Philosophy by the Public: A Response to David Johnson
David V. Johnson recently proposed a “vision of public philosophy” in a post for this blog. While this was a thoughtful article, containing a...
Politics and Appointments
A widely accepted principle of academic ethics is that candidates for appointments should not be asked questions that do not bear on performance...
Against Lynching as a Case “Against Empathy”
When I first heard about Paul Bloom’s book, Against Empathy, I was keen to be persuaded to his view. I knew the bare outline...
Post-Truth and Philosophy
We live with truth all around us and yet some people readily embrace lies. Everywhere you turn among the academics and pundits, we constantly...
Does Philosophical Language Have to Be Difficult?
Readers have sometimes asked why my books aren’t more accessible, why they can’t be easily understood by non-academics. At first, I was surprised that these...
Philosophy in the Public Interest
There appears to be a growing interest among academic philosophers in the idea of “public philosophy,” understood minimally as philosophy addressed to a more...
Discussion: The Relationship Between Philosophy, Science & Religion
In an interview for What Is It Like to Be a Philosopher?, Clifford Sosis asks Helen De Cruz (Oxford Brookes University) about the relationship between...
Are we better off giving up the myth of perfect rationality?
“There is more to be said for stupidity than people imagine. Personally I have great admiration for stupidity” – the sentiment behind Oscar Wilde’s...
Doctoral Student Orientation
For many years I attended my department’s opening week orientation for new doctoral students. While most arrived unsure or even apprehensive, all were eager...
Philosophy Goes to the Future: An Interview with K.K. Edin
The Measurements of Decay is K.K. Edin's debut novel. Described as both "a tortured love letter to philosophy and a space opera spanning centuries,"...