Philosophers Tamar Szabo Gendler and Daniel Dennett discuss themes from Dennett's book Intuition Pumps.

Philosopher Jonathan Wolff tells us how philosophers can help—for example, helping government policy makers understand what fairness is—pretty much a a prerequisite for crafting fair policies.

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Philosopher of law, Leslie Green, discusses same-sex marriage.

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An interview with philosopher Edouard Machery.

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A new entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy concerns the problem of externalism and self-knoweldge. "Externalism in the philosophy of mind contends that the meaning or content of a thought[1] is partly determined by the environment. The view has garnered attention since it denies the traditional assumption, associated with Descartes, that thought content is fixed independently of the external world. Apparently influenced by this assumption, Descartes also believed that he could know the content of his thoughts while suspending all judgment about his environs. (Indeed, such knowledge was thought indubitable.) Yet if externalism is correct, this may well be a mistake."

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A discussion with philosopher Daniel Dennett about his recent book Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking. [audio]

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A new entry in the Stanfrod Encyclopedia of Philosophy discusses the philosophical issues surrounding computer simulations in science. "What is the structure of the epistemology of computer simulation? What is the relationship between computer simulation and experiment? Does computer simulation raise issues for the philosophy of science that are not fully covered by recent work on models more generally? What does computer simulation teach us about emergence? About the structure of scientific theories? About the role (if any) of fictions in scientific modeling?"

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Philosopher Julian Baggini's love letter to the works of Sören Kierkegaard.

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Bioethicist Paul Root Wolpe discusses the complex social negotiation of moral norms and ethical constraints in the face of profound biotechnological changes.

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Philosophers David Chalmers and David Bouget have released the results of a broad study of the beliefs of academic philosophers. You can read a pre-publication version of their forthcoming paper here.

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On the contemporary relevance of Kierkegaard's view of modernity as seen through the lens of ancient Greek tragedy.

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Another multi-million dollar Templeton grant, this one for the 'Philosophy and Theology of Intellectual Humility'. Project leaders are philosophers Eleonore Stump and John Greco.

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For Kierkegaard's bicentennial, a theatrical adaptation of his work Either/Or featuring marionettes, but we have to go to Copenhagen to see it.

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A biographical piece on philosopher, Daniel Dennett.

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The philosophers at San Jose State University have published in the Chronicle of Higher Education an open letter to Harvard's Michael Sandel about the ultimate impact his MOOC'ed Justice might have for philosophy education. [Read the original letter and Sandel's response.] Read more...

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A profile piece on renown philosopher Daniel Dennett.

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Philosophy students at Coastal Carolina University host an online philosophy conference.

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The topic is immortality and the discussion is with philosopher John Fisher Martin, a recent recipient of a multimillion dollar grant to study immortality. [audio]

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An interview with philosopher Thom Brooks.

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How in 1685 the attempt was made to refute Leibniz Law by finding two blades of grass precisely alike in every respect.

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Philosopher Philip Petit discusses themes from his recent book, On the People's Terms: A Republican Theory and Model of Democracy. At the core of the issue is the question of whether freedom should be conceived fundamentally as consisting in a) non-domination of persons or b) the availability of choices a person can make.

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The Stanford Encylopedia of Philosophy has a new entry on feminist perspectives on autonomy. "Autonomy is . . . self-government or self-direction: being autonomous is acting on motives, reasons, or values that are one's own." Feminist philosophers have sought to reconceptualize the notion from a feminist perspective with the idea of 'relational autonomy'.

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William Egginton draws a thematic thread through the Uncertainty Principle of quantum mechanics, the antinomies of Immanuel Kant, and the titular character in Jorges Borges' short story "Funes the Memorius." It's one of those you-have-to-be-there things.
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Hitting someone without their consent, spitting at someone, or throwing a ball hard at their head: these are all examples of what in Tort Law is called battery. John Mikhail thinks that our judgments that people who commit battery are blameworthy reveals someting important about morality and its sources. [audio]
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An interview with philosopher Stephen R. Grimm who is the recent recipient of a multimillion dollar grant for a project on "Varieties of Understanding."
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New scientific findings are in the news every day, but so many of these findings reverse earlier scientific findings one has to wonder. "What use are scientific results if they are so frequently reversed?" And does it all show that science is not really reliable. Philosopher Gary Gutting discusses the issue and finds just not jsut a little of the problem is often with science reporting, but also that some of our puzzlement has to do with a misplaced idea of what the reliability of science might consist in.
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An interview with renown philosopher Robert Stalnaker.
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"Many humanities programs are fighting off cuts and trying to hold on to faculty lines, but two philosophy departments are boosting their enrollments and reputations through a combination of administrations willing to invest in the discipline and departments eager to go beyond them."
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Philosopher Alan Smith explains why he is calling it quits on teaching philosophy in prison after fourteen years. "When we don't know about history and art and society we are adrift. Most of you reading this will never have had that experience, but many of the men I taught were ignorant of just about everything, and as grown men felt this keenly, . . . [but] for the most part education, beyond basic numeracy and literacy, has been abandoned." [UPDATE: Listen to Alan Smith talk about his experience with Dick Gordon on The Story.]
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Philosopher Philip Kitcher's four Dwight H. Terry Lectures delivered this year at Yale University are available online. 1. Beyond Doubt, 2. Ethics as a Human Project, 3. Morality and Meaning, 4. Depth and Depravity. [video]
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The poet Samuel Coleridge demands that the scientists of his day stop calling themselves "natural philosophers," and the term 'scientist' was born. Philosopher Laura Snyder tells the story of the Philosophical Breakfast Club—the story of four "natural philosophers" who played pivotal roles in the development of modern science as we know it. [video]
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H.P. Lovecraft as pulp philosopher.
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The Stanford Encylopedia of Philosophy has a new entry on logical pluralism. "Logical pluralism is the thesis that there is more than one correct logic. The main opposing view, logical monism, is the thesis that there is only one. In fact there are many pairs of such opposed theses—and so, many different versions of the thesis of logical pluralism—corresponding to the different ways in which one can specify more carefully what a logic is, and what it would be for one to be correct."
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Artist Filippo Minelli makes locational art that strips familiar terms of their familiar meaning. Philosopher Santiago Zabala discusses the power of decontexting words.
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