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And the walls come 'tumblin down." Regardless of how you view Iraq this is exciting news. It's nice there is at least some good news in the world.
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The postmodern conservative. "We postmodern conservatives say that the natural limitations and direction we’ve been given are not only ineradicable by but actually quite good for us. We postmodern conservatives dissent from all forms of radical liberationism in being grateful for what we’ve been given and for, as a result, being stuck with virtue."
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Razib mentioned a site for conservative intellectuals. I've not had time to look through it much yet. There are a few blogs with some interesting posts. One hopes there will be more sites like this as most conservative content is sadly not that great. (Beyond some sites like Volokh or Marginal Revolution)
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Vitamin C and cancer revisited
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I'm not a big Žižek fan but I like this quote up at Enowning. "...is the Heideggerian danger (Gefahr) not precisely the danger that the ontic will "swallow" the ontological (with the reduction of man, the da [here] of Being, to just another object of science)?"
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Are there non-moral reasons? I'd tend to agree with Richard that ultimately there aren't.
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Mormonism: A Perfect Storm Interesting discussion on views of LDS publishing from a non-LDS perspective.
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This editorial is getting a lot of play both on the right and left. (I heard about it on NPR this morning but I've noticed lots of blogs linking to it) "Bailout or Bankruptcy?" Sounds like a very nice revision of the Paulsen plan.
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New neurons are needed for new memories
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Easy Knowledge and Millianism. You've heard of Millianism before although perhaps not called that. It's the idea that the meaning of a proper noun is the object to which it refers. (Which is not the idea that the meaning is the relationship between name-token and object.)
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A fallacy of psychological hedonism.
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Heidegger, Plotinus and Ereignis. (HT: Enowning) I think this right although I think other aspects of Heidegger's work reawoke in many Platonists a different way to read Plotinus and the like. Sara Rappe's Reading Neoplatonism: Non-discursive Thinking in the Texts of Plotinus, Proclus, and Damascius seems to me to be influenced by both Heidegger and Derrida, for instance. It's a good book too for thinking in the other direction although Sikka's Forms of Transcendence is my favorite for that.
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Cantor's Paradox at Enigmania.
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Philosophers' Carnival LXXVIII. I think I missed the last one. There are some really interesting posts this time including whether lying is always wrong given the placebo effect; whether open mindedness rather than tolerance is the best attitude in bioethics ; and a discussion of Nagel's controversial paper on ID in the classroom.
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The status of Derrida's writing. Working like Derrida is acting as if you are writing the text you are reading. Reading is always also writing and rewriting. I'd add that all reading is deconstructive. Some are just more disruptive than others. An other good post at Countermemory.
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All about 24. No, not Jack Bauer. The number 24 that plays "a central role in mathematics thanks to a series of 'coincidences' that is just beginning to be understood." I don't link to the n-Category Cafe too much since it's probably not of interest to most. But it's one of my favorite blogs. Sadly Baez' full talk isn't available online yet (although the slides are) He also has up slides on his other favorite numbers.
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GFPs has a guide to basic readings on free will.
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The most brutally honest philosophy job offer ad ever (HT: Leiter Reports)
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A nice overview on the stem cells and cancer thesis at The Economist.
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Neurobiology of a hallucination.
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Motivated reasoning. Or why your candidate doesn't flip flop or say contradictory things. I'm getting tired enough of the double standards and quoting out of context by both sides that I wish the election were next week.
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Randomness and free will at GFP. Offers an interesting anti-Frankfurt demon where random ideas are given to agents. Quite clever. I'm not sure I agree with where he takes it though.
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Schwitzgebel on Intuitions and the end of innocence.
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Obama vs. McCain: The Science Debate (HT: Razib)
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"In some ways modern progressive cultures are returning us psychologically to our hunter-gatherer roots. ... That means high sociopolitical gender equality over all, but with men and women expressing predisposed interests in different domains." Fascinating post of Razib's I somehow missed. The centralized society of the past few millennia is changing. Our our decisions due to the psychology of our hunter gatherer roots? I don't know but it's a great question. See his post from a few years back too.
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More Entries

Mele, Freedom and Luck

I’ve got about 4 books I’m working on right now. One of them is Alfred Mele’s just recently released book Free Will and Luck. I’m only about 1/3 of the way through it but it’s been somewhat frustrating. Parts I rather like. For instance Mele’s agnostic about the whole free will [...]

Science and Belief

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Various Blog Thoughts

Just a few quick comments I figured I’d put here.
First at the SMPT conference a few asked how the blog was going. And I know Blake seemed concerned it wasn’t going that great. I’m not sure that’s right.

Vallicella on Ex Nihilo

Old post by Bill Vallicella on creation ex nihilo I came upon. For those interested all the original journal accounts of Joseph Smith’s King Follett Discourse are available online. This is generally the source for why LDS reject ex nihilo.

Best openings in lit

Best Opening Lines in Literature. Great discussion.

SMPT Conference: Thoughts

So let me say upfront that I was only able to attend Friday and then only until 4. Plus I missed the first talk which was one I very much wanted to hear. Sadly my family had health issues with the toddlers. And my wife wanted to come with me on Friday [...]

The Pragmatism of Simple Agents

The pragmatism of simple agents.

Defending Hillary Clinton

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iTunes U

ABC on iTunes U. Dreyfus’ Being and Time class is apparently the top pick. I’m preparing to download the latest version of the class. (HT: Enowning)

Ontology. What is it?

Mormonism and Capitalism

Mormonism and Capitalism.

3 Kinds of Vaguess

I want to deal with broader philosophical questions than just the religious ones. However I am thinking through a lot of issues in preparation for this weekend’s SMPT. One thing I’ve been thinking through is the issue of vagueness.

Utilitarianism and the Brain

Discussion of criticisms of neuroscience on moral judgments and utilitarian bias

Two Posts by Richard

Two posts by Richard I missed during my sabbatical away from blogging. One on phenomenal content and having the beliefs we do. It’s very good although some of you are familiar with the arguments. The second related post is on dualist explanations. (I confess my view is just that zombies are [...]

Carnap, Quine, Analyticity and Relativization to a Language

Carnap, Quine, Analyticity and Relativization to a Language at Words and Other Things. Confused about Carnap’s response to Quine? I don’t know anyone who isn’t.

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