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,"...
Michael Shermer on utilitarianism, deontology, and “natural rights”
You may have noticed that I don’t opine on quantum mechanics. Or jazz. The reason for this is that — although I’m very interested...
SOMA and I
The game “SOMA” is a first-person sci-fi horror game. I study philosophy of mind and cognitive science, so I was thrilled to find that...