Here is a brief description of the philosopher Phillip Goff’s new book Why? The Purpose of the Universe (Oxford University Press) with criticisms of Goff’s main ideas in the book by the theoretical physicist Jochen Szanolies. The book’s OUP description states: Why are we here? What’s the point of existence? On the ‘big questions’ of meaning and purpose, Western thought has been dominated by the dichotomy of traditional religion and secular atheism. In this pioneering work, Philip Goff argues that it is time to move on from both God and atheism. Through an exploration of contemporary ..read more

MORAL LUCK by Larry Houlgate** What is it and what would the classic philosophers have to say about it? It would be best to start with an example of moral luck. Imagine two teenagers (Mark and Susan) who have challenged each other to a race in their new hot rods. The race is scheduled for midnight at a one mile two-lane strip of road outside of town. Hundreds of other teenagers hear about the race. They line up on both sides of the road to witness the race.But what they witness is tragedy. Neither Mark nor Susan saw the oil slick 100 meters ahead of the starting place. While still acceleratin ..read more

When I was an undergraduate more than 50 years ago I thought writing a 3 to 5-page paper was a monumental task. What could one possibly say for that many pages? As a senior, I wrote about a 7-page paper for an independent study class. The task seemed overwhelming. In graduate school, I discovered that a 20-page paper (about the size of a journal article) was the typical lenght for a seminar essay. The first few were all I could manage. It was when researching a paper for a seminar in my first year of grad school—on the topic of why North and South America had such different economies—that I f ..read more

BY FRANS DE WAAL Editor’s Note: Frans de Waal’s new book, Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist, has generated some controversy and misunderstanding. He will address these issues in a series of short essays which will be published at 3QD and can all be seen in one place here. More comments on these essays can also be seen at Frans de Waal’s Facebook page. The typical chimpanzee alpha male is calculating, assertive, and sometimes violent in order to keep his position vis-à-vis male rivals. But he is also protective and generous towards others, keeping order ..read more

Editor’s Note: Frans de Waal’s new book, Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist, has generated some controversy and misunderstanding. He will address these issues in a series of short essays which will be published at 3QD and can all be seen in one place here. More comments on these essays can also be seen at Frans de Waal’s Facebook page. Are Males Naturally Dominant? Short answer: No. Long answer: Physical dominance is not the same as power and leadership. A century ago, the London Zoo put about one hundred Hamadryas baboons together in the wrong sex ratio ..read more

Editor’s Note: Frans de Waal’s** new book, Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist, has generated some controversy and misunderstanding. ( Note. Professor de Wall died on March 20, 2024.) He will address these issues in a series of short essays which will be published at 3QD and can all be seen in one place here. More comments on these essays can also be seen at Frans de Waal’s Facebook page. Florida Senator Rick Scott recently declared that “Men are men, women are women,” adding “we believe in science.” He was talking about transgender athletes. I wish the senator di ..read more

My readers may have noticed a lot of guest posts on the blog lately. Here’s why. After nearly hosting the blog for over ten years and writing almost 1500 posts you sometimes need a break. In addition, one should only write when they have something new to say and often I simply don’t. Another reason is its summer in Seattle. Now this isn’t the summer many people experience—the 15 day forecast calls for highs in the 60s and 70s Fahrenheit—but when I see the sun shining after a cloudy winter I’m like a little kid—I want to be outside! I take long walks, often 5 or 6 miles almost every day and tr ..read more

From 3 Quarks Daily, Jan. 1, 2024, by Akim Reinhardt We’re circling the Sun at a rate of between 18.20–18.83 miles per second. It is not a fixed speed because Earth travels on an ellipsis, and moves a hair faster when it’s closer to the Sun than it does when further away. It averages out to about 67,000 miles per hour over the course of the year. At that speed, a full revolution is 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds in the making. At least for now. Each year, Earth’s voyage around the Sun takes just a little bit longer, to the tune of roughly 3 nanometers per second. It’s minu ..read more

From 3 Quarks Daily, Nov. 27, 2023, by  JERRY CAYFORD* A friend of mine covers his Facebook tracks. He follows groups from across the political spectrum so that no one can pigeonhole him. He has friends and former colleagues who, he figures, will be among the armed groups going door to door purging enemies, if our society breaks into civil anarchy. He hides his tracks so no one will know he is the enemy. That trick might work for the humans, but artificial intelligences (AI) will laugh at such puny human deceptions (if artificial intelligence can laugh). When AI knows every click you mak ..read more

I recently remarked on re-reading Russell’s classic, The Conquest of Happiness. In the meantime I’ve discovered a number of quotable gems in the book. Here are a quote or two from each chapter. From Chap. 1 – What Makes People Unhappy “I enjoy life; I might almost say that with every year that passes I enjoy it more. This is due partly to having discovered what were the things that I most desired and having gradually acquired many of these things. Partly it is due to having successfully dismissed certain objects of desire — such as the acquisition of indubitable knowledge about something or o ..read more