Blog
November 6, 2012
Fraud in science, and the more widespread impact of the incentives that beget it (Nicholas McGinnis)
The Guardian recently ran an article about fraud in the sciences, noting the institutional pressures placed on researchers that play a part in motivating misconduct: “A recent paper in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that … Continue reading
Back
October 13, 2012
The Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism & Theistic Explanation (and the SEP)
Mohan Matthen has a nice, punchy write up on Plantinga’s ‘Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism’ (EAAN) over at NewAPPS. The EAAN has been influential in some anti-Darwinian circles (Nagel’s recent flirtation with teleology in science being one prominent example). I think … Continue reading
Back
August 25, 2012
The System that Wasn't There: Ayn Rand's Failed Philosophy (and why it matters) -Nicholas McGinnis
fig. 1. Miss Ayn Rand. 1. “I grew up reading Ayn Rand and it taught me quite a bit about who I am and what my value systems are, and what my beliefs are. It’s inspired me so much that … Continue reading
Back
June 14, 2012
New England Journal of Medicine's History of Surgery
Fascinating article from the NEJM entitled “Two Hundred Years of Surgery” which highlights, inter alia, the importance of anesthesia in the development of modern surgical techniques: Surgeons soon found, however, that anesthesia allowed them to perform more complex, invasive, and precise maneuvers than … Continue reading
Back
June 7, 2012
When Experience Machines Are Obligatory
Nozick’s classic discussion of ‘experience machines’ in Anarchy, State and Utopia attempted to show that, contrary to the ‘hedonistic’ thesis, experiencing pleasure is not all that matters to us. The ‘experience machine’, of course, is a kind of simulated reality … Continue reading
Back
May 7, 2012
Nancy Cartwright: Wiser Use of Social Science, Wiser Wishes, Wiser Policies
Video of Dr. Cartwright’s talk at the Rotman Institute in March of 2012: Pot Belly Pig Secrets zp8497586rq
Back
May 7, 2012
Uncovering Hidden Causes and Hidden Assumptions in Public Policy Debates – Amy Wuest
Nancy Cartwright began the second installment of her Rotman Lecture (‘Wiser use of Social Science’) with a discussion of the tragic death of 17 month old Peter Connelly, a case of child neglect and abuse that led to a widespread … Continue reading
Back
April 3, 2012
Pirahã and Progress – Nic McGinnis
The Chronicle of Higher Education recently published an account of a divisive controversy in linguistics concerning the features of an obscure Amazonian language, Pirahã. Allegedly absent in Pirahã is ‘recursion’—the embedding of sentences within sentences—a feature that is (supposedly) central … Continue reading
Back
March 29, 2012
Argument in Limbo (or, a note on the importance of feminism) – Nicholas McGinnis
It is not usually within the aegis of a philosophy blog to comment on controversies within popular media; but in certain particularly illustrative cases, exceptions can be made. Here we are once again concerned with public policy, expertise, and argument: … Continue reading
Back
March 13, 2012
"Science controversies past and present," in Physics Today
Steve Sherwood, of the Climate Change Research Center at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, provides a thoughtful, if schematic, discussion of historical scientific controversy, linking past polemics to present strife on climate change. Both Copernican heliocentrism … Continue reading
Back
