Great! I had a perfectly good example involving amoral judgements that almost ALL of my students could relate to - downloading music without paying for it. When we get to ethics in my intro classes, I like to briefly discuss the following version of non-cognitivism. NG1 - All moral judgements are merely expressions of a ...
Don’t forget the deadline for submissions for the Young Philosophers Podcast Lecture series is just 3 DAYS AWAY!Check the website for details - www.youngphilosophers.org ...
One possible skeptical scenario is Russell’s 5 minute hypothesis. This is from The Analysis of Mind… In investigating memory-beliefs, there are certain points which must be borne in mind. In the first place, everything constituting a memory-belief is happening now, not in that past time to which the belief is said to refer. It is not ...
My semester is going to be awesome! We started a faculty paper workshop last semester. We met every other week at the White Inn. I got great feedback on two works in progress. It was awesome, and we’re doing it again this semester. I’m up this Friday. I’m commenting on papers at the Central and the Pacific ...
Every now and then there’s a study that is alleged to confirm the hypothesis that we are irrational. This should be of interest to philosophers who work in decision theory or epistemology. Here’s another one that as discussed in the LA Times. However, I don’t see how this shows that people are generally irrational. Here’s a ...
Here’s an article with the sensational title “Time May Not Exist” - I only had a chance to quickly scanned the article, but it looks like a classic conflation of metaphysics and epistemology. Basically, they seem to be drawing a metaphysical conclusion about the nature of reality based on our inability to measure something. I’m not ...
Seriously? Guantanamo detainees are not human beings or persons? What!? ...
This is pretty half-baked, but consider the following proposition: (1) January 9, 2008 is present. I think it is a vague matter whether or not this is true. Imagine the minutes are slowly ticking away on January 8. It’s 11:59. As the time passes, January 9 will be determinately present, but exactly when that happens ...
I’ve heard quite a few journal horror stories from professional philosophers over the past few years. Also, in a recent post, I noted that there have been quite a few discussion threads that highlight major issues concerning peer reviewed philosophy journals. I’m going to start tracking these discussion threads. Whenever I find a new discussion (or ...
UC-Boulder is hosting the first annual Rocky Mountain Ethics Congress, and they have a Young Ethicist Prize. This is exciting. There are now five prizes/programs I am aware of geared toward encouraging young philosophers. Let me know if there are more. Here’s the list I have so far. A Young Epistemologist Prize (Rutgers) A Younger Scholar Prize in ...