Tag: labs

philosophy

Adversarial Collaboration in Philosophy (guest post)

September 2, 2026

“Philosophical work would be better with adversaries collaborating to keep each other honest.”
Teaching

Philosophy Labs: Some Recommendations (guest post)

July 21, 2021

The “lonely-armchair methodology” is one way of approaching philosophy, but it’s not the only way.

Heap of Links

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
“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"

All Links →

Latest Comments

why on The Future Currency of Achievement in Human Philosophy
Well even if it was significant, we had twenty other posts discussing a variation of this theme in the past week, so maybe we could move on
Kevin Richardson on PIKSI’s in Peril but You Can Help (guest post)
I just wanted to give some additional support for this. I remember co-founding PIKSI-Boston when I was graduate student at MIT (alongside Matthias Jenny, A.E. Jaques, and Sally).…
Peter on The Future Currency of Achievement in Human Philosophy
One worry I have is that this will exacerbate prestige bias (which is already pretty rife). As someone at an institute that does not have great prestige, it's…
Another Philosopher on The Future Currency of Achievement in Human Philosophy
My thoughts exactly.
ERW on The Future Currency of Achievement in Human Philosophy
No, it can't on any serious definition of "do philosophy." There is plenty going on in our profession unrelated to tech fads.
Zach Goodsell on The Future Currency of Achievement in Human Philosophy
A computer can autonomously do philosophy now. Is that not a significant thing?
David Wallace on Is a “Hardwired Pause” of AI Possible?
The lower bound of both is presumably zero (AI might be harmless; for any economic crash, there is another one that causes less harm). The upper bound of…
assopro on Is a “Hardwired Pause” of AI Possible?
the upper bound will have lower likelyhood than the lower bound and the lower bound of economic disaster is far higher than the lowerbound of ai harm. the…
Adam Rigoni on The Future Currency of Achievement in Human Philosophy
I think I understand the complaint. Some people seem glib and or even jolly about something that, if true, is going to screw a lot of people over.…
Henry Shevlin on The Future Currency of Achievement in Human Philosophy
Oh, and with end-2030 as the specific resolution date!
Henry Shevlin on The Future Currency of Achievement in Human Philosophy
It was back in May 2023, we were walking in Riverside, and I was making the case that by the end of the decade AI would be able…
David Wallace on The Future Currency of Achievement in Human Philosophy
I can certainly see the case that, if AI progress slows or stalls, that the major companies won't be able to service their debt and will go bankrupt.…
exasperated grad student on The Future Currency of Achievement in Human Philosophy
There are blogosphere posts about LLMs basically every single day, often multiple, and as far as I can tell almost all of them have the unquestioned starting premise…
Michel on The Future Currency of Achievement in Human Philosophy
Only if you use entrails.
Meme on The Future Currency of Achievement in Human Philosophy
I don’t understand your comment. You aptly described the situation I’m lamenting (as sort of “cosmically unfair,” with no one particular to blame). But then you warn against…

Tag: labs

Adversarial Collaboration in Philosophy (guest post)

Philosophy Labs: Some Recommendations (guest post)