End Times archive

She is a philosopher working at the cutting edge of neuroethics. She thinks about what neuroethics is and what its questions are, about the distinction between fundamental and applied neuroethics, about the relationship between brain science and sociology, about how her approach avoids both dualism and naive reductionism, about mind-reading, about the ethical issues arising from disorders in consciousness, about brain simulation and its relation to philosophy, about whether tendencies in the brain lead to social or individualistic interpretation, about epigenesis, human enhancement, cognitive prosthetics and the singularity. Here's a post from the frontiers of neuroethics to take you through the xmas break... Kathinka Evers Published on: Dec 20, 2015 @ 21:42

He is the philosopher who broods on the notion that what something means is a normative claim, that this is about the meaning not the nature of meaning, on Kripke's book on Wittgenstein, on what 'ought' depends on, on expressivism, on ehics and planning questions, on utilitarianism and contractarianism and on the current state of contemporary public ethical discourse. As xmas draws close, here's an early gift... Allan Gibbard Published on: Dec 5, 2015 @ 15:58

She is a Janus-faced mutant naturalistic philosopher of metacognition. She broods on what metacognition is, on two different ways 'meta' could be used, the problem with attributivism, on the mistake of thinking mental and ordinary action have the same normative structure, on how 'acceptance' can help brng out the relevant contrast, on where she parts company with Cohen and Stalnaker, on whether non-human animals can mind read, on why Peter Carruthers is wrong to conflate mind-reading with metacognition, on the evidence that non-human animals do metacognise, on internalism and the limits of transparency and on how her approach impacts on puzzles like Moore's paradox. Just one more reason to love Paris... Joelle Proust Published on: Nov 21, 2015 @ 15:14

He is a cross cultural philosopher of waking, dreaming and being. He's always awake to the philosophical challenges arising from sleep and dreaming, dreamless sleep, the 'default view', how the Indian perspective helps, of the clash between the default position and methodological requirements for investigating sleep consciousness, how Advaita Vedānta and Husserl help, of lucid dreamless sleeping, of white dreams, subjective insomnia, of the need to go cross-cultural, of broad philosophical issues about consciousness enriched by a cross-cultural approach, of meditation's place, why it's a scandal that more philosophy isn't yet cross-cultural and why without philosophy certain crucial issues can't be answered. Dream on ... Evan Thompson Published on: Oct 4, 2015 @ 11:06

He steps out of the Tardis to discuss his philosophy of time, talking about ontology and semantics, about whether what exists is time dependent or not, about presentism and eternalism, about whether we can think and speak in an untensed way, about whether physics alone can answer all the questions, about Hilary Putnam's argument about time, about McTaggart, about 'A-series' and 'B-series'approaches to time, about the reality of time, about the difference Special Relativity makes, about objective becoming and the eternal NOW, about Bourne and presentism, about his own version of 'B-theory', about time's arrow, about why causation explain why we privilege the present and about why perdurantism fits his approach. It's 3:AM, it's time, read on... Joshua Mozersky Published on: Sep 19, 2015 @ 17:06

He is the philosopher who thinks all the time about magic and philosophy, about the distorted Pico, the Renaissance, Hegel, Kant, Kabbalism, about magic and science, occult qualities, Pythogoras, Iamblichus, the Italian Idealists, Gentile, Croce, about Dewey and Croce, about their politics, about Peter of Spain, his logic and metaphysical commitments. This one's a Renaissance man on Renaissance men and then some... Brian Copenhaver Published on: Sep 12, 2015 @ 11:16

She is the philosopher who is always pondering contemporary ethics from the point of view of the universe with Pete Singer. She thinks about Sidgwick and why he's not widely read, about his approach to ethics and why he's significant,about what we mean by 'the point of view of the universe', about Sidgwickean rationality and Kant, about reflective equilibrium, about self-evident axioms, about Parfit's future Tuesday indifference, about On What Matters, about hedonism, about esoteric morality, about the repugnant conclusion and about why Kitcher is wrong to think naturalism in ethics is defensible. Light the blue touch-paper and read... Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek Published on: Sep 6, 2015 @ 14:22

She is a groovy philosopher who's always wondering about the implications of naturalism, about the post-Darwinian landscape, about final causes, about the different types of naturalism, about Rosenberg's nice nihilism and the naturalistic fudge, about Paul Horwich's alternative, about Dennett's intentional stance, about Ruth Millikan on goals and aims and about what is still to be done. Take your head for a walk... Bana Bashour Published on: Aug 29, 2015 @ 13:18

He is a legal philosopher who thinks about where law and morality meet, about the different varieties of legal positivism, about rights, about objectivity and the law, about HLA Hart, about the ethics of capital punishment, about Achan and the purgative rationale, about why 'evil' still has traction, about torture and moral integrity, about moral realism as a moral doctrine, about freedom and moral responsibility. Take your time with this one... Matthew Kramer Published on: Aug 22, 2015 @ 10:14

She is a hard-core logician and philosopher who thinks dynamic epistemology is the only species of epistemology that matters. When not researching medieval onomastics she thinks about dynamic epistemology alongside medieval philosophy, the obligatio, dubitatio, deceitful agents, the role of formal dialogue systems, Anselm's logic, computability, Llull, Lorhard, ontology and science and why she'd love to be a counter-example to the stereotype of Anglo/American philosophy being dehistoricised. This jive's like taking a time-machine... Sara L. Uckelman Published on: Aug 15, 2015 @ 12:33

He discusses his thinking on ethics, Derek Parfit, on the use of stripped down thought experiments , on intuitions, on why we shouldn't try for ethical peaks, on how he sees the ethical project, on what life after faith means for religion and science, on science and democracy, on Dewey and pragmatism, on science and values, on science education, on the point of philosophy, on Joyce's Finnegans Wake and why life without literature and the arts is a mistake...

He is the pittsburghegelianasaurus big beast pragmatist lurking in the philosophical jungle. He's always thinking about the importance of language when thinking about humans, about discursive understanding, about American and Wittgensteinian pragmatism, about analytic pragmatism, about Sellars, about compositionality, about semantic holism, about the Kant-Sellars thesis, inferentialism, AI, German Idealism, Hegel as pragmatist, intentionality, Wittgenstein,expressivism, about why understanding is part of the core of the philosophic enterprise and why he thinks its an exciting time to be working in philosophy. This one's leaving deep tracks... Robert Brandom Published on: Jun 19, 2015 @ 22:40