Links of interest to those interested in philosophy…

1. “It is not only that the benefits of reading Aristotle counteract the costs, but that there are no costs” — Agnes Callard (Chicago) on literal speech, messaging speech, and “cancel culture”
2. “Doctoral students’ prodigious intelligence consigns them to a life of ‘purgatory’ as they pursue largely unattainable dream jobs and reject more realistic careers as failure” — many young academics are “victims of their own ‘above the data’ brains”, according to a study of “quit lit”
3. Nostalgia doesn’t need your memories — Felipe De Brigard (Duke) on the evidence for, and implications of, revising our traditional understanding of nostalgia
4. Did you attend a protest recently? Your face might be in a police database. — Evan Selinger (RIT) and Albert Fox Cahn on a new way “protesters are risking their safety and wellbeing standing up for justice”
5. Are the great thinkers all dead? Why? — Michael Huemer (Colorado) shares some possible explanations
6. “Transitional justice provides an important lens for ongoing national conversations in the United States about police brutality and racial injustice” — Colleen Murphy (Illinois) explains
7. Plato, 360 BCE: “the element of ‘earth’ is cubical in form” — geophysicists & mathematicians, 2020 CE: “Ummm, yeah. He nailed it”

Mini-Heap posts appear when 7 or so new items accumulate in the Heap of Links, the ever-growing collection of items from around the web that may be of interest to philosophers. Discussion welcome.

The Heap of Links consists partly of suggestions from readers; if you find something online that you think would be of interest to the philosophical community, please send it in for consideration for the Heap. Thanks!