Philosophy in the News
- Lifehacking the Stoics
Stoics emphasized goodness and peace of mind for leading a virtuous, ethical life. In practice, they sought to limit negative emotions and encouraged self-control. The idea was to become clear-headed and thus able to tap into the knowledge of universal reason. Ryan Holiday's recent book The Obstacle is the Way means to adapt stoicism into a modern day lifehack.
- The One with the Tentacles
A review of philosopher Peter Godfrey-Smith's book "Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness".
- My ‘verse Is Extra Spooky
Entanglement, in quantum mechanics, sets up a strange state of physical affairs. Two seemingly distant particles can tango, so to speak. Einstein called it spooky action at a distance; he didn't like it much. So, all very well for the arcane world of contemporary physics—where it should stay—or should it? We talk with a theorist who has no doubts about this sub-atomic oddity and its wider implications—from the arts to terrorism. (audio)
- Philosophy of Immunology
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a new entry on the (philosophy of immunology. Immunology, from its earliest inception, has been concerned with biological identity—its establishment and maintenance. Three key characteristics—individuality, immunity, and identification—together have defined immune identity, and as one notion changes meaning, so do the others. Individuality undergirded the science from its inception, for the defense against pathogens was framed by an attacked patient pitted against an invasive something.
- Rescuing the Beautiful
Would you do something simply because it was ‘beautiful'? As a reason for action it's fallen on hard times—the aesthetic and the ethical don't seem to mingle much in our world—but leading moral philosopher Sophie Grace Chappell won't let it go without a fight. Fond of old fashioned words like noble and honourable, Professor Chappell believes that beauty is as good a motivation as any, and is determined to rescue it from a world more interested in calculation than contemplation. (audio)
- “Limitarianism” for Two Million
Philosopher Ingrid Robeyns, holder of the Ethics and Institutions Chair at Utrecht University, has won a 2 million euro grant from the European Research Council to pursue her research on "limitarianism" over the next five years.
- Mental Representations
Do we represent the world in our minds? Do we have the equivalent of inner maps? Does that imply an inner map-reader, a homunculus, in the mind? Philosopher Peter Godfrey-Smith discusses these questions. (audio)
- Data Minding
What happens as the factors and costs of more and more things that circumscribe your life are the result of algorithms we know nothing about? A brief on themes from Cathy O'Neil's book Weapons of Math Destruction.
- The Should of Logic
We consider it to be a bad thing to be inconsistent. Similarly, we criticize others for failing to appreciate (at least the more obvious) logical consequences of their beliefs. In both cases there is a failure to conform one's attitudes to logical strictures. This suggests that logic has a normative role to play in our rational economy; it instructs us how we ought or ought not to think or reason. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a new entry on the normative status of logic
- The Internet of Ethical Things
The Internet of Things provides fertile ground for marketing, but it is a minefield for the Ethical Use of Data (EUoD).
- Memories, Morals, and Me
What do we generally consider to be the most essential part of personal identity—our memories, our personalities, our preferences and desires? Autobiographical and emotional memory might be important but as it turns out, research on attitudes to Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases leads to some startling answers on where we think identity really resides. (audio)
- Memories, Morals, and Me
What do we generally consider to be the most essential part of personal identity—our memories, our personalities, our preferences and desires? Autobiographical and emotional memory might be important but as it turns out, research on attitudes to Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases leads to some startling answers on where we think identity really resides. (audio)
- Social Construction: Follow the Money
Philosopher Asta Sveinsdóttir talks about social-institutional entities, like money, the economy, political borders, nation states, and categories of people. (audio)
- Philosopher Who Jump Started the Information Age
The son of a moral philosopher, he was a polymath by the age of eight. He developed the binary number system. He envisioned the computing systems that would define the digital revolution. And he built machines to do it. Ach! But this was the eigtheenth century. Who was this guy?!
- What’s the Use of Regret?
We can't change past actions, so what is the point of regret? Philosopher Gordon Morino discusses.
- Social Contract in an Age of Terror
You've probably noticed the proliferation of closed-circuit security cameras. And if you've caught a plane overseas lately, you would have experienced a heightened sense of risk. For everyone's sake there are daily incursions—such are the implicit demands of the social contract as envisioned by a range of thinkers from Hobbes to Rawls via Rousseau. But if the world gets a bit too scary, does the contract become null and void? (audio)
- Philosophy Beyond Anger
Anger is the emotion that has come to saturate our politics and culture. Philosophy can help us out of this dark vortex. Philosopher Martha Nussbaum talks about that most difficult of emotions.
- Reflections on the Manifest Image
An interview with philosopher, Ray Brassier.
- Too Heap or Not Too Heap, That Is the Question
Philosopher TImothy Williamson discusses vagueness and the ancient paradox of the heap.
- Moral Compass a Little Hinky?
According to Malcom Gladwell, that it because too often today people confound wrongfulness with harmfulness. (video)