October 2015
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If you’re a hardcore utilitarian who would push the Fat Man off the bridge to stop the trolley…
…then you're either rational or drunk (why not both?).
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More on the Germaine Greer controversy at Cardiff
Can someone explain what Greer's view is about what makes someone a woman (or a man)?
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The WHO’s misleading announcement about red meat and cancer
This is a good explanation.
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Philosopher Stefan Schubert (LSE) fact-checks (on video!)…
…the Presidential debates in the U.S.
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Driverless cars and the Trolley Problem
In the end, the questions will be resolved by some combination of government regulation and what consumers prefer. (Thanks to Mohamad Al-Hakim for the pointer.)
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“A good sign that a community is in trouble…
"…when posturing, preening wankers are regarded as if they are somehow its leaders"–Russell Blackford. So many candidates to choose among from philosophy cyberspace and social media! Maybe it's time for a new category: "posturing, preening wankers"?
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In Memoriam: Peter Tillers (1943-2015)
Emeritus at Cardozo Law School, he was well-known for his contribution to evidence scholarship. The Cardozo memorial notice is here.
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A variety of “New Infantalism” items
"New Infantilism" has clearly touched a nerve, and readers now regularly send me apt illustrations of this unhappy development. A few recent ones: The attack on lawful speech at UCLA (via Curtis Franks). South Park makes fun of "safe spaces." (A graduate student, whom I'd best not identify given the censorious atmosphere in certain dysfunctional…
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Update on academic freedom crisis at UBC
This miscreant is out. Earlier coverage. (Thanks to Joshua Selby for the pointer.)
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Meanwhile, in academic astronomy, a serial sexual harasser at Berkeley…
…is forced to resign. (Old news, perhaps, to some, it broke while I was abroad, so I missed it then.)
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UC Irvine’s Bernecker (epistemology, Kant) offered Humboldt Professorship at Cologne
The Humboldt Foundation's news release is here. (Thanks to Andreas Hüttemann for the pointer.) UPDATE: Title fixed; Prof. Bernecker writes that he has not officially accepted the Humboldt Professorship yet.
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In Memoriam: Sheldon Wolin (1922-2015)
A distinguished political theorist, he spent most of his career at Berkeley and then at Princeton. There is a nice memorial from Corey Robin here. (Thanks to Jim Nichols for the pointer.)
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More on the lawsuit against the University of Miami, Colin McGinn, and Edward Erwin
I've now had a chance to read the entire complaint. I won't have much to say about the University, except to note what is already clear from the news reports, namely, that its position will be that it, in fact, secured the resignation of McGinn and so complied with its Title IX obligations. I am…
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More on the McGinn case at Huffington Post
Another piece.
It would be a shame if bad philosophy of mind got us all killed. AI can absolutely have desires and…