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Philosophy

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Think big, be free, have sex … 10 reasons to be an existentialist. Untitled. After the Fact. Intellectual Maintenance. When I was an undergraduate at St.

Intellectual Maintenance

Louis University, the philosophy requirement was five courses. Judith Butler, Explained with Video Games. WOODLIEF: Letter to a young philosophy student - The Vanderbilt Hustler: Opinion. “Philosophy is all about the arguments.”

WOODLIEF: Letter to a young philosophy student - The Vanderbilt Hustler: Opinion

Delivered on the heels of a dramatic pause, these were the first words I ever heard in a college lecture, my professor’s opening line to a room of freshmen. Almost four academic years later, I still disagree with him. Philosophy is all about the questions. Curiosity begins with ‘wh’-words: Who? What? At Vanderbilt, you’re in the lucky position of having a four-year shelter from real life to drill down on your curiosity and ask the big questions as a member of an intellectual community. 47 Animated Videos Explain the History of Ideas: From Aristotle to Sartre. This year we've been featuring short animated videos from BBC Radio 4, all covering the big questions: How did everything begin?

47 Animated Videos Explain the History of Ideas: From Aristotle to Sartre

What's missing in college philosophy classes? Chinese philosophers. Philosophy professors in the United States have all heard of Confucius and the Daoist Laozi.

What's missing in college philosophy classes? Chinese philosophers.

Many have also heard of their approximate contemporaries in ancient China: the later Confucians Mencius and Xunzi; the easygoing skeptic Zhuangzi; Mozi, the advocate of impartial concern for everyone; and Han Feizi, the authoritarian legalist. But most of us have not read their works. As a result, most U.S. university students are not exposed to Chinese thinkers in their philosophy classes. Looking at the course catalogs of three major universities in Los Angeles — UCLA, USC and Cal State L.A. — I find 23 philosophy department course listings that mention ancient Greek philosophy or specific ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato or Aristotle. What's missing in college philosophy classes? Chinese philosophers. Why We Need Philosophers Engaged In Public Life : 13.7: Cosmos And Culture. Say "philosopher" and most people imagine a bust of Socrates, obscure texts or intellectual tête-à-têtes in the so-called Ivory Tower, away from the muddle of real-life concerns.

Why We Need Philosophers Engaged In Public Life : 13.7: Cosmos And Culture

But three issues this past week made something clear: We need philosophers engaged in public life — and a public willing to engage them. Issue No. 1: Rachel Dolezal, a woman born to Caucasian parents, was "outed" as white though she identifies as black. Watch the Foucault Interview That Was Lost for Decades – Until Now. ‘Words Without Music,’ by Philip Glass. Given that all the events of a long, rich and full artistic life can scarcely be squeezed into a moderate-size book, how does one choose, at age 78, what to put into a memoir and what to leave out?

‘Words Without Music,’ by Philip Glass

The Promethean composer Philip Glass provokes this question in his lively and colorful new book, “Words Without Music,” in which he offers stories from his life in varyingly detailed magnification. Whatever you think of him as a ­composer — self-­imitator or icon of postmodern symphony and opera — Glass is one of the most articulate composers around. Insight and practical common sense pervade his new book, and reading it reminded me of hearing him speak: He’s ever thoughtful and ­loquacious, but he doesn’t answer any questions he doesn’t want to. In one early emblematic story, young Philip is bullied for playing the flute. Philosophers Don’t Read and Cite Enough (guest post by Marcus Arvan) Implicit Bias. 1.

Implicit Bias

Introduction: History, Methods, and Models of Implicit Social Cognition 1.1 History of the Field. For a Better Society, Teach Philosophy in High Schools  The past year gives one the suspicion that American society is dysfunctional.

For a Better Society, Teach Philosophy in High Schools 

Our Congress is useless, our institutions inept. Faced with the terror of existence, young men like Adam Lanza react with violence. Faced with manageable problems such as a "fiscal cliff," our democracy self-destructs. Anger is everywhere; understanding is nowhere. Although a democratic society cannot function unless its citizens are able to rationally debate one another, rationality is missing from American politics. It seems to me that this dysfunctional political dialogue, which stems from the iron certainty we grant our opinions, is the most pressing problem confronting 21st century America. The Storm Over the University. Why study humanities? How to Criticize with Kindness: Philosopher Daniel Dennett on the Four Steps to Arguing Intelligently. Terry Pratchett rethought as a philosopher in new study. Philosophers looking for fresh insights into metaphysics, epistemology and ethics can add another author to their reading list, as a study reveals the philosophical issues explored in the work of Terry Pratchett.

Terry Pratchett rethought as a philosopher in new study

With more than 75m copies sold around the world, Pratchett is one of the UK’s best-loved writers. He published his first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, in 1983. The 40th, Raising Steam, was released last year, with new work still coming thick and fast despite a diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s in 2007. But Philosophy and Terry Pratchett, published on 3 December, is the first study to explore the philosophical implications of Pratchett’s imaginary world, which is perched on the back of a turtle. South, associate professor of philosophy at Marquette University, is adamant Pratchett’s novels “hold up to sustained philosophical reflection”. Pratchett’s character Death “is profoundly Kantian,” Held continued. The 18 Best Philosophical Movies of All Time. Whether realizing the art form of filmmaking or not, directors and writers often use their preferred visual medium to tell a story.

The 18 Best Philosophical Movies of All Time

Ideologies, theories or whatever form of message is always decoded in this visual medium in hopes that the audience gets the message. The secret of making a successful film, especially when telling a story, is to avoid preaching. What do philosophers of mind actually do? Some quantitative data. There seems to be a widely shared sense these days that the philosophical study of mind has been undergoing some pretty dramatic changes.

Back in the twentieth century, the field was dominated by a very specific sort of research program, but it seems like less and less work is being done within that traditional program, while there is an ever greater amount of work pursuing issues that have a completely different sort of character. To get a better sense for precisely how the field has changed, I thought it might be helpful to collect some quantitative data. Specifically, I compared a sample of highly cited papers from the past five years (2009-2013) with a sample of highly cited papers from a period in the twentieth century (1960-1999). You can find all of the nitty gritty details in this forthcoming paper, but the basic results are pretty easy to summarize.