Links of late… “If we try to turn our lives into good stories, we may find ourselves making choices that are bad for us” — Amy Berg (Oberlin) on narratives, well-roundedness, and the good life Knowledge, but at what cost? — how should we figure out whether large scale basic science experiments are worth it? “A full development of our humanity requires developing our capacities to care for the world of nature and for the animals in it” — Martha Nussbaum (Chicago) is interviewed by Jeremy Bendik-Keymer (Case Western) at Boston Review Mind-wandering is a thing, but what about extended mind-wandering? And is habitual smartphone use an example of it? — Jelle Bruineberg & Regina Fabry (Macquarie) make the case for it, and other philosophers discuss it A philosopher proposes an “Institute for Ascertaining Scientific Consensus” to determine what we know and to fight misinformation — Can it be done? Should it? UPDATE: There’s an (LLM-based) app for that now: Consensus. It’s not very good… yet. “Can College Level the Playing Field?… No way.
Daily Nous Features
To φ Or Not To φ by Tanya Kostochka Other Daily Nous Comics / More Info About DN Comics Tanya Kostochka on Twitter
The weekly report on new and revised entries at online philosophy resources and new reviews of philosophy books… SEP New: Fakhr al-Din al-Razi by Peter Adamson and Fedor Benevich. Revised: Instrumental Rationality by Niko Kolodny and John Brunero. Computing and Moral Responsibility by Merel Noorman. Mental Causation by David Robb, John Heil, and Sophie Gibb. Justice and Bad Luck by Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen. Plato’s Ethics: An Overview by Dorothea Frede and Mi-Kyoung Lee. Neutral Monism by Leopold Stubenberg and Donovan Wishon. Set Theory by Joan Bagaria. The Philosophy of Childhood by Gareth Matthews and Amy Mullin. Cognitive Science by Paul Thagard. IEP ∅ NDPR Johann Friedrich Herbart: The Grandfather of Analytic Philosophy by Frederick C. Beiser is reviewed by David Sullivan. The Notions of George Berkeley: Self, Substance, Unity and Power by James Hill is reviewed by Genevieve Migely. A Plea for Natural Philosophy: And Other Essays by Penelope Maddy is reviewed by Gary Hatfield. Lire le Matérialisme by Charles T. Wolfe is reviewed by Ruth Edith Hagengruber.
Latest links… “He wants scholars to get real and acknowledge the field’s genuine strengths, which don’t necessarily lie in direct response to today’s political issues” — the “he” is John Guillory (NYU) and “the field” is literature, but he’s addressing problems relevant to philosophy, too “There is a popular picture of Socrates as someone inviting us to think for ourselves… [That] popular picture is severely incomplete” — Alex Pruss (Baylor) on Socrates’ conservatism What to say to a friend whose book you haven’t read — some suggestions “[The spider] tenses the threads of the web so that she can filter information that is coming to her brain… This is almost the same thing as if she was filtering things in her own brain” — extended cognition in the animal world How do ChatGPT and other large language models work? — philosopher Ben Levinstein (Illinois) provides a “conceptual guide” to them. Here’s Part 1. “Free Will?” — a documentary featuring philosophers and others, released this month — watch the trailer here A reflexive puzzle — (via The Browser) Discussion welcome.
Mind Chunks by Pete Mandik Other Daily Nous Philosophy Comics / More Info About DN Comics Pete Mandik on Twitter
Recent additions to the Heap of Links… “Art is artifice plus, one hopes, a hint of genius… Such hints can shine through… in the most unlikely, indeed the silliest places. There is of course no reason why AI should not also be such a place” — Justin E.H. Smith (University of Paris 7) defends AI art, sort of “I do not think a degenerated scholasticism is the right historical metaphor for our time and era. I think late antiquity Hellenistic philosophy is where we should see ourselves” — “We are in a syncretic age. And I believe that is why we will soon be forgot,” says Liam Kofi Bright (LSE) “Ethics are mostly an afterthought for… profit-driven organisations, a compliance hoop they must jump through.
The weekly report on new and revised entries at online philosophy resources and new reviews of philosophy books… SEP New: Legal Rights by Ori Herstein. Ernst Bloch by Ivan Boldyrev. Fitting Attitude Theories of Value by Christopher Howard. Revised: Ibn Bâjja [Avempace] by Josep Puig Montada. Dewey’s Moral Philosophy by Elizabeth Anderson. Bernard Williams by Sophie-Grace Chappell and Nicholas Smyth. Alfred Tarski by Mario Gómez-Torrente. Children’s Rights by David William Archard. Ibn Rushd’s Natural Philosophy by Josep Puig Montada. Négritude by Souleymane Bachir Diagne. Metaethics by Geoff Sayre-McCord. Coercion by Scott Anderson. Modal Logic by James Garson. IEP ∅ NDPR ∅ 1000-Word Philosophy ∅ Project Vox ∅ Recent Philosophy Book Reviews in Non-Academic Media On Paradox: The Claims of Theory by Elizabeth Anker is reviewed by Michael W. Clune at Los Angeles Review of Books. How to Say No: An Ancient Guide to the Art of Cynicism by Diogenes and the Cynics, and M.D. Usher (ed., trans.), is reviewed by Costica Bradatan at The Times Literary Supplement. Justice for Animals: Our Collective Responsibility by Martha Nussbaum is reviewed by Sigal Samuel at Vox.
Latest links… How much time does it take you, typically, to referee a paper (not how long it takes between agreeing to referee and submitting the report; just the actual time spent refereeing)? — share your responses at the Cocoon “A path to get college credit that begins on a YouTube video” — does this new collaboration with Arizona State University represent the future of universities, or portend their demise? “His most significant contribution is his argument that everything is ultimately made of water.
Ad Hoc by Rachel Katler Other Daily Nous Comics / More Info about DN Comics Rachel Katler on Twitter
The weekly report on new and revised entries at online philosophy resources and new reviews of philosophy books, including a recently introduced section featuring open-access reviews from academic philosophy journals… New: Alexander von Humboldt by Dalia Nassar. Aesthetic Experience by Antonia Peacocke. Stoicism by Marion Durand, Simon Shogry, and Dirk Baltzly. Revised: Revolution by Allen Buchanan and Alexander Motchoulski. Determinables and Determinates by Jessica Wilson. Colonialism by Margaret Kohn and Kavita Reddy. Donald Cary Williams by Keith Campbell, James Franklin, and Douglas Ehring. IEP Substance by Ralph Weir. Pseudoscience and the Determination Problem by Massimo Pigliucci. NDPR Analytical Essay on the Faculties of the Soul by Charles Bonnet is reviewed by John H. Zammito. Heidegger and the Problem of Phenomena by Fredrik Westerlund is reviewed by Jussi Backman. Epistemic Explanations: A Theory or Telic Normativity, and What it Explains by Ernest Sosa is reviewed by John Greco. Socrates on Self-Improvement: Knowledge, Virtue, and Happiness by Nicholas D. Smith is reviewed by Nicholas R. Baima.