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A group of bloggers discussing philosophical ideas as well as the profession of philosophy
Science, Reality, and Objectivity
Our research project team members here in Calgary have spent the last several months reading (and re-reading) Bas van Fraassen’s subtle and powerful work Scientific Representation (2008). As with any work of its scope and ambition, it’s open to a heavy dose of interpretation. What follows is my interpretation, and I’ll stress that it is particularly […]
CFP: The 55th Meeting of the Western Canadian Philosophical Association
May 14, 2018
by Justin Caouette
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(Please see the links at the end to volunteer as reviewer or commentator) The 55th Annual Meeting of the Western Canadian Philosophical Association in conjunction with The 3rd Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for Environmental Philosophy/ Société Canadienne de Philosophie Environnementale will be held October 26-28, 2018, at the University of Calgary in Calgary, Alberta. […]
Posted in: CFP
New Contributor: Alfred Archer
May 12, 2018
by Justin Caouette
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Nearly 4 years ago I traveled to Ireland with my coauthor (David Boutland) to deliver a talk at University College Dublin on the concept of supererogation. The conference/workshop was FANTASTIC and I made some friends that I still keep in touch with today. One of those friends was Dr. Alfred Archer and I am excited […]
Posted in: Alfred Archer, Notes on Contributors
Russell and Philosophy in Real Life
May 10, 2018
by Alison K McConwell
Bertrand Russell (May 18th 1872-February 2nd 1970) writes in the prologue of his autobiography “What I Have Lived For”: Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and […]
To What End? The Moral Value of Compassion
May 1, 2018
by Olivia Scheyer
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 Justin Caouette
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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
The Pitfalls of Compassion
April 20, 2018
by David Boutland
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 Justin Caouette
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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 Justin Caouette
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 Justin Caouette
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 […]
Open Logic Update: OER Week
March 9, 2018
by Aaron Thomas-Bolduc
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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 […]
Notes on Contributors (updated 3/7)
March 6, 2018
by Justin Caouette
I hope the blogosphere is doing well. I’m looking forward to getting back into blogging after i defend my dissertation in April. In the mean time I’d like to give you all an update on what some of our contributors have been up to. Recently, Dr.’s Alison McConwell and David Boutland successfully defended their dissertations […]
Posted in: Notes on Contributors
It’s a Small World: The Leśniewski-Sobociński Theorem.
February 21, 2018
by Aaron Thomas-Bolduc
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 Aaron Thomas-Bolduc
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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 Joshua Stein
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 Aaron Thomas-Bolduc
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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.
Books by Contributors
A Philosopher's Take 
May 22, 2018
by oliverlean
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