by Benjamin Hill On Sept. 14th at 4:50 am EST the LIGO facilities in Livingston, LA and Hanford, WA recorded a brief flash of light. Barely two weeks into its first run after an upgrade, LIGO detected its first gravity wave (Abbott et al. PhysRevLett 116:061102). Gravity waves are vibrations of spacetime and they were [...]
by Jamie Shaw Bill Nye’s recent comments about the (lack of) value of philosophy have caused somewhat of an uproar within the philosophical community. These comments are not new; many scientists and popular figures (including Neil deGrasse Tyson, Stephen Hawking, and Richard Dawkins) have signaled the death of philosophy as a discipline and nominated ‘science’ [...]
by Tracy de Boer When I first heard that Barbie was coming out with three new body types (petite, tall and curvy in addition to the original doll’s proportions), I was torn. On the one hand, I wanted to commend Mattel’s adaptiveness and dare I say, progressiveness (or maybe “progressive-lite” is more accurate). What is [...]
Our February monthly digest brings news of a new Canada Research Chair, publications, conferences, and public talks from some of our members. Listed below (in alphabetical order) are some of the ways our members have been busy engaging with other philosophers, scientists, and the general public. Gillian Barker was the featured speaker at the Darwin [...]
by Veromi Arsiradam Dr. Kirstin Borgerson is Associate Professor of Philosophy, Cross-Appointed with Gender and Women’s Studies, at Dalhousie University. Her main areas of research include philosophy of medicine, bioethics, feminist philosophy, and social epistemology. On January 29, 2016, Dr. Borgerson delivered a lecture titled, “Toward an Epistemic Justification for Research-Practice Integration in Medicine,” as [...]
Kirstin Borgerson, of Dalhousie University, delivered a lecture on January 29, 2016 entitled, Toward an Epistemic Justification for Research-Practice Integration in Medicine. Video of this lecture has been posted on the Rotman Institute of Philosophy YouTube channel. Abstract: Arguments in favor of greater research-practice integration in medicine have tended to be ethical, political, or pragmatic. [...]
Rotman faculty member Louis Charland published a blog post yesterday entitled, "Emotions without Emotion: A Challenge for the Neurophilosophy and Neuroscience of Emotion". It was featured on The Neuroethics Blog, hosted by the Center for Ethics, Neuroethics Program at Emory University. In the post, Charland examines the distinction between the terms emotion and cognition, and [...]
With the start of 2016, our blog will include a new monthly feature -- a post summarizing the talks, publications, interviews, and other updates from the faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students who are members of the Rotman Institute. As our first post in this series, this update includes news from the end of 2015, [...]
Rotman graduate student, Jessey Wright, conducted the following interview with Professor Michael Anderson -- Visiting Fellow at the Rotman Institute. Professor Michael Anderson is a visiting scholar at the Rotman Institute. Professor Anderson’s work sits at the intersection of psychology, computer science and philosophy. For example, his recent book, After Phrenology: Neural Reuse and the [...]
The Rotman Institute will be hosting several noteworthy events this semester, on topics including research-practice integration in medicine, a look at the food systems needed to feed the world's growing population, gendered toy marketing, and neurophilosophy. In addition to these lectures, the 2016 Rotman Annual Conference, Rethinking the Taxonomy of Psychology Conference, will be held [...]
