The Open Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science (OECS) is a free, online collection of multidisciplinary peer-reviewed articles on various topics in cognitive science. Officially launched last August by MIT Press, the OECS is a successor to the MIT Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science. It currently has around 80 articles, with more to come, on topics such as: Social Epistemology by Mandi Astola and Mark Alfano The Mind-Body Problem by Tim Crane Bodily Sensations by Frédérique de Vignemont Personal/Subpersonal Distinction by Zoe Drayson Conceptual Analysis by Frank Jackson Natural K ..read more

New links… “The most interesting Greek text that you’ve never heard of” — Robin Douglas describes the Chaldaean Oracles, touching on its relationship to Neoplatonism “Some things that I think analytic philosophy has unambiguously done well at” — Liam Kofi Bright on what he thinks is “cool and good and influential” in analytic philosophy “One book, ten days, three hours a day, around the table in the autumn morning in the barn. Long meals, long conversations, shared labor and play. No phones, no spinning world” — a portrait of part of “the nucleus, one hopes, of a new humanistic ..read more

“Are there people who are unambiguously part of the analytic movement, but [about whom] it is an interesting question whether they are an analytic philosopher?” That subject is discussed by Brian Weatherson (Michigan) in a recent post at his blog. He says: I’ve been reading a few things recently in history of analytic philosophy, and one recurring question is who counts as an analytic philosopher. Usually the way this question is asked, the implicit focus is on ‘analytic’. The question becomes “Who is an analytic philosopher?”, with a background presupposition that they are indeed a ..read more

“I think Jeff McMahan is in for the surprise of his life when the submissions to his new journal start coming in.” I recently thought of that message, which a friend (like me, an admirer of McMahan’s) sent me several years ago when the Journal of Controversial Ideas (JCI) was first announced. I feel for McMahan and his co-editors of the journal, Peter Singer and Francesca Minerva. They’re providing what they take to be an important service to the world—as they put it in a recent editorial, “to help to protect and preserve academic freedom, as well as freedom of thought and expression in genera ..read more

The editors of Free & Equal: A Journal of Ethics and Public Affairs, the open-access journal created last year by the former editorial team of Philosophy & Public Affairs, is announcing an essay prize for early career scholars. The prize, $2000, will be awarded to the best essay published in the journal during 2025 or 2026 by an early career scholar. The editors write: Free & Equal: A Journal of Ethics and Public Affairs is pleased to announce a $2000 prize for the best essay published by an early career scholar in legal, moral, or political philosophy published in the jo ..read more

Latest links… Problem Trolley — a prompt to reflect on the kinds of examples moral philosophers like to use (via Daniel Story) “While GenAI can improve worker efficiency, it can inhibit critical engagement with work and can potentially lead to long-term overreliance on the tool and diminished skill for independent problem-solving” — a new study on the effects of AI use in “knowledge work” “There is little reason to think that these defenders [of strict immigration control] have done anything better than fantasize about immigration restrictions in an imaginary world” — Edward Hal ..read more

A bill introduced into the Kansas State House of Representatives last week would, if made law, make it impossible for state institutions of higher education to award faculty a status that substantially protects their employment, as tenure traditionally does. Schools could still award “tenure”, according to the bill, but “tenure at postsecondary educational institutions shall not be defined, awarded or recognized as an entitlement, right or property interest in a faculty member’s current, ongoing or future employment by an institution.” The bill would apply its evisceration of tenure retroactiv ..read more

The weekly report on new and revised entries at online philosophy resources, new reviews of philosophy books, and new podcast episodes… (If you notice something missing from the update, let us know. Thanks.) . SEP New:    ∅ Revised: Plato on Knowledge in the Theaetetus by Sophie-Grace Chappell and Francesco Verde. Montague Semantics by Theo M. V. Janssen and Thomas Ede Zimmermann. Skolem’s Paradox by Timothy Bays. Philosophy of Psychiatry by Dominic Murphy. Relational Quantum Mechanics by Carlo Rovelli. The Philosophy of Computer Science by Nicola Angius, Giuseppe Primiero ..read more

“There are indeed consequences when we punch down or pretend that what is, in fact, a hostile attack, is merely ‘inquiry for inquiry’s sake.’ Aside from the emotional wounds we inflict on actual people, philosophical discourse matters beyond that. It did matter in this case.” The following is a guest post by Talia Mae Bettcher, Professor of Philosophy at California State University, Los Angeles, and author of the forthcoming Beyond Personhood: An Essay in Trans Philosophy. It is a follow-up to her “When Tables Speak: On the Existence of Trans Philosophy“. While Tables Burn: On t ..read more

The “Global Philosophy of Religion Project: Fundamental Spiritual Reality, Human Purpose, and Living Well”, based at the Birmingham Centre for the Philosophy of Religion at University of Birmingham, has garnered  £2.4million (approximately $3 million) in funding. The support is mainly from the John Templeton Foundation, along with the University of Birmingham, the William Paton Trust, the JAINA Academic Liaison, and other sources. The project is led by Martin Pickup (Birmingham) with his colleagues Marie-Hélène Gorisse and David Cheetham as co-investigators. It fo ..read more