Here is the latest edition of Mini-Heap: 10 recent items of interest to philosophers (and others interested in philosophy) from the Daily Nous Heap of Links.

(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.)

1. “‘How do we approach these [ancient Indian] texts scientifically and critically?’ The answer was, ‘Obviously not as Indians read them, for Indians never developed scientific, critical thinking.'” — Vishwa Adluri (Hunter College) on Indology and the philosophical and ethical dimensions of interpretation (via Bharath Vallabha)
2. “We magnify our powers through trust in others, and we atrophy them through distrust. The solution to broken trust caused by gun violence may be investing more trust in each other, which is intuitive and counterintuitive at the same time.” — Mavis Biss (Loyola Maryland) in The Stone at The New York Times
3. “I’m not sure that philosophy as we know it has a future” — an interview with Jürgen Habermas
4. “Dismissive claims by famous physicists that philosophy is a useless intellectual exercise… seem to start from the false assumption that philosophy has to be of use for scientists” — Michela Massimi (Edinburgh) is interviewed on the occasion of her receipt of the Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Medal
5. Why do we need philosophers in order to adequately study character? — “philosophers can be helpful in contributing… conceptual clarity and precision” and “psychology by itself can’t tell us what the virtues are,” says Christian Miller (Wake Forest)
6. “If you say ‘We know a movement isn’t being silenced because it’s got lots of supporters, is widely discussed, and has popular leaders’ then you’re mixing up the numerator and the denominator” –interesting thoughts on silencing
7. A philosophy professor who moonlights as a mind-reader — a profile of Alexander George (Amherst College), his act, and its connection to his teaching
8. “Sometimes we do want to ‘win’ an argument and convince our opponent. But too much focus on this may lead to something of value being lost, such as the deep understanding of the other that can come through conversation.” — Christina Easton (LSE) on public discourse
9. Why all theories of consciousness are question-begging — “All general theories of consciousness commit to the falsity of some view against which there is no currently available decisive argument. They thereby commit beyond the evidence,” argues Eric Schwitzgebel (UCR)
10. A book co-authored by a philosophy instructor-turned-psychologist is a best-seller in Japan — it is called, “The Courage To Be Disliked”