philosophy

#846 Michela Massimi: Perspectival Realism

Oct 12, 2023

Dr. Michela Massimi is Professor of Philosophy of Science in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, affiliated with the Higgs Centre for Theoretical Physics. She works in the area of history and philosophy of science with a focus on the physical sciences. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Royal Astronomical Society, corresponding Member of the Académie Internationale de Philosophie des Sciences and elected Member of the Academia Europaea. Dr. Massimi is the recipient of the Royal Society’s Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Medal and Lecture 2017 for her interdisciplinary work and communication of philosophy of science, especially modern physics. Dr. Massimi is the author of several books, including Perspectival Realism, which has won the 2023 Lakatos Award. More»
#843 Émile Torres - Human Extinction: A History of the Science and Ethics of Annihilation (Part 1)

Oct 5, 2023

Dr. Émile Torres is a researcher at Leibniz Universität Hannover, in Germany. Their work over the past decade has centered around a single theme: eschatology, whether religious, secular, or scientific. Recently, their work has been focused on the nature and causes of human extinction, its ethical implications, and the history of the idea. They are the author of Morality, Foresight, and Human Flourishing: An Introduction to Existential Risks, and their latest book is Human Extinction: A History of the Science and Ethics of Annihilation. More»
#841 Rebecca Tuvel: Feminism, Cultural Appropriation, Transracialism, and Animal Ethics

Sep 29, 2023

Dr. Rebecca Tuvel is Associate Professor and Chair of Philosophy at Rhodes College. She works in feminist philosophy, philosophy of race, and the ethics of identity. Her book project Changing Race: The Ethics and Metaphysics of Transracialism explores the possibility and permissibility of changing one’s race. More»
#840 Alicia Juarrero - Context Changes Everything: How Constraints Create Coherence

Sep 28, 2023

Dr. Alicia Juarrero is President and Founder of VectorAnalytica. Her research in neurophilosophy has been focused on the causal role of context-sensitive constraints in the emergence of mental events such as intentions. She is the author of several books, the most recent one being Context Changes Everything: How Constraints Create Coherence. More»
#833 Inês Hipólito: 4E Cognition, and Dynamical Approaches in Psychology/Cognitive Science

Sep 11, 2023

Dr. Inês Hipólito is a faculty member at Macquarie University, where she serves as a Lecturer of Philosophy of AI and a researcher at the Ethics and Agency Research Center. She serves as a Co-Principal Investigator for the project "Designing Urban Density: Neurourbanism as a Novel Approach in Global Health" under the Berlin University Alliance. Furthermore, she holds the position of Ethicist of AI at Verses, a pioneering cognitive computing company specializing in next-generation AI, with Karl Friston serving as Chief Research bridging the gap between academia and industry, contributing to ethical considerations embedded within cutting-edge AI advancements. As a co-founder and vice-president of the International Society of the Philosophy of the Sciences of the Mind, she is a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusivity in the field, serving as an elected member of the Women in Philosophy Committee and the Committee in Diversity and Inclusivity at the Australasian Association of Philosophy. More»
#830 Émile Torres: The Philosophy of Effective Altruism and Longtermism

Sep 4, 2023

Dr. Émile Torres is a researcher at Leibniz Universität Hannover, in Germany. Their work over the past decade has centered around a single theme: eschatology, whether religious, secular, or scientific. Recently, their work has been focused on the nature and causes of human extinction, its ethical implications, and the history of the idea. They are the author of Morality, Foresight, and Human Flourishing: An Introduction to Existential Risks, and their latest book is Human Extinction: A History of the Science and Ethics of Annihilation. More»
#829 Susanna Schellenberg - The Unity of Perception: Content, Consciousness, Evidence

Sep 1, 2023

Dr. Susanna Schellenberg is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science at Rutgers University, where she holds a secondary appointment at the Rutgers Center for Cognitive Science. She specializes in epistemology, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of language and is best known for her work on perceptual experience, evidence, capacities, mental content, and imagination. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Award, a Humboldt Prize, and a Mellon New Directions Fellowship for a project on the Neuroscience of Perception. She is the author of The Unity of Perception: Content, Consciousness, Evidence. More»
#826 Eric Funkhouser: The Signaling Functions of Beliefs, and Self-Deception

Aug 25, 2023

Dr. Eric Funkhouser is Professor and Departmental Chair of Philosophy at the University of Arkansas. His main areas of research are in the philosophy of psychology/mind and metaphysics. He is currently working on a series of papers concerning how social forces shape the functions of belief and other mental states. This work should culminate in a book, The Signaling Mind: Belief as Social Manipulation. In this manuscript, he argues that many beliefs serve a signaling function—much like animal signals used to manipulate other animals—that explains various irrational and dangerous beliefs, cognitive biases, as well as pro-social beliefs. More»
#825 Mark Coeckelbergh - Self-Improvement, Technology, and Altruism

Aug 24, 2023

Dr. Mark Coeckelbergh is Professor of Philosophy of Media and Technology at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Vienna. He is former President of the Society for Philosophy and Technology (SPT) and a member of the steering committee of ETHICOMP. Dr. Coeckelbergh is member of the High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence for the European Commission, the Rat für Robotik, as well as member of the Technical Expert Committee (TEC) for the Foundation for Responsible Robotics. His work is focused on the area of philosophy of technology. He is the author of several books, including his most recent one, Self-Improvement: Technologies of the Soul in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. More»
#823 Owen Flanagan: Against Happiness

Aug 18, 2023

Dr. Owen Flanagan is James B. Duke Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Duke University. His work is in philosophy of mind and psychiatry, ethics, moral psychology, and cross-cultural philosophy. He is co-author of Against Happiness. More»