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How distant can conspiracy theories be from democracy?

Open for Debate

How distant can conspiracy theories be from democracy?

Posted on 9 June 2025 by

Imagine you are the leader of a democratic, liberal, prestigious, “old” party in a Western democracy of our time. We might bet that, if you held such a position, the […]

Open for Debate

Intellectual Virtues Online – Part 2

Posted on 26 May 2025 by

In my last entry, I praised the advantages of intellectual virtues in an online environment. This time, I briefly consider why too much of a focus on intellectual virtues might […]

Open for Debate

Intellectual Virtues Online – Part 1

Posted on 12 May 2025 by

For the second year in a row, the World Economic Forum has ranked misinformation and disinformation among the top global risks. And few places provide more opportunities for spreading misinformation […]

Open for Debate

Digital Technology and Cognitive Scaffolding

Posted on 28 April 2025 by

There is much ambivalence about digital technology. On the one hand, it makes many tasks much more efficient than they would otherwise be. We can do a quick internet search […]

 
A Careful Call for Humility

A Careful Call for Humility

Posted on 14 April 2025 by

Sit down. Be humble. – Kendrick Lamar, “Humble”   Humility is a virtue, right? Many people think so. Many think: we should be mindful of our limitations. We should take […]

Being pluralistic about philosophical pessimism (Part 2)

Being pluralistic about philosophical pessimism (Part 2)

Posted on 31 March 2025 by

In part one, I argued that the conceptual core of pessimism is the twin judgments that the human condition is very bad and likely to remain so. However, this does […]

Being pluralistic about philosophical pessimism (Part 1)

Being pluralistic about philosophical pessimism (Part 1)

Posted on 17 March 2025 by

There are many vernacular senses of pessimism. Familiar images of half-empty glasses go with elaborate talk of ours as ‘the worst possible world’. Pessimistic people might be praised as resolute […]

Samuel Alito and the Ethics of Suspicion

Samuel Alito and the Ethics of Suspicion

Posted on 3 March 2025 by

Justice Samuel Alito, of the United States Supreme Court, professes to be an “originalist” about the interpretation of the law. The originalist approach, roughly speaking, says that judges should adhere […]

An Existentialist Challenge to the Babel Fish

An Existentialist Challenge to the Babel Fish

Posted on 17 February 2025 by

Could advanced translation technologies solve linguistic injustice in the world? Activists and scholars hear this question being asked quite often, and sometimes with a slight skeptical tone suggesting the timing, […]

Data Figleaves: Statistics and their Power to Conceal Racism

Data Figleaves: Statistics and their Power to Conceal Racism

Posted on 3 February 2025 by

If you have followed the 2024 US election coverage, you have likely come across the term “migrant crime”. A term coined by Donald Trump to refer to an alleged crime […]

Terrorism and Evil

Terrorism and Evil

Posted on 20 January 2025 by

On 1 January of this year, an American man drove his pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans (Louisiana, US). Fifteen people were killed and dozens […]

Oppressive Praise

Oppressive Praise

Posted on 6 January 2025 by

Think about the last time you expressed praise. For me this is easy. As a parent of young children, I do it multiple times a day. ‘How kind you are, […]

The “affective” in affective polarization

The “affective” in affective polarization

Posted on 23 December 2024 by

Public opinion in many contemporary democracies shows increasing signs of polarization. In particular, animosity and dislike across political lines have become increasingly characteristic of Western mass publics (Boxell et al., […]

Philosophical Foundations for Chatbot Regulation

Philosophical Foundations for Chatbot Regulation

Posted on 9 December 2024 by

In an age where we increasingly converse with artifacts - whose interfaces include AI, a pressing question emerges: Who, or what, are we really talking with? As AI-based chatbots, often […]

AI regulation and the right to meaningful explanation. Pt 2: How (if at all)?

AI regulation and the right to meaningful explanation. Pt 2: How (if at all)?

Posted on 25 November 2024 by

Earlier, I argued that we should safeguard the right to a meaningful explanation of life-changing decisions, even when such decisions are made by complex AI algorithms. Here, I argue that […]

AI regulation and the right to meaningful explanation. Pt 1. Why (not)?

AI regulation and the right to meaningful explanation. Pt 1. Why (not)?

Posted on 11 November 2024 by

Ask anyone except a gun rights activist, and they will agree that the rise of new technologies requires the implementation of new regulations. Not too long ago, a law against […]

True Believers?

True Believers?

Posted on 28 October 2024 by

Introduction One popular image of the ‘brainwashed’ person is someone who repeats what their leader says and who professes conviction in what they repeat. But do brainwashed people really believe […]

How should we lead our intellectual lives?

How should we lead our intellectual lives?

Posted on 14 October 2024 by

This question has long preoccupied philosophers, but has recently taken on greater public urgency in response to fears about misinformation, disinformation, bullshit, tribalism, and other perceived epistemic threats. One answer […]

Values and Virtues in Philosophy and Psychology

Values and Virtues in Philosophy and Psychology

Posted on 30 September 2024 by

During the recent general election campaign in the UK, I received a flyer through my door from a local independent candidate who claimed to value, among other things, humanitarianism. He […]

Gatekeeping in Science

Gatekeeping in Science

Posted on 16 September 2024 by

It’s common in public discourse to see worries about pseudoscience. This is understandable, for the stakes are high. Although science surely can’t tell us about everything, it is our best […]