Science | A Philosopher's Take

Browsing All posts tagged under »Science«

The Gould (I) Files #1

February 22, 2019 by Alison K McConwell

What’s the ‘I’ for you may ask? It’s Friday. TGIF. This is the first post of what I hope to be a series tracking my access to archived work by Stephen Jay Gould at the Stanford Special Collections & University Archives. Up to this point my experience with archived and unpublished work in any special collections is limited. […]

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 […]

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

October 16, 2017 by Adam Hayden

“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 […]

Why is natural better? Or if it isn’t, why do people keep telling me that it is?

August 29, 2016 by Mike Steiner

[Caution: this reads like a rant from an old curmudgeon, and so it may be helpful to you to just go ahead and imagine me sitting in my rocking chair on my front porch shouting out rhetorical questions…] Anyone who’s cared to listen to me over the last several years will know that I am […]

On Breed Specific Legislation, Public Safety, and Why The Research Matters

July 16, 2016 by Alison K McConwell

There is recent nation-wide attention to animal control issues concerning dogs in Canada. The target is “pit bulls” or dogs with traits that resemble particular characteristics of breeds included in this generic term. One common response to serious dog bites and maulings is to lobby for a ban of particular breeds by enacting Breed Specific […]

The Science-Pseudoscience Demarcation Problem

October 14, 2015 by Justin Caouette

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Source: The science-pseudoscience demarcation problem

Physics, Determinism, and Possible Worlds

November 5, 2014 by Justin Caouette

A recent post on the IFL Science page (which I happen to like very much) discusses a new interpretation of quantum physics that was developed by a team led Howard Wiseman of Griffith University in Australia. The team recently published this paper, first authored by Michael Hall, which suggests that Quantum theory is deterministic and that all possible worlds […]

A Defence of Philosophy

October 19, 2014 by Aaron Thomas-Bolduc

There is a very nice article/interview in the Observer with Rebecca Newberger Goldstein about her latest book Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away, in which philosophy is defended very well. I particularly like the characterization of philosophy as `increasing coherence.’ I would very much like to see what people have to say […]

Ignoble Prize Highlights at Choice & Inference

September 24, 2014 by Aaron Thomas-Bolduc

The winners of the 2014 Ignoble prize have been published! Here are some highlights over at Choice & Inference. The full list is here. Enjoy.

Neil deGrasse Tyson and the value of philosophy

May 12, 2014 by Justin Caouette

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Originally posted on Scientia Salon:
by Massimo Pigliucci It seems like my friend Neil deGrasse Tyson [1] has done it again: he has dismissed philosophy as a useless enterprise, and actually advised bright students to stay away from it. It is not the first time Neil has done this sort of thing, and he is…

Neuroscience and Free Will: New study debunks Libet’s interpretation

August 10, 2012 by Justin Caouette

The interconnection of neuroscience and free will has many researchers trying to make bold claims about their findings. In my last post I called Sam Harris’ conclusion that “free will is an illusion” into question. Specifically, I suggested that there were competing interpretations that could be made from the data that neuroscientist Benjamin Libet was […]