Philosophy as a Way of Life

Here are some interesting articles I’ve come across recently, for your consideration:

Remembering when bankers tried to overthrow FDR and install a fascist dictator. True Story. (Big Think)

Is knowledge a “Stone Age” concept that is best abandoned? A strange, misguided, and conceptually confused article by my colleague David Papineau. (Aeon)

A good argument against anti-natalism, if one where needed. But you’ll have to get over some entirely unnecessary comments on god and the virtues of conservatism.

Reading fiction has been said to increase people’s empathy and compassion. But does the research really bear that out? Yes, it turns out. (BBC)

Here are some interesting articles I’ve come across recently, for your consideration:

The (very) troubled history of psychiatry. (New Yorker)

Transgender kids’ brains resemble their gender identity, not their biological sex. (LGBTQ Nation)

Human life on Mars? Dangerous science fiction. (The Guardian)

What’s so useful about studying ancient history? Americans are notoriously ignorant of history, even their own, and while there’s nothing new about this indifference, the consequences are profound. (Daily Beast)

While this article is admittedly a rant, and uses unnecessarily harsh language, it perfectly explains why I don’t like Steven Pinker (not personally, I don’t know him). (Current Affairs)

Here are some interesting articles I’ve come across recently, for your consideration:

The Freudian Loafer, the Intellectual and the Politician’s Son. Louis Sarkozy, the son of the former French president, wants to make academics into influencers. Oh boy. (New York Times)

A philosophical approach to routines can illuminate who we really are. The things we do every day aren’t just routines to be hacked. (Qrius)

Yes, determinists, there is free will. You make choices even if your atoms don’t. Or so says philosopher Christian List. Too bad his defense of the notion seems pretty conceptually muddled. (Nautilus)

Here are some interesting articles I’ve come across recently, for your consideration:

The mystery of human uniqueness: what exactly makes our species special (if anything)? (Nautilus)

A brief and fascinating history of bullshit. (Madras Courier)

Nine quick facts about hermeneutics. (Oxford University Press blog)

Why we are still fighting about Freud, a surprisingly unskeptical essay by arch-skeptic John Horgan. (Scientific American blogs)

Contra this very confused article, reason does not exist without deliberation. (Aeon)

Here are some interesting articles I’ve come across recently, for your consideration:

“Positive thinking” has turned happiness into a duty and a burden, says a Danish psychologist. (Quartz)

Do profits prioritize well? Mindlessness in markets. (Big Think)

How to reduce digital distractions: advice from medieval monks. (Aeon)

What the Ancient Greeks teach us. The value of Athenian tragedy in an age of anxiety. (New Statesman)

Here are some interesting articles I’ve come across recently, for your consideration:

Mussolini (or his ghost) unfortunately resurfaces in Milan. (New York Times)

Why Lucretius believed in a Flat Earth (and his contemporaries already didn’t), and the malaise of modern science. (Aeon)

Is there a problem with how scientists (and philosophers) study reason? Maybe, but not necessarily along the lines sketched by this article. (Nautilus)

Julian Savulescu is just as controversial as his mentor, Peter Singer. Sometimes for good reasons, other times not so much. (Nautilus)

Cheerfulness cannot be compulsory, no matter what the t-shirts say. (Aeon)

Here are some interesting articles I’ve come across recently, for your consideration:

David Brooks thinks our culture tells us five crucial lies. He may be onto something. (New York Times)

A critical but friendly commentary on Lee Smolin’s new book: Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution. In case you wanted more about the current mess in fundamental physics. (NPR)

Epictetus and the problem of philosophical progress. (3 Quarks Daily)

Socrates’ philosophy shows why moral posturing on social media is so darn annoying. (QZ)

A long and somewhat rambling article on why bioethicists are not doing enough to stem the new eugenics. Several good points, a recurring bad argument. See if you can spot it. (New Atlantis)

Here are some interesting articles I’ve come across recently, for your consideration:

Why is simpler better? Ockham’s Razor says that simplicity is a scientific virtue, but justifying this philosophically is strangely elusive, says my colleague Elliott Sober. (Aeon)

Sabine Hossenfelder discusses the current chaotic state of fundamental physics, showing why “beauty” gets in the way of science. To be read in tandem with the above linked article by Sober. (Nautilus)

I had no idea what “ethical interilimity” is. Now that I’ve found out from this article by Sam Ben-Meir, I doubt it’s a particular useful or coherent concept. But I could be wrong. (Blitz)

I’ve explained before why Jordan Peterson ain’t no Stoic (he doesn’t claim to be, but some people think he is). This article actually by Jennifer Baker argues (correctly) that is an anti-Stoic. (Psychology Today)

One more on Peterson, this time a commentary on his recent inane debate with the equally embarrassing Slavoj Žižek. “Enjoy.”

Here are some interesting articles I’ve come across recently, for your consideration:

John Malkovich to star in a new movie as Stoic philosopher Seneca. (Screen Daily)

Facebook offers UK users a whopping 71 options for their gender. A bit too much, perhaps? (The Telegraph) This is closer to my own thinking. (Aeon)

Oxford philosopher’s new hypothesis predicts the rise of super villains. Maybe. Or perhaps this is the sort of thing that gives philosophy a bad reputation. (TNW)

Here are some interesting articles I’ve come across recently, for your consideration:

Vladimir Nabokov, literary refugee. (New York Times)

A New study questions Judith Butler’s famous contention that “male” and “female” are merely social constructs. (Psychology Today)

Was the real Socrates more amorous than we knew? (Aeon)

Warning: this friendship has been digitized. (New York Times)

Big Gods came after the rise of civilization, not before. (The Conversation)