Philosophy in the News
- Why (Not) Believe in an Afterlife?
The question of what happens to us after we die remains as mysterious now as it always was. Some think that death amounts to total annihilation of the self; others adhere to certain religious traditions, which teach that the immaterial soul (and, in some traditions, the resurrected body) can ultimately survive death. So how are we to judge between these radically different views of what happens to us in death? What would it mean for the self to persist beyond the destruction of the body? Is there room in a scientific account of the mind for the existence of an immaterial soul?Philosophers John Perry and Ken Taylor see the light with Richard Swinburne from the University of Oxford, author of Mind, Brain, and Free Will.
- Free the Philosophical Beast
"The subject that changed my life, and so many others, has been pacing for too long in its cage." Self-described philosophy journalist Steve Neumann explains why we need more of that outside the walls of the academy.
- Metacognition
Metacognition is cognition about cognition – what we do when we assess our cognitive states, such as wondering whether we've remembered a phone number correctly. Philosopher Joelle Proust discusses themes from her recent book, The Philosophy of Metacognition: Mental Agency and Self-Awareness.
- Philosophers in Germany Find Popularity
In Germany, a country known for esoteric thinkers like Hegel and Heidegger, the growth of media focused on philosophy is drawing university philosophers out of the ivory tower and thrusting them into the mainstream of public life...The boom includes several new magazines, three TV shows, several radio "philosophy cafes," ... an annual Philosophy Festival, and popular paperbacks aspiring to tackle philosophically the profound questions of the day.
- “Well, Virginia, Should We Believe in Santa Claus?”
The author of Does Santa Exist?: A Philosophical Investgation gives us a taste.
- Black Lives: Between Grief and Action
People sometimes miss that outrage and resistance are guided by love, and the desire to bring honor to life brutally taken.
- On Forgiveness
What is forgiveness? Whom does it benefit? Is it ever obligatory? Philosopher Lucy Allais addresses these and other philosophical questions about forgiveness.
- Philosophy of Dance
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a new entry on the philosophy of dance. The article considers 'the philosophy of dance as a Western theater or concert art ... art that is practiced in a performance space and that is offered for some sort of audience or spectator appreciation.' It focuses specifically on 'the philosophy of dance that has developed as a subset of philosophical aesthetics, considering philosophical questions such as “what is the nature of a dance?” and “how are dance performances appreciated, experienced and perceived?”'
- Darwin, Disaster and Prosociality
Could humans have evolved an altruism instinct? Philosopher John Proveti discusses. "Some philosophers think that disaster situations are test cases for this hypothesis, because it's in the midst of a crisis that we shed all of our politeness and express our natural instinct for self-preservation. However, John Protevi argues that disasters really reveal more about our prejudices... He argues that in fact, most of the evidence in paleoanthropology, evolutionary psychology, and sociology seems to favor the hypothesis that we evolved to cooperate with one another.
- Against Invulnerability
Buddhism and Stoicism alike "say that we can, and we should, make ourselves immune to the world's vicissitudes… Whether the task involves the abolition of desire, the elimination of emotion or the recognition of the ultimate oneness of all things, the guiding idea is that we can and ought to make ourselves invulnerable to the world's vagaries." But that can't be what we really wish for ourselves, says philosopher Todd May.
- A Brain Map You Can Really Use
Philosopher Alva Noe reflects on Sebastian Seung's project to map the brain by tracing out each of the trillions of links between individual neurons.
- Doing It By the Numbers
Are numbers mind-independent entites, or are they just social constructs? … Haim Gaifman argues that mathematical reasoning just doesn't make any sense unless we suppose that numbers are mind-independent entities.
- Real Issues Fuel Demand For Philosophy
In response to escalating environmental crises such as climate change and forest decline, many colleges and universities across the West are developing a variety of on-the-ground action-oriented degrees. ... Yet a growing number of environmentally-minded students are gravitating toward one of academia's oldest fields: philosophy.
- Why Life is Absurd
It's too short. Discuss.
- What is the Number 2?
Where do numbers come from? Are they “real”? Philosopher and mathematician Kit Fine asks these questions and more in an instructive lesson on the nature of numbers.
- Speech and Morality
Philosopher Terence Cuneo discusses themes from his book, Speech and Morality: On the Metaethical Implications of Speaking. In the book Cuneo argues for moral realism. He claims that were it not for the existence of moral facts, we would not be able to perform ordinary speech acts such as promising. As we clearly do perform such acts, there must be moral facts.
- Philosophy: Reloaded
Historian of philosophy, Peter Adamson, who heads the well-regarded podcast A History of Philosophy Without Gaps, talks about the impact new media is having on philosophy and the public.
- Why Can’t Philosophers Just Solve This?
Why can't the world's greatest minds solve the mystery of consciousness? Philosophers and scientists have been at war for decades over the question of what makes human beings more than complex robots. What's the hold up??
- What, To the Black American, Is Martin Luther King Jr. Day?
A national holiday and a new Hollywood blockbuster about Dr. King's role in one of the civil rights movement's greatest victories. Philosopher Chris Lebron reminds us that this holiday still "does not fully belong in the most profound ways to many Americans, and to some of them, it does not belong at all."
- Why Be Moral?
…and don't say because it is the right thing to do! Morality tells us how we ought to behave, if we want to do the right thing. But is there a reason why we ought to be moral in the first place? Both Plato and Kant believed that morality is dictated by reason and so a fully rational person is automatically a moral person too. But how can we derive morality from reason? Isn't it possible to be a rational but amoral or even immoral person? Philosophers John Perry and Ken Taylor walk the line with James Sterba from the University of Notre Dame, author of From Rationality to Equality.