Imagine that you are called Bob (B), and that you have a loved one called Alice (A). You would both like to touch each other across SpaceTime. How might this happen (or have happened) (or will happen) or not? (With or without the use of a relativistic wormhole). Such a theme is presented, in the […]
Tag: philosophy
On anything that explains everything
David Hume, in his essay called “The Sceptic”, talked about anything that explains everything: I have long entertained a suspicion, with regard to the decisions of philosophers upon all subjects, and found in myself a greater inclination to dispute, than assent to their conclusions. There is one mistake, to which they seem liable, almost without […]
Politicians R 2 Simple, explain 2 Ig Nobel winners
Politicians are too simple. Two Ig Nobel Prize winners — both, as it happens, professors at Stanford University — each gives part of the explanation. (As with many simple facts, the explanation is a bit complex.) Politicians’ simple debates Professor John Perry, a philosopher, looked at politicians’ televised debates. In an essay for the New […]
What, exactly, is ‘Stuff’?
To a philosopher, pinning down ‘Stuff’’ (water, sugar, salt, cement, apple pulp &etc) is a far from trivial task. Dr. Kristie Miller, for example, (Research Fellow and Research Adviser at the University of Sydney, Australia) has investigated ‘Stuff’ in a paper for American Philosophical Quarterly, 46(1): 1-19 – entitled ‘Stuff’. Dr. Miller suggests that to […]
The Philosophers’ Rubber Duck
Of all the things you might imagine you’d find in a professional philosopher’s toolkit, a rubber duck might not be the first to spring to mind. But they are there – and in some abundance. One of the first scholars to hint at their utility was Frances Howard-Snyder, Professor of Ethics, Religion, Metaphysics departments at […]
Philosophy of a prize-winning procrastinator
The Stanford Daily interviewed John Perry, the father of Structured Procrastination: Philosophy of a prize-winning procrastinator Joining the elite company of the mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania (who rolled a tank over a parked car in an attempt to deter illegal parking) and a group of doomsday forecasters (who have all incorrectly predicted the end of […]
Purposes: Philosophy vs. mathematics
What is mathematics? Somebody once said that philosophy is the misuse of a terminology which was invented just for this purpose.* In the same vein, I would say that mathematics is the science of skillful operations with concepts and rules invented just for this purpose. — from “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural […]
Do ethicists steal more books (and stuff)?
“One might suppose that ethicists would behave with particular moral scruple,” begins the little monograph, looking you straight in the eye while snorting and grinning, textily. The two co-authors, philosophy professors who specialise in ethics, thus embark on what they call a “preliminary investigation” of their fellow ethics experts. Eric Schwitzgebel of the University of […]