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Open for Debate

Do we have the will to change what we believe?

Do we have the will to change what we believe?

Posted on 12 August 2019 by

A tweet made it to the United States’ front page of Reddit.com on July 21st 2019 from the subreddit, r/GetMotivated. The tweet, originally from @michaelmiraflor, read, “Unfollow models and influencers. […]

Putting Academic Skepticism to Work

Putting Academic Skepticism to Work

Posted on 29 July 2019 by

The Academic Skeptics were philosophers who modeled themselves on Socrates and his method of questioning.  When the Delphic Oracle reported that no one was wiser than him, Socrates reasoned that […]

SHOULD WE PUBLICLY EXPRESS ANGER?

SHOULD WE PUBLICLY EXPRESS ANGER?

Posted on 15 July 2019 by

Anger is a red mist, which blinds us. It blinds us to the good in other human beings, and to the danger in violent or uncompromising action. Accordingly, expressing anger […]

The Human Ingredient Needed for Productive Disagreement

The Human Ingredient Needed for Productive Disagreement

Posted on 1 July 2019 by

My last post argued that engaging in disagreement outside of one’s own group works as an antidote to beliefs that are oversimplified and therefore inaccurate. But disagreement cannot do this […]

The Benefits of Disagreement

The Benefits of Disagreement

Posted on 17 June 2019 by

Our world contains a whirlwind of claims and opinions, including about important matters like politics, ethics, and religion. In forming our own view, it is natural to find our way […]

Argument Repair

Argument Repair

Posted on 3 June 2019 by

It’s easy to blame current problems with public discourse on the brevity of on-line communication. People are moving away from blogs to image exchanges. TLDR. Limited word counts (such as […]

What Polarization Does to Us

What Polarization Does to Us

Posted on 30 May 2019 by

Commentators from across the political spectrum warn us that extreme partisan polarization is dissolving all bases for political cooperation, thereby undermining our democracy.  The near total consensus on this point […]

Good Conversation

Good Conversation

Posted on 20 May 2019 by

On the first of march 2018, Jack Dorsey published a manifesto setting out Twitter’s plans for improving the site. At the centre of this thread are worries that incivility, disagreement, […]

EPISTEMIC INJUSTICE: WHOSE JOB IS IT TO END IT?

EPISTEMIC INJUSTICE: WHOSE JOB IS IT TO END IT?

Posted on 6 May 2019 by

Epistemic injustice refers to a category of harms that affect people specifically in their capacity as knowers, inquirers or communicators as opposed to fellow citizens, members of the moral community […]

What makes arrogant people so angry?

What makes arrogant people so angry?

Posted on 22 April 2019 by

Arrogant people are often intolerant of questioning or criticism. They respond to genuine and even polite challenges with anger. They are bullies that attempt to humiliate and intimidate those who […]

Objectification, Knowledge, and Pornography

Objectification, Knowledge, and Pornography

Posted on 8 April 2019 by

Objectification is treating or depicting a person as a mere thing. What does this involve? By now we’re all familiar with the idea that it’s an aspect of women’s subordinate […]

On Silencing Conservatives on Campus: Some Possibilities

On Silencing Conservatives on Campus: Some Possibilities

Posted on 25 March 2019 by

There has been a lot of talk lately about silencing.  In particular, some claim that conservative voices are silenced on university campuses, the very place where a diversity of thought […]

Epicurus on Losing Arguments

Epicurus on Losing Arguments

Posted on 11 March 2019 by

Epicurus’s Vatican Saying #74 runs: “the one who loses in a philosophical dispute gains more the more he learns.”  I remember reading that line as an undergraduate, thinking it curious […]

Empathetic Understanding in Politics

Empathetic Understanding in Politics

Posted on 25 February 2019 by

What is the goal of political conversation? Why should we deliberate with others about politics? Democratic deliberation is said to benefit people in many ways. For example, it has been […]

On Being Entitled to One’s Opinion

On Being Entitled to One’s Opinion

Posted on 11 February 2019 by

We’re each entitled to our opinion; or so the undergraduates in my introductory philosophy course remind me.  They’re right, of course.  But I suspect that they misunderstand what they’re right […]

Intellectual humility: from views of knowledge to views of people

Intellectual humility: from views of knowledge to views of people

Posted on 28 January 2019 by

Researchers have taken a number of approaches to defining intellectual humility. I tend to view intellectual humility as rooted in a healthy independence between intellect and ego (Krumrei-Mancuso & Rouse, […]

Public Debates – Testing your Intellectual Abilities?

Public Debates – Testing your Intellectual Abilities?

Posted on 14 January 2019 by

Engaging in public debate can be a scary thing.  You make yourself vulnerable to criticism when you express your views in public – risking a critique not only of the […]

Academic participation in social movements: A call for ethical review

Academic participation in social movements: A call for ethical review

Posted on 31 December 2018 by

I’ve been an academic for some 35 years. Since 1991, I have been a (first assistant, then associate, then full) professor at Georgetown University in the philosophy department and since […]

Lyrical Politics: Reflections on the Role of Grief in Political Life

Lyrical Politics: Reflections on the Role of Grief in Political Life

Posted on 17 December 2018 by

It’s said that Mamie Till Mobley helped to catalyze the civil rights movement. When people say this what they have in mind, principally, is her decision to present her son’s […]

Coming to Grief: Violence, Mourning, and Interracial Intimacy

Coming to Grief: Violence, Mourning, and Interracial Intimacy

Posted on 3 December 2018 by

In my last piece, I defended two claims regarding the relationship of Dana Schutz to Mamie Till Mobley. The first concerned Schutz’s statement that Open Casket was undertaken through empathy […]