Month: December 2018

Daily Nous Features

Mini-Heap

December 3, 2018

Here’s a new Mini-Heap!
Teaching

Summer (2019) Programs in Philosophy for Undergraduates

December 3, 2018

There are a number of universities and organizations that host summer programs in philosophy for undergraduates.
Lives of Philosophers

Daily Nous Holiday Gift Guide 2018

December 1, 2018

The holidays are coming up. What should you get the philosophers in your life? It depends, of course. Do you want to keep them in…

Heap of Links

“Professors can’t fix the problem on their own” — Victor Kumar on what university administrators need to do address AI's threat to higher education
“The wall between jus ad bellum and jus in bello, which had sustained his theory for almost half a century, was no longer sturdy” — a profile of Michael Walzer, focusing on his thoughts about just war theory and the Israeli-Palestine conflict
We may think that we lose something significant when AI beats us to a discovery — if we do, Daniel Greco says, that seems to imply we gained something significant, too
“Once upon a time there were a couple of handsome naturalistic philosophers working in and around the philosophy of fiction” — thoughts on new directions in philosophy of fiction, from several philosophers
What is the debate over whether transwomen are women even about? — Katie Zhou argues that it's about which facts are granted "the cross-contextual significance and stickiness characteristic of gender"
We’re putting human brain cells into mice brains — One moral risk of this, says Mackenzie Graham, is a decrease in our ability to interpret what mice behavior tells us about their experiences and welfare
The Rawls Game — with instructions, background, advice, and downloadable character cards
“The central question would shift from ‘How do we maximize shareholder value?’ to ‘How do different forms of organization distribute power, risk and reward — and which should we strengthen?'” — Chris Marquis on the case for abolishing, or at least radically changing, business schools
Asking “How did I get here?” may help us reflect on the nature of personal identity in ways that asking “Who am I?” cannot — Marya Schechtman's 2024 Central Division Meeting Presidential Address
“Collecting is a game, but what kind of game? It is an imperfect information game of acquisition” — a theory of collecting, from Steven Hales
“A general human tendency: to overestimate how far we have come in the progress of human knowledge” — a lengthy interview with Thomas Nagel
“Many couples do not survive trauma like this” — A profile of Susan Brison—who was brutally attacked in 1990, and who wrote about it in Aftermath—and her husband, Thomas Trezise, who has now written his own book stemming from those events
“Bad AI Consciousness Takes” Bingo Card — Henry Shevlin's area of specialization is becoming a popular topic in popular discourse, and he can't stand the "cavalcade of terrible takes"
Does the principle of sufficient reason imply panpsychism? If it does, do we then ponens or tollens? — Sam Kimpton-Nye on these questions and the "demand for intelligibility"
PTSD flashbacks may be harmful, but they may also be helpfully “resupplying phenomenal experience” to those who, owing to trauma, are “grasp alienated” — Michaela McSweeney on trauma and "madness-as-strategy"
A look at the very first issue of Mind — Brett Mullins surveys its articles on the occasion of the journal's 150th anniversary
The most bizarre plagiarism-related story ever — featuring: a death, an investigator, a dissertation, a mysterious red book, and more
New data on earnings by major and university — though not all universities
“AI poses two different existential threats to [our] valuing practices” — Jordan MacKenzie offers an account of why negative judgments about AI taking over our creative and caring activities are justified
“Submission” is a humorous clicker-style game about starting a career in academic philosophy (or not) — created by Nat Hansen

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Latest Comments

Student Philosopher on Where Intuitions Conflict
But the history of philosophy shows us no cases in which adept questioners left their interlocutors in aporia Mad Max – That's Bait
Vinicius Rodrigues on Where Intuitions Conflict
One of my main concerns with your answer to x-phi studies is that it makes having an intuition a difficult thing to pick out in the stream of…
philatetelist on Where Intuitions Conflict
This is a startling hypothesis, because if one and the same individual can have conflicting intuitions about cases, then a philosophically adept questioner should be able to elicit…
Patrick Lin on Death Just Got Out of This Truck (guest post)
“You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the world, and there's still going to be somebody who hates peaches.”— Dita Von Teese, American philosopher
Non-classical? on Where Intuitions Conflict
I guess I can see that reading of the call, but then I just know even less what to do with the call. Consider that, at least as…
PhilCon Ed on Death Just Got Out of This Truck (guest post)
That which makes plainspoken language more accessible and meaningful to you is the same mechanism which makes flowery, emotive language more meaningful and accessible to others.
Jason Aleksander on Death Just Got Out of This Truck (guest post)
it is disingenuous to claim that the academic life is somehow purely a life of the mind It's not impolite, but I'm not sure if you thought I…
Kenny Easwaran on Where Intuitions Conflict
I don't think the call is for non-classical logics. I interpreted more as a call for non-classical theories of meaning, such that the words being used to express…
Paul Wilson on Putting the Pub in Public Philosophy
While theology is not (usually) philosophy, a remarkably successful pub-centric public initiative is "Theology on Tap". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology_on_Tap RENEW International
Paul Wilson on Death Just Got Out of This Truck (guest post)
I often get in deep discussions with barflys, as did Aristotle. Their perspectives – far distanced from academic philosophy – homelessness, addiction, alienation from family, friends, romantic and…
Student Philosopher on Death Just Got Out of This Truck (guest post)
You seem like you would enjoy Hemingway
Paul Taborsky on Death Just Got Out of This Truck (guest post)
I hope it is not too impolite to point out that for anyone who is a professional philosopher, (especially the tenured kind) philosophy has quite obviously the ability…
Student Philosopher on Death Just Got Out of This Truck (guest post)
This was wonderful to read. To me, the best philosophy is literary.
Paul Wilson on Putting the Pub in Public Philosophy
While managing a used bookshop a couple of decades ago, I hosted a weekly "Socrates Cafe" with free coffee (and also wine and beer (this being New Orleans),…
John Bengson on Where Intuitions Conflict
Edit! "argued for *alternatives to* the no-conflicting-intuitions explanation"

Month: December 2018

Mini-Heap

Summer (2019) Programs in Philosophy for Undergraduates

Daily Nous Holiday Gift Guide 2018