Browsing All Posts filed under »Philosophy«

On Patches and Patterns: Local Knowledge and Scientific Success

May 3, 2018 by

1

It’s often said that science strives towards generality, looking for laws and principles about reality that admit of no exceptions, or as few as possible. Some even go as far as saying that unity is a standard of scientific success, that an ideal scientific knowledge would be one simple, unifying, and universal theory of everything. […]

People Aren’t Upset With Michelle Wolf Because She Was Wrong. They’re Upset Because She’s Right.

May 2, 2018 by

1

There seems to be two main categories of disapproval when it comes to Michelle Wolf’s speech at the White House Correspondent Dinner. The first is the predictable faux-outrage by Trump’s army of sycophants. During a more innocent time, their affectations of outrage might have warranted a response. But in the here and now of the […]

To What End? The Moral Value of Compassion

May 1, 2018 by

6

I am excited to get started as a new contributor to A Philosopher’s Take by engaging with a captivating post by APT peer David Boutland (co-authored by Trudy Govier) titled “The Pitfalls of Compassion,”  which touches on the main points of his recent, similarly titled publication (which can be found here). First off, many thanks […]

New Contributor: Olivia Scheyer

April 30, 2018 by

Comments Off on New Contributor: Olivia Scheyer

Join me in welcoming a new contributor to the fold; Olivia Scheyer obtained her B.A. in philosophy from Tufts University in 2017. Her philosophical interests include bioethics, especially neuroethics and AI, and moral psychology, all of which she is preparing to study further in law school. Find Olivia on twitter @oliviascheyer 

Turning the Metaphysics of Race upside down: Questions for Biological Race Realists

April 27, 2018 by

1

Does race exist? This is the core question in the metaphysics of race debate. In this blog post, I raise some questions to challenge a prominent view on this debate, namely, biological race realism. These challenges reveal how biological race realism is still underdeveloped and susceptible to many criticisms. As we’ll see, we can turn […]

The Pitfalls of Compassion

April 20, 2018 by

5

It has been quite a long time since the last time I posted on A Philosopher’s Take. In that time, I have finished my PhD and my partner and I had our first child, Oliver. But I figure it is time I start getting back to it, and I guess there is no better place […]

CFA: The 2018 Postgraduate Bioethics Conference (PGBC)

April 13, 2018 by

Comments Off on CFA: The 2018 Postgraduate Bioethics Conference (PGBC)

Great opportunity for MA and PHD students to share their work. See the CFA below (deadline is May 1st!): The 2018 Postgraduate Bioethics Conference (PGBC) is hosted by the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at King’s College London. The event will be held on the 23rd and 24th of July, 2018, at King’s College London’s Strand and Waterloo Campuses (situated in central London).   The PGBC is […]

On the Concept of Cheating

April 12, 2018 by

2

A while back I blogged over at PhilPercs about the concept of cheating. That blog post was the seed that grew into a forthcoming co-authored publication aptly titled “Cheating and Enhancement: Implications for Policy in Sport” (and who says blogging is a waste of time?!). Below is a summary of that initial post where I posed […]

Book Release: The Moral Psychology of Compassion

March 23, 2018 by

2

When projects come to completion it’s always a really good feeling! So, it goes without saying that I’m excited to announce the release of my new co-edited collection on the Moral Psychology of Compassion (with Rowman and Littlefield). I’m excited about this volume for several reasons. First, it’s diverse! There are a number of perspectives […]

New Contributor: Oliver Lean

March 12, 2018 by

1

It is a pleasure to introduce our newest contributor, Dr. Oliver Lean! Oli completed his PhD at the University of Bristol (2016) under the supervision of Samir Okasha. Previously, he also completed an MA in Philosophy and History of Science, and a BSc in Biochemistry at Bristol. Oli is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at […]

Open Logic Update: OER Week

March 9, 2018 by

Comments Off on Open Logic Update: OER Week

This week (March 5-9, 2018) is OER week (OER stands for Open Educational Resources). As many of you know, I’ve been working on a free and open logic textbook, forallx: Calgary Remix. You can find my last update, including plenty of links, here. For OER week, Richard Zach and I gave a one hour workshop […]

It’s a Small World: The Leśniewski-Sobociński Theorem.

February 21, 2018 by

4

The other day I was reading M. Resnik’s Frege and the Philosophy of Mathematics (1980). In discussing `Frege’s way out’, he mentions a proof by Leśniewski showing that Frege’s attempted fix to the system of the Grundgesetze is inconsistent, but gives a reference to a paper published by Sobociński in 1949. This intrigued me, as […]

Grinworthy Quotes (15)

February 16, 2018 by

Comments Off on Grinworthy Quotes (15)

Frege on Euclidean geometry and axioms, but also astrology and alchemy. From his Nachlass*. Now the question is whether to strike Euclidean or non-Euclidean geometry from the ranks of science and to put it alongside of Alchemy and Astrology as mummies. Where one only let himself toy with ideas, he need not take things so […]

Powerful Medicine; a dimension of the Nassar case

January 27, 2018 by

2

I want to start this post with a really clear content notice; if you’re uncomfortable with or likely to be triggered by descriptions of sexual assault, you may want to gird yourself or take a pass on this post entirely. I experienced nausea myself in reading the accounts, but I don’t think it is really […]

Grinworthy Quotes 14

January 18, 2018 by

Comments Off on Grinworthy Quotes 14

In discussing the possibility of adopting category theory as a (the) foundations for mathematics, Jean-Pierre Marquis has this to say in his Stanford Encyclopedia article (2015): To use a well-known metaphor: from a categorical point of view, Neurath’s ship has become a spaceship. I hope there is a literature developing about Neurath’s spaceship.

Teaching Logic and Forallx Update

December 7, 2017 by

Comments Off on Teaching Logic and Forallx Update

As many of you might remember, I taught the Logic I course here at UCalgary for the first time, and blogged about the experience here, here and here. You might also remember that I was involved in remixing a version of PD Magnus’ and Tim Button’s forallx open textbook for that course (see here and […]

Failures in teaching, discipline

November 21, 2017 by

2

A few notes before I get into the nitty gritty of this issue: I’m a graduate student at the University of Calgary, a member of the university’s Graduate Student Association (our union), and the president of the philosophy department’s affiliated Graduate Student Association chapter. Nothing I say in this post is made in those roles; […]

7th Annual University of Calgary Graduate Philosophy Conference

November 8, 2017 by

Comments Off on 7th Annual University of Calgary Graduate Philosophy Conference

The topic of the 2018 University of Calgary Graduate Philosophy Conference is the Philosophy of Biology broadly construed. The aim of the conference is to explore the newest work at the intersection between philosophy and life and medical sciences. We welcome submissions from philosophers and biologists, and have no restrictions concerning preferred topics or approaches […]

Scientism is a Non-Threat: Considering Susan Haack and the Role of Philosophy

October 16, 2017 by

5

“The school is in financial crisis,” reports a friend and emeritus professor as I take my seat at the table in the back corner of a campus coffee shop and bookstore. We meet monthly with the frequency and punctuality expected from five philosophers: every six weeks, 15 minutes late. Professor Haack greets readers with just […]

Metaphysics: The Good, The Bad, and The Harmful?

September 28, 2017 by

2

Recently I began a postdoctoral research position at the University of Calgary with the project From Biological Practice to Scientific Metaphysics.  I (along with Oliver Lean) was asked to present Amanda Bryant’s paper entitled, “Keep the chickens cooped: the epistemic inadequacy of free range metaphysics” (2017) as part of a graduate seminar taught by Ken […]

EDITORIAL TEAM

EDITORS: Alison McConwell; Justin Caouette; Aaron Thomas-Bolduc.

FOUNDING EDITOR: Justin Caouette

Blog posts from previous months

Follow A Philosopher's Take on WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 2,361 other subscribers

Books by Contributors

Follow me on Twitter

Blog Stats

  • 542,526 hits
Blog at WordPress.com.