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Phriscos

A “Frisco,” I recently learned, is “something that outsiders spontaneously say that secretly marks them as outsiders unbeknownst to them.” (more…)

The Demand for Philosophers

Last week I was part of a panel invited to discuss “The State of Philosophy: Challenges, Threats, and Strategies” at the Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association (APA). (more…)

Music star Taylor Swift is currently on tour. There have been countless recent articles about her, her popularity, her shows, her music, her wealth, her interactions with other celebrities, and even her fans using an app to make fake audio clips of her talking. What has been missing from all this coverage? Philosophers. Until now. (more…)

Philosophy in “Lesser-Studied Languages”

An interview project “devoted to exploring the philosophical richness of lesser-studied languages from across the world” has published four interviews so far, with more on the way.

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Philosophers as Arts and Culture Critics

“Which living philosophers review fiction, movies, television shows, plays, music, art, etc. for non-academic publications?” (more…)

Campus Controversies and “Inclusion… in the Activity of Knowledge Seeking”

Last September, when the Department of Philosophy at Rhodes College invited Peter Singer (Princeton) to participate in a webinar on pandemic ethics, faculty in other units on campus objected and urged that the event be canceled. (more…)

Philosophy & Activism (guest post)

While some people have argued that political activism is in tension with academic inquiry (here, for example), there have been plenty of well-regarded scholars who have engaged in such activism, including in philosophy. (more…)

Which Philosophical Problems Should Be Made Into Movies or TV Shows?

There are already lots of philosophical fictional movies and television shows, but not as many as there could be, and perhaps not as many as there should be. (more…)

Philosophy Majors Nominated for an Oscar

Kenny and Keith Lucas, aka The Lucas Brothers, both philosophy majors at The College of New Jersey (prior to both attending law school, both dropping out just before graduation, and then pursuing a joint career in comedy), have been nominated for the 2021 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, along with Will Berson and Shaka King, for Judas and the Black Messi..

Philosopharmacology

A few months ago I learned about the brilliant conceptual artwork of Dana Wyse. Since the mid 1990s she has been producing a series of fake pharmaceuticals packaged to look as if they were supposed to be sold at a convenience store in the 1970s or ordered from the back of a magazine or comic book. And she actually sells them—mainly at museum shops and now online. ..

Philosophers Find They Have a New Fan on Social Media: MC Hammer

“Why Science Needs Philosophy,” a multi-authored opinion piece published last year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), got a boost last Friday when rapper MC Hammer shared it with his 3.2 million followers on Twitter. (more…)

Philosophical Intuitions and Demographic Differences

Philosophers are disagreeing over what lessons should be learned from the growing body of work on the interplay between demographics and philosophical intuitions. (more…)

Contemporary Philosophy Is “Only the Most Recent Part of the History of Philosophy”

Why study the history of philosophy? That’s a question Clifford Sosis (Coastal Carolina) asks Peter Adamson (LMU) in a new interview at What Is It Like To Be A Philosopher? (more…)

New and Unusual Philosophy Courses

I’ve been hearing about some unusual and interesting philosophy courses that are currently being taught or developed. (more…)

End Philosophical Protectionism

Economists generally agree that protectionist policies (tariffs, subsidies, and other measures that shield domestic firms and laborers from foreign competition) are harmful to a nation’s overall economic well-being. Yet they continue to be implemented, in part because they sound good to an uninformed population susceptible to being swayed by nationalist rhetoric, an..

Unquestionable Orthodoxies of Philosophy

Philosophy, of all disciplines, should never embrace dogmas—it is supposed to be the quintessentially critical subject—and yet now we’re full to the brim with them. You cannot criticize or even question the current orthodoxies regarding race, gender, or sexual orientation within the institutional framework of academic philosophy.

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“The Jeremy Bentham” Will Visit the Met

When 18th-Century philosopher Jeremy Bentham made arrangements for his head and skeleton to be preserved, clothed, and available for display at University College London, it was because he thought that the human body should be (more…)

A Way Western Philosophy Is Racist

Mainstream philosophy in the so-called West is narrow-minded, unimaginative, and even xenophobic. I know I am leveling a serious charge. But how else can we explain the fact that the rich philosophical traditions of China, India, Africa, and the Indigenous peoples of the Americas are completely ignored by almost all philosophy departments in both Europe and the Engl..

$2.6 Milllion Grant for “The Geography of Philosophy”

Philosophers Edouard Machery (Pittsburgh) and Stephen Stich (Rutgers) and anthropologist H. Clark Barrett (UCLA) have been awarded a $2,569,563 grant from the John Templeton Foundation to fund their project, “The Geography of Philosophy: An Interdisciplinary Cross-Cultural Exploration of Universality and Diversity in Fundamental Philosophical Concepts.” (more…)

Language, Philosophy, and the Allure of Ignorance

We behave, by and large, as if we are operating in an efficient market in philosophical ideas, insights, and arguments. This state of affairs is, while intelligible and even rational in some sense, just bizarre.

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Claims About Cultural Superiority (including guest post by Mollie Gerver)

All cultures are not equal. Or at least they are not equal in preparing people to be productive in an advanced economy. The culture of the Plains Indians was designed for nomadic hunters, but is not suited to a First World, 21st-century environment. Nor are the single-parent, antisocial habits, prevalent among some working-class whites; the anti-“acting white” r..

If Anglo-American Philosophy Is So Great, Where Is Its Las Casas? (guest post by Manuel R. Vargas)

Many of my philosophical friends are puzzled by my interest in Anglo-American philosophy… If Anglophone philosophers—especially those who have studied in the U.S.—have done anything important, anything that matters, they tell me, surely there would be evidence in the other humanities, in the architecture and ambitions of the great universities, or in the visib..

Don’t Turn It Off (guest post by Danielle Wenner)

The following is a guest post * by Danielle Wenner, assistant professor of philosophy at Carnegie Mellon University. It’s a response to Monday’s post, “When To Turn It Off.” (more…)

On Philosophy’s Uselessness to Society

In “Publishing in Philosophy,” Michael Huemer, professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado, provides an abundance of detailed and helpful advice about writing and publishing philosophical work. He also includes several criticisms of the refereeing system and some suggestions for fixing it. Along the way is an interesting discussion of philosophy’s uselessn..

Intelligence and the Cultures of Philosophy and Psychology

Josh Knobe holds appointments in Yale’s Department of Philosophy and its Cognitive Science program. He has an office in the Psychology Department there and he works with both philosophy and psychology students. In a recent interview, he remarks on the cultural differences between the disciplines of philosophy and psychology:

It has been fascinating to experience ..