Category: philosophy

Common Arguments, culture, philosophy, politics

A view of transmeds, tucutes, gender critics, queer leftists, cultish practices, and it not being that hard to just respect people

Between my spending a lot of time in queer spaces, the shitshow in professional philosophy, and, at this point, just popular discourse, I decided to try to understand the positions different groups who concern themselves with transness. Primarily I’m looking for the positions held and the arguments and evidence for those positions. Seconardily I’m looking for the practical concerns and sociological features of the groups, … Continue reading A view of transmeds, tucutes, gender critics, queer leftists, cultish practices, and it not being that hard to just respect people

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philosophy

Agreement Reading List

In researching the question What is Agreement? I came up with the following reading list as a starting point: J.L. Austin, How to Do Things with Words J.L. Austin, Philosophical Papers J.L. Austin, The Meaning of a Word J.L. Austin, Performative Utterances L. Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations L. Wittgenstein, On Certainty Daniel Greco and Brian Hedden, Uniqueness and Metaepistemology Catherine Z. Elgin, Persistent Disagreement Richard Feldman, … Continue reading Agreement Reading List

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education, philosophy

Tips for Intro to Philosophy Students

I sent these tips to my section students, but I think they apply pretty generally. The readings and lectures give you a great opportunity to take in new ideas. The discussion sections and writing assignments give you the opportunity to try out your ideas. Often, ideas turn out to be harder than expected to put into words. That’s fine. A lot of what we’re doing … Continue reading Tips for Intro to Philosophy Students

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education, philosophy

Don’t Assume Students Don’t Read

One day when I was grading reading responses, I thought over half the class didn’t read. We’re near the end of the term, and this seems to be a common assumption among people in instructional roles in universities anyhow. But, to avoid throwing out accusations without sufficient evidence, I acted instead on the assumption that a lot of students just didn’t understand the reading. Turns … Continue reading Don’t Assume Students Don’t Read

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philosophy

Re: Extended cognition and feminism

Interesting article on extended cognition and feminism here. I came to figure out why e-cog seems to come with so much ethical baggage for a theory about how to understand cognition. I’m satisfied. The main point, that dualism and its descendants are really only plausible with a certain privileged position in the world. Elisabeth and Amo wrote at the same time as Descartes and couldn’t shake … Continue reading Re: Extended cognition and feminism

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Common Arguments, Current news, philosophy, politics

“Should X Be Legal?” Doesn’t Sound Bloody Enough

“Should X be legal?” misses a lot of the options in any discussion, and it hides the brutality of some of the options. For instance, “Should pot be legal?” sounds like the sort of questions with sane answers on both sides. Maybe it doesn’t, but it seems like it could. “Should we send armed agents of the state to violently remove people from their homes … Continue reading “Should X Be Legal?” Doesn’t Sound Bloody Enough

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philosophy

Some Study Notes for Intro Philosophy

I’ve been posting about my TAing intro philosophy. (Part One, Part Two, Part Three) As the class is approaching the first exam. I made a list of questions, which I realized is a fairly useful list of basic questions on a few major philosophical topics, so I’m posting it here. *Logic* What is a valid argument? A sound argument? What kinds of things can be true? How do … Continue reading Some Study Notes for Intro Philosophy

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philosophy

TAing Intro Philosophy Pt. 2

Last week I continued running sections for introduction to philosophy. We had, in theory, read Bertrand Russell’s “The Value of Philosophy.” I say “in theory” because in reality when I asked my students who had done the reading, not many people raised their hands. Turns out the bookstore hadn’t actually gotten the book in, yet. No problem, though, really, since I put the important text in … Continue reading TAing Intro Philosophy Pt. 2

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