Blog Profile / Guide to Reality
| URL : | http://guidetoreality.blogspot.com/ | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | Academics / Philosophy | |
| Posts on Regator: | 166 | |
| Posts / Week: | 0.6 | |
| Archived Since: | March 17, 2008 | |
Blog Post Archive
Spinoza: Notes on Body and Mind
[These are notes written as part of an abandoned paper project] Beyond Parallelism: Body, Mind, and Individuation in Part II of Spinoza’s Ethics (Page references to Curley, 1994) Summary: the body is a pattern of unified activity; the mind is shaped by the interaction of this pattern with its environment. Show More Summary
Upcoming Public Philosophy Events
For those of us in the Philadelphia area, the GPPC is sponsoring several events in the coming months which should be enjoyable and enlightening. Everyone is welcome. First up is our Community Lecture next month in Cherry Hill. This is the third year we’ve held this event, and this year’s talk and discussion should be very special. Show More Summary
Newman: What Russell’s Structural Argument Needs
As mentioned earlier here, Bertrand Russell’s work in his book The Analysis of Matter was dealt a blow by mathematician M.H.A. Newman. Russell had built an argument supporting partial realism about the physical world. He said that while...Show More Summary
Reduction as Idealization
I cannot remember who tipped me to this 1972 article in Science by physicist Philip W. Anderson called " More is Different ". It is an exploration of the notions of reduction and emergence. The main thrust of Anderson's argument is familiar:...Show More Summary
Causal Knowledge is Primitive for Russell
I was rereading portions of Russell’s Human Knowledge (and making comparisons to The Analysis of Matter) with the goal of understanding his arguments regarding the role of structure in linking experience to the physical world. But I was struck by something else. Show More Summary
Russell and Structural Realism
My interest in Russell’s The Analysis of Matter came originally from the perspective it offers in sorting through the problem of mind. Recently, thanks to a couple of papers linked to on twitter by @LogicalAnalysis, I learned about its connection with recent work on Structural Realism in the context of philosophy of science. Show More Summary
Upcoming GPPC events
The Greater Philadelphia Philosophy Consortium is sponsoring a film series at the Bryn Mawr FilmInstitute again this year featuring commentaries by GPPC philosophers. There are 3 films on consecutive Thursday evenings beginning March 29 th. Show More Summary
Causal Constraint
The notion of dispositional modality, discussed by Stephen Mumford and Rani Lill Anjum in Getting Causes from Powers, put me in mind of another analysis of the interplay between causation and modality: that of Gregg Rosenberg in A Place For Consciousness (2004). Show More Summary
Short Review of Getting Causes from Powers
In this book, Stephen Mumford and Rani Lill Anjum present their theory of causal dispositionalism, that is, causation based on dispositional properties, or powers. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the philosophy of causation.Powers...Show More Summary
More on Causation and Reduction to Physics
I finished reading GettingCauses from Powers by Stephen Mumford and Rani Lill Anjum. I recommend the book highly to anyoneinterested in causation, and I’ll be thinking about many of its arguments andthemes for a long time to come. As...Show More Summary
Determinism Doesn’t Imply Causal Necessity
A key part of the argument for causal dispositionalism inMumford and Anjum’s Getting Causes FromPowers is the case against causal necessitarianism (chapter 3 in thebook). Causality is commonly thought toimply a necessary connection between cause and effect: the authors say this is a mistake, and thatthe proper modality of causation is dispositional. Show More Summary
A Note on Events and Causation
Presently I’m reading GettingCauses From Powers by Stephen Mumford and Rani Lill Anjum (and havefinished six chapters out of ten). Iexpect to blog more about this book, of which I think very highly. I just wanted to very briefly comment onevents, inspired by the treatment they are getting so far in the book. Show More Summary
Do We Need Essences?
I’ve just been starting to read and think more aboutessences, in particular the debate which has followed Kit Fine’s argument in“Essence and Modality” (1993) that essences cannot be understood in modalterms. The modal understanding is...Show More Summary
Philosophy for Children Forum: 29 October
Coming up very soon is the next event on this year’s GPPC program: our Public Issues Forum. The topic this year is Philosophy for Children. The date is Saturday October 29th, 1pm, at the University of Pennsylvania. The event is freeShow More Summary
Dispositional Modality as Restricted Possibility
I’ve been interested in the metaphysics of dispositional properties (or powers), and I’ve ordered Getting Causes from Powers, a new book from Stephen Mumford and Rani Lill Anjum. I look forward to reading this later in the fall, butShow More Summary
Aaronson on QM and Free Will
One thing that has frustrated me in the past is the fact that folks tend to think indeterministic means “just random”, where by random they mean some stochastic process (like a dice roll) where one can’t predict which outcome will be chosen from some probability distribution. Show More Summary
GPPC 2011-2012 Program
Lots of good Philly-area philosophy coming up!The GPPC website has the updated program information for 2011-2012. The site also has other news, including this year's discussion groups and other lectures at the member schools which are open to the public. Show More Summary
Priority of Actual over Potential in Aristotle
Aquinas follows Aristotle in utilizing the interplay of potentiality and actuality to explain being. And the idea that the actual is prior to the potential, which I got a bit hung up on when reading Edward Feser’s book Aquinas, is from...Show More Summary
Thoughts on Edward Feser’s Aquinas
I recently read Aquinas, by Edward Feser (home page, blog). I would recommend the book; it is an excellent introduction to the thought of Aquinas (it deals with his philosophy – it is not a biography of his life and times, nor does it cover all the theology). Show More Summary
Composing the Mind
William Seager, of the University of Toronto, has written a number of interesting papers over the years on the mind, with panpsychism and emergence/reduction as frequent topics. I’m grateful for his contributions on panpsychism, which...Show More Summary