philosophy
CategoryPhilosophy that “Tries to Get You to See Something”
At the beginning of his interviews of philosophers, Richard Marshall asks his subjects, “What made you become a philosopher?” (more…)
Comparing Three (No, Four) Top 20 Lists in Philosophy (guest post)
What, if anything, can be learned by comparing several different accounts of philosophers’ citation rankings and other indicators of disciplinary impact? (more…)
“Very often, corralling is not an option in philosophy”
That’s philosopher Frank Jackson (ANU), in a recent interview published in The Undergraduate Philosophy Journal of Australasia. (more…)
In Defense of the Details (guest post)
Are today’s younger philosophers “focusing too much on detailed investigations of individual things and not enough on the big picture”? (more…)
World Philosophy Day & the Growth of Philosophy
Today is World Philosophy Day, a day designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to celebrate “the enduring value of philosophy for the development of human thought, for each culture and for each individual.” (more…)
What Philosophers Believe: Results from the 2020 PhilPapers Survey
Results from the 2020 PhilPapers survey, with responses from nearly 1,800 philosophers (mainly from North America, Europe, and Australasia), to questions on a variety of philosophical subjects and problems, have now been published. (more…)
Overlooked Originators in Philosophy
Sometimes, one person comes up with an idea, but the idea later comes to commonly be attributed to someone else. When has this happened in philosophy? (more…)
Intuitive Expertise in Moral Judgments (guest post)
“People’s intuitive judgments about thought experiment cases are influenced by all kinds of irrelevant factors… the issue of intuitive expertise in moral philosophy is anything but settled.”
Analytic Philosophy’s “Triple Failure of Confidence”
“Analytic philosophy suffers from a triple failure of confidence, especially among younger philosophers.” (more…)
What Predicts Professional Philosophers’ Views? (updated)
A new study looks at correlations between professional philosophers’ philosophical views and their psychological traits, religious beliefs, political views, demographic information, and other characteristics. (more…)
Surprise! There’s Philosophy About That
If you ask a person on the street what philosophy is about, that person may respond with… (more…)
Philosophers On Space Exploration
Last week, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) landed its rover, Perserverance, on Mars. It is the latest in a series of human efforts now spanning six decades to physically explore and travel to parts of the the universe beyond our terrestrial home. Scientific and engineering matters tend to dominate public discussion of these efforts, yet..
Aristotle’s Sexism & Simplifying Historical Ideas “to Fit a Modern Agenda”
“It is often not a good idea to simplify the history of ideas in order to fit a modern agenda.” (more…)
Philosophical Quality Now and Then
“I find no good reason to think that philosophers today do philosophy better than philosophers 600 or 2000 years ago.” (more…)
Things Philosophers Know About Science That You Don’t
What do philosophers know that others don’t? This post intiates an occasional series that asks philosophers to engage with the “conventional wisdom” on various topics by sharing strongly-supported or widely-held philosophical insights and ideas about them.
Two Letters Attributed to Hume Are Fakes
Two letters attributed to Hume are in fact forgeries completed in the late 1960s, according to a study by Felix Waldmann (Cambridge) recently published in the Journal of British Studies. (more…)
Interactive Visualization of Philosophy on Wikipedia
How does Wikipedia “see” philosophy? (more…)
Computer Simulation as “Core Philosophical Method”
“Modeling and computer simulations, we claim, should be considered core philosophical methods.” (more…)
If You Could Ask A Dead Philosopher…
Suppose you could ask a dead philosopher one question. Who would you ask, and what would you ask them? (more…)
Philosophical Intuitions Are Surprisingly Stable (guest post by Joshua Knobe)
There seems to be a very general pattern whereby the tensions in people’s intuitions tend to be surprisingly stable across both demographic groups and situations. (more…)
Toward a More Expansive Conception of Philosophy (guest post by Angela Potochnik)
To whom are we as philosophers speaking and responding; whom do we judge as being worthy of dialogue and, hopefully, our intellectual contributions? (more…)
No Escape from Metaphysics
I think the contemporary scene is thriving. But you still run into critics of metaphysics. I find these critics genuinely puzzling. Let me try to explain why. (more…)
The Ethics of Social Distancing (and Why It Doesn’t Rule Out Protesting) (guest post by Travis N. Rieder)
“When I began writing this essay, public health-minded folks were arguing that social distancing is morally required, and expressing dismay at the pictures of partiers and beach-goers that surfaced after Memorial Day weekend. Just a couple weeks later, however, attention had shifted to the nationwide demonstrations against racism and police brutality, which was supp..
A History of Philosophy Journals Using Topic Modeling (guest post by Brian Weatherson)
When you go looking for patterns in over 32,000 academic philosophy articles, what will you learn? (more…)
New Map of SEP Based on Reciprocated Entries
A new visualization of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP) displays the connections between each article and the “related entries” listed at the end of it. (more…)
On What Philosophical Issues Have You Changed Your Mind?
Galen Barry, assistant professor of philosophy at Iona College, writes in with a question for Daily Nous readers. (more…)
A Philosophy & COVID-19 Bibliography
Jef Delvaux, a Ph.D. student in philosophy at York University, has undertaken the project of putting together a bibliography of writings by philosophers about the COVID-19 pandemic and related issues. (more…)
The Origins of Analytic Philosophy
“I find the usual story exaggerated, incomplete, and mistaken in various ways.” (more…)