Remembering Karl Popper
The concept of an open society embodied a present reality that Karl Popper feared could be lost.
David Cohen
· 12 min read
philosophy
A collection of 96 posts
Scott Alexander, Philosopher King of the Weird People
Rationalists, in short, are a group of people who picked up the liberal, academic, philosophical traditions of Western civilization when institutions like the New York Times decided to abandon them.
Kenneth R. Pike
· 8 min read
Philosophy Is Being Hijacked by Woke Twitter Mobs
Van Leeuwen and Herschbach wrote a statement on Facebook reiterating that the review process had been carried out properly, and declaring, “Efforts to silence unwelcome opinion… are doing a disservice to the community.”
Nathan Cofnas
· 6 min read
COVID-19 Betrays America’s Curdled Cult of Optimism
A philosophy of optimism was central to the flourishing of the American project. But it’s also useful to consider whether insisting that success and greatness lie around every corner can become a maladaptive response to problems that are complex and brutal.
Daphne Merkin
· 5 min read
My Former Life as a Radical
They believe in the perfectibility of man in their own image: a combination of unscrupulous optimism and narcissism.
Gerfried Ambrosch
· 11 min read
The Futility of Guilt-Based Advocacy
Your accountability is just your portion of the mob’s.
Steven D. Hales
· 10 min read
Religious Progressivism
It is not only religious “zealots” who get obsessed about good and evil. All human beings do.
Colin Turfus
· 7 min read
Beyond the Hypatia Affair: Philosophers Blocking the Way of Inquiry
If some faction of philosophers are able to declare an issue decided—over screams of dissent from other philosophers—then we can expect others to follow the same playbook.
Spencer Case
· 12 min read
Is Liberal Immigration Anti-Democratic?—A Reply to Gadi Taub
Immigration restrictions, like tariffs and other restrictions on trade, affect the activities of citizens above all.
Sam Kiss
· 12 min read
The Role of Politics in Academic Philosophy
Clearly it is possible to do politics in philosophy without doing political philosophy.
Oliver Traldi
· 6 min read
Against Scientism—A Rejoinder to Bo and Ben Winegard
Science is not the only form of knowledge. There are valid non-scientific ways of approaching reality.
Aaron Neil
· 8 min read
Why We Should Read Heidegger
The ascendancy of technical reason and instrumentalization, Heidegger thought, generated highly inauthentic individuals who were unable to live meaningful lives.
Matt McManus
· 11 min read
The Dearth of Conservatives in Academic Philosophy
Without a healthy mix of a conservative and liberal center, the poles of left and right are much more likely to tilt toward the extremes.
Tristan Rogers
· 8 min read
Secular Humanism is Not a Religion
Staddon makes an oddly tendentious argument for the religious character of secular humanism.
Jerry A. Coyne
· 9 min read
Why We Should Read Nietzsche
My sense is that Nietzsche is best understood as a radical individualist; one who insists passionately that our duty in life is to become what we are. But what kind of person is that?
Matt McManus
· 11 min read