dennett
Mini-Heap x 2
Usually, the Mini-Heap contains 10 recent items from the frequently updated Heap of Links, collected and numbered for your convenience. However, after last week’s break, many links have accumulated, and so here is a double edition of the Mini-Heap. (more…)
Bypassing The Journals
In the lively and still ongoing discussion of “The Publication Emergency,” a few commenters suggest the use of an online archive for posting papers. See this comment from Jc Beall. In a related comment written at about the same time as Beall’s, jdkbrown says: (more…)
Philosophy for the Public: With or Without Gimmicks?
Freelance philosopher and writer Nigel Warburton, whom you may know from Philosophy Bites, is prompted by the occasion of a straightforward interview with a philosopher in the mainstream media (Daniel Dennett on BBC Radio 4) to observe how rare it is, and then, in a series of tweets, come up with increasingly ridiculous pitches for TV and radio producers about how ..
What Philosophical Term or Concept Should Be More Widely Known?
Each year, Edge.org publishes responses to an “annual question.” This year’s question is “What scientific term of concept ought to be more widely known?” There are 206 responses, with a number of philosophers among the respondents.
Here are a few examples, to give you a sense of the variety: (more…)
2016 Philosophy News in Review, Part 3
Here’s part three of our look back at the news, issues, and events that occupied the attention of the philosophy profession in 2016 (part one, part two). (more…)
The Philosophy Twitterverse
What, if anything, should philosophers do on Twitter? The Blog of the APA has an interesting interview with longtime Twitterphile Kelly Truelove (@TrueSciPhi), who, among other things, keeps statistics on philosophers and their followers on Twitter, and he addresses this question. (more…)
Big Philo and Distortions in the Philosophical Research Agenda
In a post at Digressions & Impressions, Eric Schliesser (Amsterdam), discusses the influence of big money on academic research, with a focus on “displacement effects.”
The contestation of ideas is costly in time and effort. This matters because time and effort are scarce resources. All other things being equal, it follows that if some ideas X are being discussed/..
Princeton Receives 16,000 Pages of Lewis Correspondence
Stephanie (“Steffi”) Lewis, the widow of David Lewis (1941-2001), has donated his papers to the Manuscripts Division of the Princeton University Library. There are a lot of them:
The David K. Lewis Papers include his extensive correspondence with other philosophers and scholars. There are approximately sixteen thousand pages of Lewis’s correspondence, both incomi..
Online Philosophy Resources Weekly Update
Below are the past week’s updates to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP) and Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (NDPR). There was nothing new at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy nor any new videos at Wi-Phi this week, but there’s a bonus entry below. (more…)
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…)
Al Mele Interviewed at “What Is It Like…?”
Clifford Sosis (Coastal Carolina) continues his series of interviews at “What Is It Like To Be A Philosopher?” (previously) with Florida State University’s Al Mele. A synopsis:
In this interview, Al Mele talks about his early love of sports (especially football), games and reading, being an East Detroit greaser, getting a football scholarship, being disinterested..
More on Funding & Philosophy
A couple of weeks back we discussed questions related to funding and philosophy in the context of Daniel Dennett’s review of a recent book by Alfred Mele (original post; Mele’s reply). Matthew Brown, a philosopher of science (UT Dallas), thinks that one of the central questions raised there should get more attention. He wants us to “think past the specific details o..
Heap of Links
1. Martha Nussbaum (Chicago) is interviewed by Russ Roberts at EconTalk.
2. Chris LeBron (Yale) is interviewed at 3am Magazine on philosophy of race and “the struggle of humanity vs. humankind.”
3. Was Sartre indifferent to the slaughter of Jews?
3a. Composer Scott Johnson’s latest work, “Mind Out of Matter,” features the words and voice of Daniel Dennett (Tufts..
Philosopher-Celebrity Lookalikes
Brian Talbot (Washington University in St. Louis) has been pairing up well-known philosophers with the celebrities who look like them. He kindly agreed to let me share the idea with you. Here’s my favorite so far:
That’s David Hume and Jon Lovitz.
This match, owed to Julia Staffel, is also quite good:
Descartes and Richie Sambora, of course.
You..
Heap of Links
1. Coseru on Pigliucci on Priest, i.e., what does Buddhism really have to say about contradictions?
2. A guide to Plato’s early and middle dialogues, with outlines, interpretive essays, and other supplementary material, has been created by Mark Anderson and Ginger Osborn (Belmont University), and is available for free here.
3. “Exercise. I’m sorry, you pasty, pale..
Which Scientific Idea Should Go?
Edge.org’s 2014 annual question is “What Scientific Idea is Ready for Retirement?” Many weigh in on the question with interesting answers, including philosophers Andy Clark (Edinburgh), Daniel Dennett (Tufts), Steve Fuller (Warwick), Tamar Gendler (Yale), Ian Gold (McGill), Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, A.C. Grayling (Birkbeck), Thomas Metzinger (Johannes Gutenberg-U..
Heap of Links
1. Wittgenstein and cricket.
2. The ethics of fashion.
3. A book of 33 interviews on the relation between science and religion
4. The philosophy of walking.
5. Dennett’s advice for criticizing with kindness.
6. Vox on Ziker (previously) on how professors spend their time.
7. A philosopher has written a memoir about surviving rape.
8. Venn diagram organizes the varie..
Winners of the 2014 “World Thinker” Competition
You may recall that 14 philosophers were among the candidates in Prospect Magazine’s 2014 World Thinker competition. The competition is over and the results are in. Amartya Sen comes in at the top spot! Other philosophers in the top 20 include Mary Beard (7), Jürgen Habermas (12), Slavoj Žižek (14), Nick Bostrom (15), Daniel Dennett (17), Rae Langton (18), Elizabeth..
Will a Philosopher be the 2014 “World Thinker”?
Prospect Magazine’s “World Thinker” competition is underway. Among the 50 candidates are 14 people listed as philosophers: Elizabeth Anderson, Nick Bostrom, Judith Butler, Patricia Churchland, Daniel Dennett, Jürgen Habermas, Rae Langton, Thomas Nagel, Martha Nussbaum, Derek Parfit, Janet Radcliffe-Richards, Amartya Sen, Roberto Unger, and Slavoj Žižek. You can vote..