Philosophy
A philosopher cuts the umbilical cord
… literally. “A philosopher on the brink of fatherhood contemplates how he got there.”
Nietzsche club banned
University College London bans its Nietzsche club. “The Nietzsche Club was barred from holding meetings at University College London after a ruling that discussions about right-wing philosophers could encourage fascism and endanger the student body.” Nietzsche all too often is linked to things he would have condemned.
Jerkitude
Eric Schwitzgebel’s philosophical theory of jerks. “Are you surrounded by fools? Are you the only reasonable person around? Then maybe you’re the one with the jerkitude.”
Hang in there!
Did Schopenhauer say, “Just remember, once you’re over the hill you begin to pick up speed”? No, but Peanuts did. The “outsourcing of erudition” makes you wonder how much we know thanks to Google etc. but also how much of it is just wrong.
Anorexia, brain activity, and hormones in the womb.
Anorexia visible with brain scans and womb hormones ‘lead to anorexia’. These two articles are of interest with respect to the mind-body problem and the question of how much is up to you. Are the brains of persons with eating disorders different because they have eating disorders, or do they have eating disorders because their brains are different? Or is this a confused question because there is only the brain? And is your brain programmed in the womb?
Ethics for robot cars
The robot car of tomorrow might be programmed to hit you. Imagine an autonomous car — a robot car that has been programmed to drive itself. It can collect and process more information and do so much faster than a human driver can. Now suppose that car is in a situation in which a collision is unavoidable. The only options are for it to collide with a motorcyclist wearing a helmet or a motorcyclist without a helmet. Which option should it be programmed to take? What would rational, ethical “crash optimization” require?
Who should get to study philosophy?
In “Why teach Plato to plumbers?,” Scott Samuelson writes: “Once, when I told a guy on a plane that I taught philosophy at a community college, he responded, ‘So you teach Plato to plumbers?’ Yes, indeed. But I also teach Plato to nurses’ aides, soldiers, ex-cons, preschool music teachers, janitors, Sudanese refugees, prospective wind-turbine technicians, and any number of other students who feel like they need a diploma as an entry ticket to our economic carnival.” So why teach them Plato? “My answer is that we should strive to be a society of free people, not simply one of well-compensated managers and employees.”
Writing philosophy
How to write a philosophy paper. Some tips from the University of Cambridge for writing papers for a philosophy class that will work well in other classes as well.
Socratically Speaking 