Philosophy in the News
- Racism and Speciesism
Can our degradation and abuse of other species be compared with racism, sexism and other offenses against fellow humans? The Stone takes the question to philosopher Peter Singer.
- Fallacies
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a new entry on fallacies. Knowledge of fallacies is needed to arm us against the most enticing missteps we might take with arguments—so thought not only Aristotle but also the early nineteenth century logicians Richard Whately and John Stuart Mill. But until recently, discussions of fallacies in the modern era were for the most part relegated to introductory level textbooks. It is only when philosophers realized the ill fit between formal logic, on the one hand, and natural language reasoning and argumentation, on the other, that the interest in fallacies has returned. Since the 1970s the utility of knowing about fallacies has been acknowledged (Johnson and Blair 1993), and the way in which fallacies are incorporated into theories of argumentation is taken as a sign of a theory's level of adequacy (Biro and Siegel 2007, van Eemeren 2010).
- Thinking About Dusting
What sort of existential anxiety are we avoiding when we clean?
- To Live and Medically-Assisted Die in California
Philosopher Gerald Dworkin on medically-assisted dying.
- On Word Meaning
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a new entry on word meaning. Word meaning has played a somewhat marginal role in early contemporary philosophy of language, which was primarily concerned with the structural features of sentences and showed less interest in the format of lexical representations and in the nature of the word-level input to compositional processes. Nowadays, it is well-established that the way we account for word meaning is bound to have a major impact in tipping the balance in favor or against a given picture of the fundamental properties of human language.
- We Are Not Human
Philosopher Elijah Millgram suddenly realizes the transhuman invasion has already happened and they is us!
- The Logical Structure of the World
Philosopher Kent Schmor discusses Rudolf Carnap's Aufbau (that is, his book The Logical Structure of the World).
- The Mindreader in the Mirror
An interview with philosopher Alvin Goldman.
- The Place of Philosophy in History (or vice versa)
What is the relation between philosophy and history? Theodore Zeldin gives his personal take on this important question.
- Philosophers Go Beyond Spacetime!
Two philosophers have won a million dollar grant to fund research on space and time after quantum gravity.
- Virtues of Political Disagreement
The fights between liberals and conservatives that seem to tear our democracy apart are actually the engines of a diverse, dynamic society. An interview with philosopher Jerry Gaus.
- Should We Trust Science?
Philosopher Alva Noë considers the significance of recent scandals that have rocked the world of science — and what they mean for us.
- Arguments Matter
…even if they come down to "semantics". Philosopher Greg Restall argues the point.
- What Kind of Problem Is Climate Change?
Philosopher Alex Rosenberg discusses.
- Half a Person
Philosopher Agnes Callard reflects on pregnancy, abortion and her miscarriage.