End Times archive

Here he discusses democracy, how to decide who should rule, procedural fairness, epistocracy, on whether political philosophy ought to be practical, legitimacy and authority, truth and politics, Hannah Arendt's views, the issues of the political liberal view of the fund of public reason, Cass R. Sunstein's Infotopia, whether human nature limits political philosophy, how to frame the philosophical issues of inequality, the role of self-interest in democracy and what he sees as some currents of contemporary political philosophy. With an vain fool like Trump on the political stage in America and racist bigots and know-nothings voting all over the world it's a good time to ponder the wisdom of the political systems that allow this to happen. Here's the man to cover the ground ... David Estlund Published on: Jun 11, 2016 @ 12:53

Here he discusses logical pluralism and why in his view an argument can be valid in one sense but invalid in another, the difference between manipulating the formal machinery and doing philosophy of logic, classical logic's relationship with alternatives, why pluralism doesn't mean abandoning universal, true and valid classical intuitions or rejecting classical logic at all but rather adds to the universe of logical connections, substructural logic, the liar paradox, Bradwardine's theory, why philosophy of logic is a humanities subject and new vistas opening up in contemporary philosophy of logic. Greg Restall Published on: Jun 5, 2016 @ 06:19

Here he discusses consciousness,criticises the scientistic approach of much contemporary philosophy of mind, the irritation of Descartes, the sources of moral praise and blame, moral realism, forgiveness and punishment, Kant and Reid, Kant's First Critique, Kant's Transcendental Idealism and an aside on the insanity plea in law ... Dan Robinson Published on: May 28, 2016 @ 07:04

Here he discusses freedom and responsibility, Strawson, the optimism/pessimism distinction, why he's a freewill pessimist, Hume and classical vs naturalist compatibilism, Hume as an anatomist of virtue, Hume and Aristotle, Hume and Epicureanism, Hobbes, Hume's relationship to the British Empiricists, Hume and Reid, Hume's irreligious and freethinking core, whether he is a Pyrrhonian skeptic and Korsgaard's challenge. Go read as a reprieve against the days... Paul Russell Published on: May 21, 2016 @ 09:45

Here she discusses Joseph Mitterer and his rejection of the discourse of 'dualism', of the importance of Bruno Latour's actor-network theory, anti-essentialism, the sociology of knowledge in the Bible, the value of empirical findings for philosophy, science and technology, postconstructivism, why we need a new contract between science and society, the role of philosophy as technoscience develops, the possibility of more democratic monitoring of technoscience, climate change and environmentalism, the Anthropecene and feminism. Onwards... Ewa Bińczyk Published on: May 14, 2016 @ 12:46

Here he discusses Kant's impact on contemporary ethics, Rawls and the 'constructivist' reading of Kantian ethics, why this is an error, Kantian autonomy and corrects a flurry of traditional invidious readings of Kant. He goes on to discuss Kant's moral religion, the problem with consequentialism, Kant's notion of freewill, Kant's rational theology, Kant's relationship with Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics before turning to Marx. He discusses Marx's real attitude towards Capitalism, the main difference between Adam Smith and Marx, on the absurdity of equating Soviet Marxism with Marx and on why it's self-evident that studying the best thoughts of the past is worthwhile before turning to Fichte. He discusses the difference between Fichte's approach to freedom and Kant's, on Fichte and Hegel's Dialectic of Recognition, on why Fichte is a necessary step to both Hegel and Marx, on Fichte being the key to the entire tradition of continental philosophy and whether Fichte took Kant's idea of natural religion further than Kant. Take a big breath, this one covers all the territory... Allen Wood Published on: May 7, 2016 @ 20:34

Here she discusses the seminal importance of Anscombe and Davidson in these matters, on Anscombe's approach to action, on why he rejects a cognitivist approach, on the problem deviant chains bring to intentionality, on the relevance of this to issues of criminal law, on inchoate crimes, on naive action theory, on what happens when reasoning concludes, on intentional continence and incontinence, on the impact of Ryle, and on when it's justified to be held responsible? And so it goes, onwards... Sarah Paul Published on: May 1, 2016 @ 10:50

Here he discusses the influence of analytic philosophy on political philosophy, the significance of Rawls and Nozik, Analytic Marxism, poverty, Sen, on paying attention to relatively neglected values, equality, health inequality, risk, and finding a place for Islam as part of the political landscape. What can be done in these twisted times? Read on and go figure... Jonathan Wolff Published on: Apr 23, 2016 @ 09:23

Here he discusses whether philosophy of religion can be done effectively by non-believers, how he defines religion, monotheistic convergences and divergencies, the role of reasons in religion, religion's relationship to science, miracles, how God created morality, Mill, where God's body is and free-will and the existence of evil. This one is always waiting for you down the road... Tim Mawson Published on: Apr 16, 2016 @ 08:18

Here he discusses Owen Flanagan's three styles of working with Buddhist philosophy, on whether Buddhism has religious content, on its relationship with applied ethics, on the metaphysics and epistemology of Buddhism, on comparative links with Western philosophy, whether the Bodhisattva is a virtue ethics, Logong, patience as a moral virtue, why anger towards those who hurt us is never justified, modesty as a virtue of attention, private solidarity and his status as an anti-expert. Here we go again... Nicolas Bommarito Published on: Apr 8, 2016 @ 13:05

Here he talks about the distinction between the 'Historical Turn' and 'Historicism', Kant as catalyst for the former, Kant as a metaphysician and Enlightenment journalist, Reinhold's significance, how Kant differed from his immediate predecessors, whether Kant was a Hegelian subjectivist, the importance of Jena, how Rousseau revolutionised Kant's life and thought, Nietzsche's 'tragic turn', Kantian autonomy and whether Kantian ethics are still a live option in the light of recent developments in philosophy of mind and neuroscience. Yes he Kant... Karl Ameriks Published on: Apr 1, 2016 @ 12:05

Here he broods on whether there's a connection between metaphysics and logic, the liar paradox, whether true contradictions exist, why dialetheism doesn't live up to its most important promise of doing away with Tarski's hierarchies, Curry's paradox, epistemically possible worlds and propositions, brute necessities and whether they exist, the connection between formal semantics of natural languages and logic, whether non-metaphysicians can learn from metaphysicians and why science can't answer everything, even questions motivating scientific research. So now, riddle me this, riddle me that... Bruno Whittle Published on: Mar 27, 2016 @ 21:50