What good are philosophy books? Can they make us any the wiser? A look at a humorous essay by Robert Wilson Lynd that demonstrates the difficulty of acquiring wisdom from books alone.
Rhythm 0, Marina Abramović, and Freudian Ambivalence
“If you leave decisions to the public, you can be killed.” A 1974 performance art piece by Marina Abramović explores our deepest human instincts.
Cosmopolitanism, Rawls, Borders, and Trumpism
Nationalism has a bad reputation. Varieties of nationalist thought have been responsible for many of the horrors of the last century. Nonetheless, important philosophers and political theorists have made the cases that more reasoned forms of nationalism can provide credible theoretical justification for determining the boundaries between those within a political community and those outside of it.
Humor and Infinite Responsibility: Can Levinas Use a Little Stand-Up Comedy?
What is infinite responsibility? And can we live with it?
PEL Live Show/Election Special at Brown University on October 27: de Tocqueville and the Problem with Democracy
Grab your hats: PEL will be doing a live recording at Brown University on October 27, 2016.
How Moral Is the Moral Machine?
Researchers at MIT are pooling our moral intuitions, and we need to talk about it.
The Hubris of Transhumanism
Is transhumanism just dangerous over-confidence in technology?
Martha Nussbaum on Emotions, Ethics, and Literature
When it comes to ethics and human choice, there is “a serious candidate for truth” that we haven’t considered properly.
Deinotes: Dread, Wonder, and the Art of Persuasion
How a single Greek word can explain why we don’t like the Sophists, why Socrates was accused of being one of them, and what makes rhetoric successful.
Were the Sophists Really All That Bad?
Were Sophists really the immoral truth-benders that Plato portrayed them to be? Classical scholars don’t seem to think so.
What Do Existentialists Think about Love?
Given the existentialist emphasis on concrete personal experience, freedom, authenticity, responsibility, awareness of death, and personal determination of values, it is not surprising that existentialist philosophers should also consider the question of romantic love.
How Plato’s “Phaedrus” Influenced Thomas Mann’s “Death in Venice”
This beautiful novella draws heavily from Plato’s conception of love, but to what extent?
Two Short Philosophical Videos on the EU Referendum
In the light of recent EU developments, check out two videos analyzing Brexit from a philosophical perspective.
Virtual Reality: Do We Need an Ethical Code?
With the launch of Oculus Rift and Steam VR, it seems like virtual reality will soon be an ordinary part of our lives. But are there any ethical concerns around the use of virtual reality? And can philosophy help us make sense of this cutting-edge technology?
Truth and Authenticity in Michael Haneke’s Caché
The films of Austrian director Michael Haneke seem to start out “normally” and then slowly descend into an abyss—but what if that abyss is in fact living authentically? Could we see Haneke’s award-winning Caché (2005) as an exemplification of Sartrean existentialism? And what are some other philosophical influences in his work?
Can Scientific Anti-Realism Be Realized?
A hotly debated topic in the philosophy of science is whether we should consider our scientific and social scientific theories descriptions of reality, or if we should instead just consider them instruments for influencing the world. One of the main difficulties facing proponents of scientific anti-realism is distinguishing themselves from anti-realists more generally.
Philosopho-Palooza this Sunday!Sunday!Sunday!
Join a Not School group for big fun this Sunday!
Not School May Update
It’s May! Check out what’s happening in Not School groups, or feel free to propose your own.
The Poverty of Scientism
“If you drop a hammer on your foot, is it real or is it just your imagination? You can run that test, you know, a couple of times, and I hope you come to agree that it’s probably real.” –Bill Nye
Many Forms of Doing: A Surprising Source for Pluralism about Agency
An excerpt from Christopher Yeomans’s