philosophy
Category“Staring Contests That Make Philosophy Interesting”
Imagine two people arguing about free will. One of them, let’s call her Olga the Optimist, has just heard about compatibilism and happily accepts the view that of course she has free will—after all, if she wants to raise her arm she raises her arm and if she doesn’t she does not. The other one, let’s call him Paul the Pessimist, points out to her that she hasn’t c..
The Enduring Evolution of Logic (guest post by Thomas Ferguson & Graham Priest)
The following guest post* is by Thomas Ferguson and Graham Priest (both of CUNY) and appears here via a special arrangement with Oxford University Press and the OUP Blog, at which it is also posted. (more…)
The Focus on Minutiae
Clifford Sosis (Coastal Carolina) has published a new interview at his What Is It Like To Be A Philosopher? site, this time with Florida State University’s David McNaughton. (more…)
Interestingly Wrong
In a Facebook discussion about yesterday’s “Traits of the Greats” post, Liam Kofi Bright, a PhD student at Carnegie Mellon University, offers the following take on what is conducive to success in academic philosophy: (more…)
Traits of the Greats
What are the traits of great philosophers? Matthew Hammerton, a PhD student at Australian National University, came across a passage by Cambridge University mathematician Timothy Gowers about how genius is neither necessary nor sufficient for success as a research mathematician, asking whether philosophers thought something similar about those who produce high quali..
A Taxonomic Map of Philosophy (Updated with 5-layer Version!)
Some people go to PhilPapers, get the information they need, and then just go. Not Valentin Lageard, a graduate student in philosophy at Université Paris-Sorbonne. The Categories page at the site caught his eye. He says:
Valuable Philosophical Life Lessons
I’m often asked—by non-academics, natch—if anything in my philosophical education has been of value to me in the conduct of my lived life. I have found this question hard to answer in the terms my interlocutors demand, largely because is because posed to me in what I call ‘lock-key’ form: is there a lock you have been able to open with a philosophical key? The l..
Metaphysics, Cognitive Science, Sci-Fi-ish Questions
L. A. Paul (UNC) is working with Tomer Ullman and John McCoy (both in the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department at MIT) on issues related to “modality, time, and self.” They are seeking philosophers to answer a few questions. (more…)
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 ..
Intuitive Bedrock and the Philosophical Enterprise (guest post by Dale Dorsey)
The following guest post* is by Dale Dorsey (Kansas) and appears here via a special arrangement with Oxford University Press and the OUP Blog, at which it is also posted.
Intuitive Bedrock and the Philosophical Enterprise
by Dale Dorsey
Imagine a person who spends their entire life sitting on the couch watching and rewatching Clive Barker’s Hellraiser. He..
Two Ideas About Philosophers’ Use Of Intuitions
James Andow (Reading) has a very interesting post up at Imperfect Cognitions about how philosophers use intuitions. As he notes, and as everyone acknowledges, philosophers use intuitions. And, as everyone knows, reliance on intuitions has come under intense criticism, increasingly so during the past four decades. But how fair is the general criticism of philosophy t..
The History of the Past 40 Years of Analytic Philosophy
A new call for papers has been circulating, soliciting work on the history of “Late Analytic Philosophy.” From the CFP:
In the last 25 to 30 years historical attention has been directed toward analytic philosophy: some analytic philosophers have begun reflecting on the philosophical tradition they belong to, while many other scholars have been working on what is ..
Department of Deviance
Amy Olberding (Oklahoma) has opened up the Department of Deviance. Tagline: “We would have called it Philosophy but that name was already taken.” From various posts at the site:
MISSION STATEMENT: Know more things!
STRATEGIC PLAN: Find out more things by reading more, listening to more people, and asking about stuff we don’t understand but sure would like to. ..
There Is No One Thing Philosophers Should Be Doing
The latest in a series of articles exhorting philosophers to engage with “real world problems” appears at Inside Higher Ed this morning, focusing on philosophy at land grant universities in the United States. The authors, Christopher P. Long and Michael O’Rourke (both of Michigan State), write:
To the extent that philosophy lost its way by turning inward, perhaps..
Philosophical Diversity in U.S. Philosophy Departments (Updated)
The vast majority of philosophy departments in the United States offer courses only on philosophy derived from Europe and the English-speaking world. For example, of the 118 doctoral programs in philosophy in the United States and Canada, only 10 percent have a specialist in Chinese philosophy as part of their regular faculty. Most philosophy departments also offer ..
The Philosophical Art Of Bringing The Dead Back To Life
When I look back at the projects I pursued during my career, a certain pattern becomes evident. In several cases I was drawn to an idea, or a theory, that had been declared dead. In each case, when I looked at the death certificate, it seemed to me that the victim deserved to be resuscitated. I devoted myself to this project of bringing the dead back to life.
..
Are History’s “Greatest Philosophers” All That Great? (guest post by Gregory Lewis)
“Why are the greatest philosophers skewed towards the past, when they should be skewed towards the present?”
Individuals, Institutions, and Conservatism in Moral Philosophy
How many effective altruists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
None. There are better uses of their time.
How many critics of effective altruism does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Who knows? They’re still waiting for structural reform to take care of it.*
A few years back, the movement known as “effective altruism” began to make a splash, and over the..
Right Answers And What Makes For A Good Philosopher
Just going to put this on the table:
Question: You work in the field of the philosophy of religion. Are you a religious person and do you think philosophy of religion can be done by people who aren’t?
Answer: Let me take your questions in order. I am a Christian; I was brought up in a Christian family; and I’ve never really wavered from that worldview. I defin..
A Philosopher’s “Brain Music”
Dan Lloyd, Brownell Professor of Philosophy at Trinity College, thinks that “brain dynamics resemble the dynamics of music” and that “tools from cognitive musicology may therefore be useful in characterizing the brain as a dynamical system.” (more…)
Doing the Best By Their Opponents
Which philosophers or philosophical papers do the best at presenting compelling and sympathetic cases on their opposition’s behalf, so that even if you’re unfamiliar with the general issue, you come away from the paper thinking, “Well, if they can answer that case, there isn’t going to be much more to be said”? Which philosophers or philosophical papers present part..
Proud Provincialism, Superficial Sophistication
Among the humanities, philosophy is the field in which provincialism has most successfully disguised itself as a universal and timeless form of inquiry. It’s not at all uncommon to hear philosophy professors demur, when the subject of, say, classical Indian logic comes up, that they “regrettably don’t know anything about that.” What they really mean is: “My professi..
Why Don’t We Study African Philosophy?
Over 100 billion people, it is estimated, have lived on earth. About one-seventh of the world’s population lives in Africa now. So, by way of a simplistic and historically irresponsible calculation, we could very roughly (and probably under-) estimate that 15 billion people have lived in Africa. 15 billion. Compare that with this estimate of the number of African ph..
Philosophy in the University: A Defense
“Far from being years of ‘enduring failure,’ the last 150 years have been philosophy’s best.”
So argues Scott Soames (University of Southern California) in an essay on the influence of academic philosophy in The New York Times column, The Stone. Framed as a response to “When Philosophy Lost Its Way,” by Robert Frodeman and Adam Briggle (University of North Texas), ..
Is this the Golden Age of Philosophy?
Bryan Frances thinks that there are several indicators suggesting that we’re at the start of a “golden age of philosophy.” These indicators include:
- Much greater knowledge of the individual empirical sciences plus the attempt to use them in approaching philosophical problems
- Much greater knowledge and use of formal sciences such as math, logic, formal semantic..
Death and Progress
A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it. — Max Planck
In a recent paper, “Does Science Advance One Funeral at a Time?“, Pierre Azoulay (MIT), Christian Fons-Rosen (Universitat Pompeu Fabra), and Josh..
Summer Workshops Supporting Diversity in Philosophy
Athena in Action, a networking and mentoring workshop for graduate student women in philosophy, has posted a call for applicants to its 2016 workshop. Helpfully, the workshop website has a page that lists other summer diversity initiatives for philosophy:
For graduate women interested in mathematical philosophy:
Most Important Philosophy Poll Poll
Just thought Daily Nous should up its poll game…
Vote here.