Category Archives: Philosophy

One of the many people who is considerably smarter and more productive than I am is Eric Schwitzgebel, whose writes the blog, The Splintered Mind.  One of Eric’s many research interests is the question of whether there is any empirical … Continue reading →

I’m on the mailing list for the Vassar Venture Capitalists Club.  (Long story.)  Anyway, their “Entrepreneur of the Month” is a 2006 graduate who started her own business:  “Dapper Dog Training.”  Did she major in economics?  No.  She majored in … Continue reading →

“What makes a man go neutral?  Lust for gold?  Power?  Or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality?” — “Captain Zapp Brannigan,” Futurama There is a considerable body of philosophical argumentation pro and con ethical relativism.  However, … Continue reading →

Does science progress in a cumulative way?  In other words, do later scientific theories build upon earlier ones by keeping older established truths about the world, and adding us more truths?  The standard answer, familiar from Whiggish history and brief … Continue reading →

Several people have recommended to me Richard Nisbitt’s The Geography of Thought:  How Asians and Westerners Think Differently…and Why.   The title is already cringe-inducing. “Asia” is the same as the “Orient,” and as Edward Said demonstrated in his seminal … Continue reading →

Descartes makes methodological solipsism almost compulsive for later philosophers. (How is that for opening with a grand pronouncement?) By “methodological solipsism” I mean an approach to philosophy that claims we have privileged access to our own mental states, we have … Continue reading →

A student pointed out to me Gary Gutting’s recent article for the NY Times philosophy column, “The Stone.”  Previous installments of “The Stone” have come under fire for what some professional philosophers regard as inaccurate claims and sloppy reasoning.  Gutting’s … Continue reading →