Philosophical Blogging and ‘Flickers of Freedom’

For those of you not reading ‘Flickers of Freedom’, a blog dedicated to free will, moral responsibility, action theory, and moral psychology, I highly recommend it! No other blog has as many experts blogging regularly. The most influential philosophers in the field, those who have spent their careers wrestling with the questions surrounding the free will debate blog consistently. The comment threads are often top notch  and nearly all of the wide spectrum of views one could adopt  in the literature are represented. I have been reading for about 4 years and commenting sparsely for only about a year or so. I have learned a lot through both reading and engaging with philosophers over at Flickers and those who are interested in any of the aforementioned topics should consider checking it regularly.

Recently, Thomas Nadelhoffer the blogs’ coordinator, changed the format of the blog. There is now a featured author each month with that author responsible for generating the discussion every other week. This change has served the blog well and seems to have set the bar for what any serious philosophical blog should strive toward. If every sub-discipline in philosophy had a blog with a similar format, and professionals willing to engage regularly, much could be accomplished. It’s a nice mix of philosophers,  from those who are established to those just finishing up their dissertations. I encourage you all to check it out, but please don’t use the blog to flurry basic questions not related to the literature being discussed.  I think the blog works as a high quality blog because the level of conversation is such high quality. That said, I hope you enjoy.

December’s featured  author, Joe Campbell, is dear to my heart. He introduced me to many of the central problems in the free will debate and patiently dealt with my constant questions for two years while I was doing my Master’s at Washington State University. He also introduced me to the blog and to my current adviser Ish Haji. Joe wrote a chapter in my first edited collection and gave one of the keynote essays at the 1st Annual University of Calgary Graduate Philosophy Conference, a conference that was started in my first year here at the U of C. I am very much looking forward to what he whips up over there this month.

So, if free will is your thing, or is related to your philosophical interests, I highly recommend the blog.
Enjoy!

-Justin