Philosophers’ Carnival #39
Here.
Author: Gualtiero Piccinini
Do Emotions Split into Different Natural Kinds?
In his 1997 book, What Emotions Really Are, Paul Griffiths argues that emotions split into three different natural kinds. But in his PSA talk a few weeks ago, Andrea Scarantino (a student of Griffiths) said that Griffiths now thinks that emotions do not split in the way he envisioned in his …
Female Cognition Finally Modeled
I agree with Anna-Mari Rusanen when she says that <<you should see this. It is a mechanistic, causal and probably algorithmic model of female cognition. The text in Finnish says “Finally female cognition has been modelled”.>>
Science against Religion?
Today’s NY Times has an interesting report on a recent conference discussing whether scientists should challenge religion more aggressively.
Knobe on the Continuity between Science and Common Sense
Joshua Knobe was kind enough to write me as follows (reproduced with permission):I was happy to see that you wrote up a description of oursession [two weeks ago at the PSA Meeting], and I’m glad that you are bringing attention to these important questions about the relationship between common sense andscientific …
PSA Highlights
Some sessions I enjoyed last week at the 2006 PSA in Vancouver:Philosophy in the Trenches: From Naturalized to Experimental Philosophy (of Science)Jonathan Weinberg and Stephen Crowley argued that experimental philosophy is, indeed, philosophy (contrary to some exclusionary views to the effect that ‘experimental philosophy’ is an oxymoron).Karola Stotz presented some …
The Brain’s ‘Steady Cam’
Bob Gordon sent me this MSNBC.com Article: New study reveals the brain’s ‘steady cam’. Our eyes constantly flit around, but rather than producing a shaky image like that in a jostled video camera, we perceive a coherent scene. Now researchers have identified what could be the brain circuit responsible for …