Much human behavior is stimulus-free. While plants and many non-human animals respond reflexively to their present environment, our own actions are mediated by our ability to represent how the world has been and how it could be, and how we might alter it to achieve our goals. Philosophers who have explored the evolutionary pressures giving …
Efficient Cognition: The Evolution of Representational Decision Making Read More »
“Imagine that you are an environmentalist who passionately believes that it is wrong to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. How do you convince someone that a decision to drill is wrong?” This quote from the blurb accurately sums up the motivation, content and approach of Newman, Varner and Linquist’s book. The …
Defending Biodiversity: Environmental Science and Ethics Read More »
Lawrence J. Hatab’s book is a welcome addition to current philosophical conversations about phenomenology and language alike. In the first half of the book, phenomenology, is the focal point. In the sections entitled “Proto-Phenomenology and the Lived World” and “Disclosure, Interpretation, and Philosophy,” Hatab takes his readers through what it means that phenomenology grants priority …
Proto-Phenomenology and the Nature of Language: Dwelling in Speech I Read More »
The purpose of this short book is to provide a semantic analysis of sentences of the form “X looks F to S”. Breckenridge says that his purpose is to explain what it means for a visual experience to have a certain character (p. 7), but the focus is really on a semantic analysis. The example …
In Aristotle’s philosophy, there is no source or principle of evil as there is of good (Metaphysics IX.9, 1051a19-21). Badness does not exist in the category of substance, whereas the supreme god is existence par excellence. Furthermore, there is no contrary to this ‘primary being’ (Metaphysics XII.10, 1075b20-24). How then, does evil get a foothold? Extreme badness is …
Donald Cary Williams studied at Harvard, where he received his PhD in 1924. After a stint at UCLA (1930-1939), he went on to spend the majority of his pre-retirement work-life at his alma mater (1939-1967). In spite of the fact that most of his active career took place in an environment characterized by thoroughly anti-metaphysical, …
The Elements and Patterns of Being: Essays in Metaphysics Read More »
In this timely book, Toby Ord argues that there is a one in six chance that humanity will suffer an existential catastrophe within the next 100 years, and that minimizing this risk should be a major global priority. We live in an age of heightened existential risk, due to such powerful technologies as nuclear weapons, …
The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity Read More »
Structural injustice is a compelling topic. This is in part because its currency in contemporary discourse has exceeded the intensity of its philosophical discussion. Claims of structural injustice are increasingly familiar, but this has not been prompted by theoretical developments; if anything, philosophy has some catching up to do. The other compelling feature in the …
Structural Injustice: Power, Advantage, and Human Rights Read More »
The book is a collection of thirteen essays devoted to themes in formal epistemology, philosophy of language, metaphysics and logic. Robert C. Stalnaker advertises it as a spiritual successor to his 1984 classic Inquiry. Indeed, the book is like Inquiry in two important respects. For one obvious thing, it follows a similar structural arc. Much as Inquiry‘s first half is devoted to …
Knowledge and Conditionals: Essays on the Structure of Inquiry Read More »
Many of us have spent a considerable amount of 2020 working and teaching in a much more solitary environment than we’re used to. Rather than conversing with one another in person, we are instead spending hours and hours staring at one another arranged in little boxes on a computer screen, listening to disembodied voices through …