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The excellent 'Mind Hacks' blog has a round up of some fascinating recent papers on the reliability of fMRI studies. It is from the same people who published the Dead Salmon study. Always a hot topic in PhilScience!

Mind Hacks: How reliable are fMRI results?

Stuart Kauffman is writing a blog series at the NPR site on Philosophy of Mind:
The Philosophy of Mind, 1 - 13.7: Cosmos And Culture Blog : NPR
It's pretty introductory stuff, but worth being aware of.

From the chronicle.  His main criticism is: Philosophers Rip Darwin - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education

I want to draw attention to the way this crop of critics ignores evolutionary biology—aside from the kind of cherry-picking in which Fodor engages. Nagel may sneer about the failure to find "accessible literature" that answers his worries. In what part of the library was he doing his literature search? Where, for example, is any discussion of the Grants' work on the Galápagos finches? What about a detailed look at the new scholarship that is challenging earlier thinking about the evolution of bipedalism? What about the discoveries of molecular biology and of the similarities (homologies) between humans and fruit flies? And why no mention of Marc Hauser and his work uncovering the secrets of moral thinking? There is a deafening silence on those and other issues. Fodor, Nagel, and Plantinga don't need to turn themselves into biochemists, but some awareness of the issues and advances would not be entirely misplaced.

Ruse goes on to suggest that the 'deeper' reason for their critiques of Darwin is, for Plantinga and Nagel, a rejection of reductionism. For Fodor, it is a resistance against seeing homo sapiens as just another animal.  read more »

The Dallas Observer has a profile of 'Dessa', a local hip-hop star who majored in Philosophy:

Q&A: Dessa Talks Philosophy, The Lack of Females in Hip-Hop and Singing Versus Shouting - Dallas Music - DC9 At Night

I would venture to say that I may be the only female hip-hop artist with a degree in philosophy, though.

Just in case you missed it (and how could you?), Haverford College found a lost letter from Descartes to Mersenne, and is returning it to the Institut de France.

It's a useful story if you're teaching Descartes right now, but here's the bombshells: (a) The president of Haverford was a Philosophy major and (b) a Haverford student wrote a Thesis on this back in 1979, and appears to be the only one ever to have done academic work on the letter!

Stolen René Descartes Letter Is Being Returned to Its French Home - NYTimes.com

As soon as Haverford’s president, Stephen G. Emerson, understood the letter’s history, he contacted the Institut de France (coincidentally on Feb. 11, the anniversary of Descartes’ death in 1650) and offered to return the item. “I was frankly shocked because I didn’t know we had the letter at all,” said Mr. Emerson, who was a philosophy major in college. “But it’s really not ours.”

Scholars have known of the letter’s existence for more than 300 years, but not its contents. Apparently the only person who had really studied it was a Haverford undergraduate who spent a semester writing a paper about the letter in 1979. (Mr. Bos called the paper “a truly fine piece of work.”)

nrc.nl - International - Unknown letter from Descartes found  read more »

Giles Fraser, Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral in London*, has been writing a series of articles from the Guardian on Wittgenstein.  The articles are getting significant attention in the form of comments at least, and are worth considering bringing into the classroom - at least, if you're teaching Wittgenstein:

Investigating Wittgenstein, part 1: Falling in love | Giles Fraser | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Investigating Wittgenstein, part 2: Meaning is use | Giles Fraser | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Investigating Wittgenstein, part 3: Religion as a language game | Giles Fraser | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Investigating Wittgenstein, part 4 | Giles Fraser | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk  read more »

OK, so this is a complicated story. In short, a math teacher (OK) in a middle school started a philosophy club (Great!) that turned into a class (Good) that is now awarding community college credit (!) to 8th-graders (WTF?). The course will be broadcast on NJN (Fantastic!).

I love the idea of getting 8th-graders interested in Philosophy! Fantastic! More of this Please!

But wait a moment: are there not *loads* of under-employed over-qualified philosophers who would appreciate an extra section of a community college course? And can we really say that 12-year-old middle school students are capable of doing college level work? After all, these are community college credits which transfer to many 4-year colleges with little review.  Is a course taught by a high school math teacher to 8th graders really equivalent to an intro to philosophy course at a 4-year college?

NorthJersey.com: Getting a jump start on college

Taking famous philosophical ideas from Aristotle to Friederich Nietzsche as a springboard for discussion, Tully started an after-school philosophy club for the school in 2001 on a whim after principal at the time Bill Belluzzi had asked staff members for ideas on programs to keep the students occupied after school.

As a fresh, new teacher ready to create a good impression, Tully offered up the idea to start a philosophy club not knowing what he would be bargaining for.  read more »

From Delaware online:
Delaware professors fear plan doesn't value liberal arts, social sciences | delawareonline.com | The News Journal

Philosophy professor Kate Rogers and philosophy department Chairman G. Fred Schueler say their department has dropped from 17 faculty members in 2007 to 10 this year. The university has not authorized them to fill the openings.

And the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Pa. state universities consider eliminating some majors

At Indiana University of Pennsylvania, faculty in the philosophy department are being asked to explain why their bachelor's program should not be eliminated. They must show that Pennsylvania's largest state-owned university can still afford to graduate young adults versed in the works of Socrates and Nietzsche.

At least according to Jason Henry McCormick, commentator for SDSU's student newspaper:

The Daily Aztec - ANOTHER SKIPPED DIPLOMA: SDSU seventh year itch

This is my seventh or eighth year in college, and I have a 2.003 overall grade point average...
I kept looking. Then, lo and behold, the philosophy major caught my eye.

Being a philosopher is easy. One must love wisdom and forget about earning a six-figure salary. Also, if one wishes to enroll in philosopher training, then one must have a GPA of 2.0 or higher in all pre-philosophy major coursework.

Michael Cronin argues in the Irish Times that Philosophy should be taught in public schools to cultivate ethical behavior.

Educating free minds only route to true ethics - The Irish Times - Wed, Feb 24, 2010

One defence of the examined life is that it helps us to think about how we might behave with care and respect for others as part of personal flourishing in the world. Philosophy has a centuries-old tradition of ethical reflection stretching to antiquity, and ethical issues have been an enduring concern of philosophers from Aristotle to Judith Butler. Schooling our children in ethical inquiry that is not hostage to the dogmas of any one church or discredited by institutional misbehaviour is not only to draw on the riches of ethical thinking in the philosophical tradition, but it encourages free, critical inquiry. It is the development of this habit that explains the full importance of the teaching of philosophy.

Elon University's student paper has a brief article on Yoram Lubling's upper level American Philosophy seminar, whose essays were published as a book by AuthorHouse publishing:

The Pendulum - Philosophy class has book of essays published

The book is titled "The Only Sin is Limitation: Essays on R.W. Emerson's multi-faceted influence on America." Students found a publisher and were able to get the book published this past December, thanks to a helpful endorsement by professor of philosophy Arthur Lothstein at Long Island University, a professor who once taught Lubling himself.

If you aren't familiar with his work, Pascal Boyer is a significant figure in the nascent Cognitive Science of Religion. According to Pascal, religious concepts are those concepts that, as a function of our memory mechanisms, are particularly memorable. They are what he calls 'minimally-counter intuitive concepts', which means that they tend to violate the template of a concept (such as TREE) in a minimal way (TREE THAT WALKS). Our cognitive mechanisms are such that these sort of concepts are more likely to be remembered and survive cultural transmission better than concepts that either do not violate the template, or maximally violate the template.

In a recent blog entry, he seems to be applying this analysis to academic fashions: that they tend to be introduced by 'gurus' who make a counterintuitive claim, e.g. 'Madness is not brain dysfunction,' and then unpack it into relatively innocuous claims.

Boyer's thesis is polemical, but the underlying position is interesting: can there be a Cognitive Science of Philosophy?  Can we explain the attraction to philosophical theses in terms of the cognitive mechanisms at work in our brains?  He concludes, incidentally almost, that:  read more »

I know I'm a little behind on blogging, given the massive snow storm we survived and the Central APA. But just in case you missed it:

Descartes was 'poisoned by Catholic priest' | World news | guardian.co.uk

According to Theodor Ebert, an academic at the University of Erlangen, Descartes died not through natural causes but from an arsenic-laced communion wafer given to him by a Catholic priest.

Among other shocking revelations:

(Thanks to Rory Kraft (York College, PA) for the pointer)

McInerny taught at Notre Dame for an astonishing 54 years:
Beloved ND philosophy professor passes away

Ralph McInerny | Father Dowling author, 80 | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/08/2010

Tulsa World: 'Father Dowling' novelist Ralph McInerny dies

Father Dowling novelist, scholar Ralph McInerny, 80, dies - Nation - TheState.com

I have absolutely no interest in contemporary French Philosophy. But I do have a certain distaste for public intellectuals who tend towards hyperbole at the cost of precision. So I find it delightful when these eruptions occur. Does that make me a bad person?

Charles Bremner - Times Online - WBLG: Bernard-Henri Lévy comes a cropper with fake philosopher

In his latest book, published this week amid the traditional adulation in the media, Lévy, 61, attacks Immanuel Kant, the 18th century philosopher. He calls him "raving mad" and cites as his authority Jean-Baptiste Botul, a 20th century philosopher.

The trouble is that Botul never existed. He was invented as an elaborate joke in 1999 by Frédéric Pagès, a literary journalist, who wrote works in his name.

Bernard-Henri Lévy a laughing stock for quoting fictional philosopher - Times Online  read more »

Statue stolen from SU, sold to recycling center | delmarvanow.com | The Daily Times

campus authorities are investigating the theft of a 5-foot bronze statue of American author, philosopher and transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau.

I've been snowed in for three days. Classes are canceled today and tomorrow.  And we're expecting another 10-20 inches to fall starting at noon tomorrow. I moved an astonishing amount of snow Sunday in an effort to clear my sidewalk and car. My wife put in an equal amount of time clearing hers.  The snowpile next to our cars is now close to 6 ft. tall, 4 ft wide and 20 ft long.  So all in all, I (mostly) concur: Jay Hancock's blog: John Locke says: Honor parking-space lawn chairs! - Economic navigation and sightseeing - baltimoresun.com

I'm with Locke here. If you can't assume you'll be able to use the parking space you dug out, your incentive to create it would plunge. The city and neighborhoods would lose the labor of thousands of car owners who help recreate civilization each time the heavens dump white stuff all over the place.

I will mention that my main incentive for clearing my car is not to return to the spot, but rather just to get out of the house. If I was unsure of return, I don't think that would change my calculus much.

UPDATE 2-12-2010:

Hopkins philosophy prof on snow & parking spots

With a response from Hilary Bok, the Associate Professor of Philosophy, Luce Professor in Bioethics and Moral and Political Theory, at the Johns Hopkins University:  read more »

Comrade Physioprof recently posted a little video encapulating his recent experience at a conference. You can make these videos online from texts - so I could't resist. Enjoy:

Sorry, I really wanted a bad Irish accent for Philonous, but they only had three 'generic UK' accents, so I choose the one that most closely matched the 'Guide' in Hitchiker's Guide. Seems fitting enough.

There's not a lot of these yet, but the book looks promising for intro to Phil. Religion. It's described as 'wickedly funny' and 'an anecdote to the pedantic debates stirred by the likes of Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens...'.

Rebecca Goldstein - 36 Arguments for the Existence of God - Time Out Chicago

Philosopher and writer refutes God’s existence in new novel | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California

Books of The Times - Rebecca Newberger Goldstein’s ‘36 Arguments’ About God - Review - NYTimes.com

UPDATE 2-8-10

Brainy fictional debate over God too cute by half -winnipeg