopher Peter Godfrey-Smith, what can octopuses teach us about it?
- What Is a Woman?
'What is a woman?' may seem like a straightforward question, but as Amia Srinivasan explains, it is not quite as easy to answer as you might think. Here she discusses key feminist ideas about what a woman is, beginning with Simone de Beauvoir's ideas on the topic. (audio)
- Professional Ethics: Real Estate
Real estate agents have an actionable code of ethical conduct and must complete ethics coursework every four years. But how well is it working?
- The Stories We Tell Ourselves
If we reflect on the stories we tell about ourselves, both to others and to ourselves, we may well find out things about who we are that complicate the view we would prefer to be identified with.
- Epistemic Oppression
Philosopher Kristie Dotson discusses the relation between information and political oppression. Being oppressed isn't just about having some of your rights denied -- sometimes it's about imbalances in who important information gets shared with, or imbalances in what kind of information gets shared. The philosophical term for these imbalances is ‘epistemic oppression.' (audio)
- I’m Just Not Myself Today
Buddhist thought holds that at core there is no real self. This strikes the western ear as thoroughly counterintuitive—after all, we have memories, bodies, thoughts and other forms of self continuity. Scottish sage David Hume had no qualms about such a radical thought, and his work points to the real possibility of integrating eastern and western insights. (audio)
- The Age of Contempt
Insult and mockery is dehumanizing when wielded by the powerful. To resist, the disempowered should reject it, not return it.
- Slowbotics Revolution
Take it slowly and notice things: it's a simple prescription that could lay the groundwork for the next stage in robotics machine learning, if not philosophy itself. Indigenous digital innovator Angie Abdilla is applying old ways to new challenges in perception, mind, and machine intelligence. Meanwhile, a slower approach to philosophy itself is also being explored by Michelle Boulous Walker. (audio)
- Evil Is Us
The traditional view of evil is attractive because it exonerates us normal people; we can feel comfortable in our decency. But in this way, we fail to assess our own choices and character honestly. We caricature evil as something that only comes from people with rotten souls, so when we think about evil, we envision something that by definition excludes us. But as the philosopher Bernard Williams once said, “The modern world…has made evil, like other things, a collective enterprise.”
- What Is Love in the 21st Century?
Plato's dialogues are saturated with references to love. The way in which discussion of this theme is interwoven with wider ethical reflection suggests that he thinks that if we are to lead a good life, then it is a matter of the utmost importance to be clear about passionate love, or desire, what he calls eros.
- Where’s Waldo’s Consciousness?
Some neuroscientists are starting to come around to what many philosophers have urged: if you want to understand the mind, you can't just look at brains.
- Fuelling the Will
Alfred Mele has spent four years and four million dollars trying to get to the bottom of free will. His mega project attempted to understand free will in philosophy, science and religion. One view he holds to be true is that free will is a bit like fuel: it comes in grades, depending on what you think free will actually is. And he's certain that science has some way to go if it wants to debunk free will. (audio)
- Metaphysics of Pregnancy
Philosopher Elselijn Kingma discusses the metaphysics of pregnancy. (video)
- Art and Morality
The relation between art and morality is complex. Eileen John explores some of the ways that art, and literature in particular, can explore questions about how we should live. (audio)
- Waking Dreaming Being
Are we conscious during dreamless sleep? Are there states of consciousness that persist throughout deep, dreamless sleep? A recent discussion in cognitive science suggest the answer may be 'Yes'. Philosopher Alva Noe discusses.
- Local Ethics: Transparency and Trust
Jacksonville's director of ethics, Carla Miller, drafted the city's code of ethics and has become a global authority on intragovernmental ethics. According to Miller, most “of the public trust in government is produced (or lost) at the local level.”
- To Dance With the Devil You Don’t
Just when we think we've outgrown our naive belief in real evil... We don't think it is in our genes and people don't get possessed. Yet across media and culture, from Star Wars to ISIS, evil still holds us strangely captive. Why does the devil seem to have the best tunes? Is the battle between good and evil an essential part of being human after all? Philosopher Rebecca Roache joins a psychologist and an author for an evil discussion. (video)
- Why Is There Some Art Rather Than No Art
Why is it that art of some kind is found in every human culture? Stephen Davies discusses a variety of evolutionary explanations. (audio)
- Moral Particularism and Moral Generalism
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a new entry on moral particularism and moral generalism. Among the many questions that arise in the attempt to come to philosophical grips with morality is what role, if any, moral principles have to play. Moral generalists think morality is best understood in terms of moral principles; moral particularists deny this. To many people, ordinary moral practice seems suffused with principles (keep your promises; do not steal; do unto others as you would have them do unto you). To many moral theorists, the central task of moral theory has been to articulate and defend moral principles, or, perhaps, a single ultimate moral principle (maximize impersonal happiness; act only on maxims that can be willed as universal law). The debate between particularists and generalists thus has the potential to force a reassessment of both moral theory and moral practice.