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Beyond the Turing Test
05
Feb 2025
Is there anything computers can't do—or at least won't be able to do at some future time? They have already gotten pretty powerful: we've developed cars that drive themselves, protein-folding software that discovers new medicines, and massive encyclopedias you can fit in your pocket—not to mention all those tools to help students cheat on their papers. The way things are going, ten years from now we may all be obsolete. And yet there are still plenty of things humans can do that computers can’t, like feel emotions, fall in love, or hold a real conversation. That's why many of us think it's...
Read moreObituary for Stanford Professor Emeritus David S. Nivison
06
Mar 2015
David Shepherd Nivison, emeritus professor of philosophy, religious studies, and Chinese language at Stanford University, passed away peacefully on October 16, 2014, aged 91. I am honored to have been one of his doctoral students. Nivison had a career trajectory that would be almost impossible in the contemporary academic world, and a range of intellectual interests and talents that almost no one could match. He was studying classics at Harvard when WWII broke out. Like many people of his generation who went on to become Sinologists or Japanologists, he was drafted and assigned to learn...
Read moreThe Puzzle of Possibility
David Livingstone Smith
10
Jan 2018
Happy New Year! Now that we’ve launched into 2018, many of us are wondering what the year ahead has in store. What might happen, to you, your loved ones, the nation or the world as a whole? There seem to be a lot of possibilities, some to be hoped for and others to be feared. Philosophers are as much concerned about the possibilities that lie ahead as anyone else is. But philosophers are also interested in possibilities for a different reason—or rather, in a different way. When we consider possibilities, most of us are curious about what is possible, but a...
Read moreLetting Go of Human Nature
11
Jun 2019
We human beings have been fascinated with ourselves for a very long time. In particular, we’ve been interested in what’s called “human nature.” But the idea of human nature is also riven with controversy. Some scholars—often those in the humanities—argue that there’s no such thing as human nature, while others—often those in the social and biological sciences—regard the “denial” of human nature as an egregiously retrograde, anti-scientific move. I think that a lot of the human nature enthusiasts have gotten things backwards. Rejecting human nature isn’t necessarily anti-scientific, because...
Read moreHappy 200th, Karl Marx!
Mohit Mookim
05
May 2018
It's Karl Marx' 200th Birthday! It is hard to deny that Marx left a lasting, far-reaching impact on the course of history. But how exactly can we distill the core insights of Marx's teachings? Are we to emphasize it his concrete philosophical positions or his contributions to political history around the world? This wonderful New York Times tribute to Marx highlights and praises the philosopher's critical posture towards capitalism and oppressive structures. Marx's pragmatic, critical attitude is brought to bear on our instituions regularly in our society. Here's the...
Read moreDemonizing Black Men
02
Jun 2020
As I write these words, my new book, On Inhumanity: Dehumanization and How to Resist It is poised to be released by Oxford University Press. This would normally be a joyous, exciting time for me. Ten years of painstaking research distilled into one, short, accessible volume is an accomplishment of which I can legitimately be proud. But in reality, this is not a happy time for me, and not just because of the Covid pandemic. Pandemics come and go, but racism persists. Now, once again, the terrible things that I describe and try to analyze in the book have been thrust into the forefront...
Read moreIs Human Monogamy Genetic?
Jack Herrera
03
May 2017
A few months ago, I wrote a story about a philosopher defending (and engaging in) "polyamorous relationships"—romantic relationships with multiple partners. The philosopher, Carrie Ichikawa Jenkins, argued that much of the stigma regarding polyamorous relationships stemmed from obsolete and stifling social standards. Recently, I saw a study out of Harvard that suggests humans are "genetically programmed" towards monogamy to ensure that offspring are cared for. I'm always dubious of drawing conclusions from single studies (this one used mice, not people, as subjects), and I'm...
Read moreWomen in Philosophy
Sarah Kahn
15
Sep 2017
What explains the fact that women makeup only 25% of British philosophy departments? Note that the numbers aren’t so different for American universities. MIT philosopher Sally Haslanger reports that even "As recently as 2010, philosophy had a lower percentage of women doctorates than math, chemistry and economics." In a debate on the topic, philosopher Mary Warnock says we should not think the reason for this gender disparity is that women dislike philosophy because of "its supposedly adversarial style, its devotion to winning an argument rather than seeking truth...
Read moreOn Being a Wife
John Perry
03
Apr 2010
What is a wife? From a philosophical point of view, it looks like the word `wife’ is a predicate and so should stand for a condition, presumably one that humans meet or don't meet at times. And so the first question is, which condition? And then the next questions would be about the importance of the property, its relation to issues of equality, social structure and the like. But the first question isn’t so simple. When we read Marilyn Yalom’s book, A History of the Wife, it seems pretty clear that the word `wife’ (and the words in other languages...
Read moreWhy I am not a Wittgensteinian
Ken Taylor
03
Mar 2007
Today's episode is about Wittgenstein. Our guest will be Juliet Floyd. Many regard Wittgenstein as perhaps the greatest philosopher of the 20th century. I don't share that view. But there's no denying that, for a man who published only one book during his lifetime -- a book that he later basically repudiated -- he really did have a tremendous impact on 20th century analytic philosophy. Indeed, Wittgenstein has to be regarded as one of the great founding fathers of 20th century analytic philosophy, especially of the so-called linguistic turn in philosophy. Now I don't profess at all to be...
Read moreMohan's Question
John Fischer
30
Mar 2005
During the call-in component of the show, Mohan asked a question about the relationship between political freedom and metaphysical freedom. Although it was a bit off the central topics, it does raise a question that has troubled me. That is, I believe that genuinely available metaphysical alternatives or possibilities are not required for moral agency--the forward-looking aspect (practical reasoning) or the backward-looking aspect (moral responsibility). But then why would I prefer to live in a nation with political liberties, such as freedom of speech, freedom of...
Read moreWhat are Crony Beliefs?
Mohit Mookim
14
Mar 2017
According to Kevin Simler's essay called "Crony Beliefs," crony beliefs are beliefs that you have partly because you want to believe them. This article talks at length about how beliefs form and when things go wrong. Why does it seem like so many people end up believing things that end up serving their self-interest? In a political context, I'm sure it would be easy to find boatloads of evidence for this on both sides of the aisle. However, taking a step back, some philosophers doubt that such a thing as "crony beliefs" could even exist. They argue as follows: if the...
Read moreAn Anti-Determinist Argument
Daniel Mullin
13
Dec 2013
We generally think that the past is settled and nothing we do in the present can change it (barring time travel or backwards causation). In other words, it seems irrational to direct our efforts toward trying to affect the past. For example, if an organism evolved a mutation that caused it to spend time and energy trying to influence the past instead of the future, it's reasonable to assume that the organism wouldn't survive very long. So far, so good. However, a wrinkle in the assumption that it's irrational to direct our action toward the past is provided by Newcomb's Paradox. In this...
Read moreShould the Arts Be for All?
Josh Landy
27
Nov 2020
Should artists make artworks that are easy to understand? Or should there be challenging artworks out there, but free education to help us understand them? What, if anything, is the value of difficult paintings, poems, and novels? This week we’re asking if the arts should be for everyone. That question has a long and fascinating history. Plato’s character “Socrates,” in the Phaedrus, already worried that books “roll around everywhere, reaching indiscriminately those with understanding no less than those who have no business with [them].” He clearly didn’t want writers to make...
Read moreThe Morality of Revenge
Laura Maguire
07
Jul 2016
We’ve all experienced the desire for revenge, whether it be when some jerk cuts you off in traffic or you discover that your partner has been cheating on you. Wanting revenge when you’ve been wronged is a natural human response. The question we’re asking this week is whether this desire for payback is something we ought to act on. Is revenge ever the moral thing to do? When we’re motivated to seek revenge, it’s often out of a sense of fairness. If an injustice has been committed, then the only way to restore balance in the moral universe is if the wrongdoers pay for what they’ve done....
Read moreShould Marriage Be Abolished?
Ken Taylor
30
Apr 2011
Our topics this week: Should Marriage Be Abolished? That’s a pretty punchy and provocative way to ask the question, we’re trying to get at, but we need to be careful. Asking whether marriage should be “abolished” isn’t like asking whether slavery should be abolished. We don’t want to suggest that people should be forbidden from marrying. Of course, some people are forbidden from marrying. In most places in the United States, gay couples are not legally allowed to marry. Once upon a time, interracial couples were not legally permitted...
Read morePhilosophy In, Of, and About Mexico
07
Jul 2023
Mexican philosophy is full of fascinating ideas, from Mexica ("Aztec") and Mayan thought to Sor Juana’s feminism and Emilio Uranga’s existentialism. But is "Mexican philosophy" a single thing? Do all those branches have anything significant in common, other than coming from (roughly) the same part of the world? Arguably, the answer is yes. After all, we talk about "Greek philosophy," "German philosophy," and even—god help us—"French philosophy." So there seems to be no reason not to talk, in a similar way, about Mexican philosophy: it's no more or less variegated than, say, a body of...
Read moreAre Some People Better than Others?
Laura Maguire
19
Aug 2015
Are some people better than others? You might wonder what kind of a question that is. On the one hand, there’s no controversy—some people are smarter than others, some are more creative, some are stronger or faster, and some are kinder or more virtuous. So, if that’s all we’re asking, the answer is obvious. In certain respects and in particular domains, some people are clearly better than others. But if we’re asking whether some people are just better human beings in general, it becomes much harder to answer the question. Looking back through history, it’s easy to identify the...
Read moreWhen Democracy Runs Wild
Mohit Mookim
09
Nov 2017
Do we have too much democratic politics in this country? This isn't one of those debates about whether the will of the masses needs to be constrained by elite or technocratic pressures. Rather, what are the consequences of living in a society in which your every action has a political connotation? A new article by philosopher Robert Talisse in Aeon Magazine argues that, in the above sense, there is such a thing as too much democracy. In fact, Talisse comes up with a clever case for the position that democracy is a value that shouldn't be pursued too directly or aggressively....
Read moreOn Morally Condemning the Past
17
Dec 2018
The American Pediatric Association is clear that spanking harms children both in the short and long runs. In the short run, it’s humiliating. In the long run, it can lead to mental health problems. Its recommendations are based on evidence. It’s easy to spin yarns and weave anecdotes about how spanking builds character (“My parents spanked me and I turned out alright!”). But actual research implies (1) physical punishment is damaging to children’s mental health, even when it doesn’t harm the body, and (2) other forms of discipline improve behavior more effectively anyway (timeouts,...
Read more#FrancisOnFilm: The Shape of Water
Leslie Francis
05
Mar 2018
What is loneliness? Loneliness isn't written about much by analytic philosophers. Solipsism is, of course—whether it's possible for us to have knowledge of the mind of others or indeed of anything outside of our individual minds. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy doesn't have an entry for loneliness, and nearly all of the entries in recent years in the Philosopher's Index for loneliness are theological (dealing with the loneliness of the spirit), existentialist (dealing with the independence of radical choice), or social psychological (dealing Hannah Arendt's portrait of...
Read moreHuman, Subhuman, or Both?
13
Dec 2019
I’ve been researching and writing about dehumanization for the past ten years or so. During this time, I’ve argued that people dehumanize others by conceiving of them as less-than-human beings—in a literal rather than a figurative sense. Some scholars are skeptical of my claim, and hold that dehumanization, as I’ve described it, doesn’t exist. One important reason for their skepticism has to do with a seeming contradiction. Those who describe others as less than human also implicitly (or even explicitly) acknowledge their victims’ humanity. The skeptics conclude that these people don’t really...
Read moreMuscles and Marxism
Jack Herrera
10
Apr 2017
The folks over at Jacobin, an up-and-coming socialist magazine, enjoy taking the bizarre ephemera that shows up on your Facebook feed and turning it into Marxist treatises. Recently, Adam Sztela took a look at the “Arnold Classis”—a bodybuilding competition named for the action movie star and former California governor—and tried a deep dive into the class politics of bodybuilding. For Szetela, bodybuilding provides us a unique perspective on work: when you pump iron, the fruits of your labor belong to you and you alone, in the form of bulging biceps and six-pack abs. Szetela contends...
Read moreThe Unnatural is the Political
David Livingstone Smith
26
Jun 2017
The belief that some things are natural while others are unnatural is part of the common currency of human thought, but we rarely pause to consider exactly what it means to say that something is unnatural. It’s important to do so, because—strange as it might sound—this concept is politically very potent. As I’ll shortly explain, the concept of the natural gets used to justify the social order, and the concept of the unnatural fuels efforts to punish or destroy those who deviate from it. Unnaturalness is the flip side of naturalness. So one way to get at the concept of the unnatural...
Read moreReading, Narrative, and the Self
Ken Taylor
26
Nov 2010
This week’s topic is Reading, Narrative, and the Self. I suppose everybody has a pretty good idea of what each of those things, taken individually, means. Reading is something that most people do. A good narrative -- or story, to use a less fancy term -- is something most people enjoy. And a self is something everybody has. But I think I need to explain what reading, narrative, and the self have to do with each other. I’ll take them in reverse order, starting with the self. Everybody has a self...
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