New links…

1. “Dear Professor James, I am so sorry but really I do not feel a bit like an examination paper in philosophy today” — Gertrude Stein was apparently the teacher’s pet in William James’ class
2. “To be honest it’s a bit embarrassing to see philosophy operating downstream from popular culture and corporate PR, rather than approaching these overwhelmingly dominant forces critically” — Justin E.H. Smith (Paris) brings his fascinatingly wide angle perspective to VR, AI, and applied ethics
3. “That question just stuck with me… you could be doing a whole string of science based on a flawed metaphysical assumption… Someone needs to work on this” — the “origin story” of philosopher Quayshawn Spencer (U. Penn)
4. What are the rules for not being a “COVID jerk”? — Eric Schwitzgebel (Riverside) lets us know
5. Psychological research inspired by Parfit’s work on the connection between prudence, morality, and the metaphysics of the self — some experiments “suggest that people who score high on the Future Self Continuity measure have higher moral standards”
6. “What if animals do know what it means to die?” — work in philosophy, psychology, and biology is helping us understand whether animals understand death (via Kris McDaniel)
7. “It is the duty of philosophy to destroy the illusions which had their origin in misconceptions, whatever darling hopes and valued expectations may be ruined by its explanations” — Immanuel Kant interviewed by Richard Marshall at 3:16AM

Mini-Heap posts usually appear when 7 or so new items accumulate in the Heap of Links, a 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!