Tag: banned books

Academic Freedom

Philosophers’ Books among those Banned from US Naval Academy Library (updated)

April 5, 2025

In January, Donald Trump issued an executive order banning various books on race, gender, and other topics from public schools for kindergarten through grade…

Heap of Links

“Submission” is a humorous clicker-style game about starting a career in academic philosophy (or not) — created by Nat Hansen
“The best investment in education is to become the most human human—a challenging, fulfilling, exciting pursuit that connects us across generations” — an interview with Christa Acampora, philosopher and dean of Arts & Sciences at UVA
“What would happen if we tried to live without the mythology of agency at all?” — It's worth pondering, since "agency is just an internal command hallucination," says Alexander Douglas
“Reading List” is a free Mac app for keeping track of papers to read — philosophy PhD student Hayden Kajercline created this productivity tool for researchers, with help from Claude
How should we react to scary predictions about AI? “First: by asking questions” — "If you believe predictions uncritically, it amounts to obeying in advance," says Carissa Véliz
“I feel unbelievably lucky that I was able to make philosophy my profession” — Karen Ng reflects on her path into philosophy, at #first-genphilosophers
The ordinary concept of knowledge “doesn’t work at all the way philosophers said it does” — a round-up of studies shows how weird the philosophers' version of the concept is
1000 or so psychiatrists were asked to diagnose standardized clinical case vignettes. “Two doctors agreed on the diagnosis only 55% of the time” — What does this tell us about psychiatry? Or about other fields in which experts disagree?
Where Aristotle taught Alexander — "this newest dig may be the most revealing yet, offering insight into the specifics of Alexander the Great’s education"
Over 4000 of the Justice Department’s lawyers have left their jobs since Trump’s second term began — The New Yorker on the moral dilemma facing some government employees: resign and avoid complicity, or stay and resist where one can?
Underappreciated philosophy published between 1970-2019 — some old posts to which you can still add works that should be better appreciated
The AI threat to independent student writing is not necessarily a threat to student learning — what's needed, says Joe Cruz, are courses "in which ideas are expressed in real time and analytical thought unfolds as a debate or an oral defense or a group discussion"—and small enough classes to make that work
Would you take a pill that allows you, with no ill health effects, to permanently forgo sleep? — Rebecca Lowe thinks you have no good reason not to, though she neglects to consider that sometimes it's the world that needs a break from you
Fifty essays in the philosophy of paleontology — by Max Dresow at the Extinct blog
“Asking whether [an AI] model ‘has a world model’ leaves much unresolved. Our findings point toward mechanistically studying its world modeling; uncovering the structures it learned [and] the world modeling capacities that recruit these” — further research on the internal representations of AIs
Sixty Years of Philosophy in America — Ernest Sosa's Dewey Lecture from the 2024 APA Eastern Division Meeting
“You’re responsible for other people’s learning of this material, so you better know it at a higher level yourself” — for 20 years, the Socrates Project at the University of Toronto has hired senior philosophy undergrads to run weekly tutorials for introductory students
“Suddenly, my problems stop being problems in the world. They become problems in my head. The problem is no longer: ‘my job is demoralizing, but I can’t leave it’… It’s: ‘I have a chemical imbalance that prevents me from enjoying life'” — Justin Garson on “the pathologizing tendency”
A political theorist and a comedian discuss the American presidency — "The Oath and the Office" is the podcast of Corey Brettschneider & John Fugelsang
An “evidence revolution” has taken place in medicine and other fields over the past 50 years — but, as Benjamin Santos Genta asks, there's still the question: "what counts as good scientific evidence?"

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Latest Comments

Matt LaVine on AI for Philosophy: Progress through Capital-Intensive Philosophy (guest post)
https://i.makeagif.com/media/11-21-2015/axFkKa.gif David Strohmaeir? DailyNous? Academic philosophy? All of the above?
David Wallace on Those OpenAI Math Results
I certainly agree that *AI* is useful in philosophy, very much in the way you describe. The "alien oracle" metaphor isn't supposed to cover all aspects of AI;…
Yuanshan Li on Those OpenAI Math Results
I agree that there's no evidence to think these remarks are handpicked. However, I disagree with your characterization of the comparison between the mathematicians' reactions with the discussions…
Alice on Those OpenAI Math Results
We know that mathematics requires talent and cultivation of it. With equal amount of effort, some are able to develop new tools and methods, while others can't, and…
David Wallace on AI for Philosophy: Progress through Capital-Intensive Philosophy (guest post)
Heuristics are fallible, of course; that's what makes them heuristics. Right now I find it reasonably reliable, but that could change.
Effective Vegan on AI for Philosophy: Progress through Capital-Intensive Philosophy (guest post)
Beyond following conscience, ethical veganism could also have broader social and political impacts for longer term change (Martindale 2026). While a more wicked collective action problem, dissent to…
David Wallace on AI for Philosophy: Progress through Capital-Intensive Philosophy (guest post)
Without prejudice to your larger concerns about the future: drinking water in the premodern period was generally much more polluted than water now. If the choice is microplastics…
tfortarski on Those OpenAI Math Results
"It’s instructive to note that the alien oracle would be almost useless in philosophy." I'd say the argument given to support this claim only applies to a subset…
Noah Gordon on Those OpenAI Math Results
I had thought that this was a joke, but in conjunction with your other comment, this seems worth addressing. (It's a sad commentary on the state of discussion…
Mike on Your One Piece of Philosophy Grad School Advice
If you are a white male, get together with a smart woman on the program. Then you may be hired as a trailing spouse. Otherwise, your chances are…
Socrates on AI for Philosophy: Progress through Capital-Intensive Philosophy (guest post)
1. There is basically no evidence that more AI enables people to do more philosophy or more meaningful things. Instead people spend more time doomscrolling and engaging in…
Meme on Those OpenAI Math Results
And yet…
Caio Cezar Silva on AI for Philosophy: Progress through Capital-Intensive Philosophy (guest post)
I get the point. The problem I see is that technology does not grow up in a vacuum. Generally, there will be a portion of society developing them…
AGT on Those OpenAI Math Results
at no point did I suggest AI would end civilization, in fact, I didn't even argue against AI. I have made point about the political (and economic) dimension…
Meme on Those OpenAI Math Results
This all sounds reasonable. I mainly worry about the “where is it now” question because of what it portends for the “where will it be” question. And I…

Tag: banned books

Philosophers’ Books among those Banned from US Naval Academy Library (updated)