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Continue reading "Does Brian Greene's argument for skepticism undermine his own theory?" »
Continue reading "Does Brian Greene's argument for skepticism undermine his own theory?" »
Posted by Berit Brogaard on 12 September 2013 at 13:41 in Berit Brogaard, Philosophy of Science | Permalink | Comments (21) | TrackBack (0)
Last week I received a widely distributed announcement on a conference celebrating "The 'Stanford School' of Philosophy of Science." The 'core' members of this school are taken to be: Nancy Cartwright (Durham), John Dupré (Exeter), Peter Galison (Harvard), Peter Godfrey-Smith (CUNY), Patrick Suppes (Stanford). The parenthesis are the current affiliation of the 'core' members; this immediately suggests that if there is a 'school' at all we are either dealing with a historical phenomenon or very distributed one. Scanning the list of the 'next generation' confirms that Stanford is not the current base of the purported school.
First, I adore much of the work done by many in the 'core,' but the idea that this group is a 'school' is deeply flawed. For, Suppes is far better understood (as he does himself) as belonging to the first generation (including Kyburg, Pap, Isaac Levi) intellectual off-spring of Ernest Nagel, who successfully created American analytical philosophy by combining the Scientific wing of Pragmatism with the new approaches emanating from Vienna, especially, and Cambridge (recall and here). In his autobiography, Suppes describes how assimilated from Nagel the significance of history of science.
Continue reading "On the so-called "The Stanford School of Philosophy of Science."" »
Posted by Eric Schliesser on 12 September 2013 at 04:35 in Analytic - Continental divide (and its overcoming), Dennis Des Chene (aka "Scaliger"), Eric Schliesser, Foucault, History of philosophy, History of science, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy profession news | Permalink | Comments (23) | TrackBack (0)
Let's distinguish between Mythical history (Myth) and Mistaken history (Mish).
In reflecting on the public and private responses I have received to my criticisms on Thomas Nagel's abuse of history (here and here), I realize I need some such distinction. (In particular, I thank Mazviita Chirimuuta for making me see what's at stake here!)
Myth and Mish are both compatible with (i) messy history, that is, one that suggests the past is (always more) complex and ambiguous (etc.) and (ii) clean history, that is, one that extracts some determinate claim about the way it was (other than being messy). In practice, Myth tends to be clean (but, say, Foucault practices the genre, in part, by being very messy). Mythical history (be it Mish, clean, messy, or not) is philosophially interesting because it can structure how we think about the world and the way we conceive of the nature of the the problems at hand (or overlooked).
Continue reading "On the Contrast between Mythical and Mistaken History...(yes, it's Thomas Nagel again)." »
Posted by Eric Schliesser on 28 August 2013 at 14:13 in Early modern philosophy, Eric Schliesser, Foucault, History of philosophy, History of science, Mohan Matthen, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Science | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)
The fact that the discipline of economics hasn't helped us improve our predictive abilities suggests it is still far from being a science, and may never be....Over time, the question of why economics has not (yet) qualified as a science has become an obsession among theorists, including philosophers of science like us...What is economics up to if it isn't interested enough in predictive success to adjust its theories the way a science does when its predictions go wrong?--Alex Rosenberg and Tyler Curtain, in the New York Times.
Sometimes I receive the following back-handed, compliment-question, "Why do you do history? You might make a decent real philosopher." A part of the answer is that the second-order stories we tell ourselves -- often handed down by mentors and supervisors, and senior peers -- about where we come from and what we do often are just as interesting and important as the first-order activities; they may also influence us and others in ways that are often hard to spot. This by way of introduction because in what follows I primarily challenge the conceptual oppositions (and associated historical myths) in Rosenberg and Curtain's Opinionater piece (allowing that the genre they are writing in need not require scholarly precision). Perhaps, my challenge allows some clarity about the first-order issues to emerge.
The main stated point of Rosenberg & Curtain (hereafter RC) is that "the task of the Fed's next leader will be more a matter of craft and wisdom than of science." Surprisingly enough, given that RC are philosophers, they spend very little words on conceptualizing the nature or origin and causes of such "craft and wisdom," even though at the end of their piece they boldly assert that "the Fed chairman must, like a first violinist tuning the orchestra, have the rare ear to fine-tune complexity (probably a Keynesian ability to fine-tune at that)." We are not told why of all the crafts and skills, the fine-tuning violin is the most appropriate exemplar for a Fed chairman. Even if we grant the fruitfulness of the tuning metaphor, a fine-tuning violinist possesses a skill that may not require (much) wisdom; she tunes an orchestra that is oriented toward a common goal with skilled performers. The Fed-chairman deals with a more heterogeneous population with ends that are -- I hope -- not unified.
In fairness to RC, most of their piece is focused on a self-described "obsession:" is economics 'science?' So, let's turn to that first.
Continue reading "Economics as/and science; on treating Milton Friedman as the villain" »
Posted by Eric Schliesser on 28 August 2013 at 08:40 in Economics, Eric Schliesser, Global Financial Crisis, Philosophy of Science, Physics envy, Political Economy, Science | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)
The ideal of a pure language in which a pure, pared-down, unambiguous translation of the truths of pure mathematics can be effected deserves a more extended discussion than I have given it here. But I will limit myself to pointing out that this ideal language is very far indeed from the languages of man as conceived by Whorf; for to Whorf the least visible structures of a language, those that seem most natural to its Speakers, are the structures most likely to embody the metaphysical preconceptions of the language Community. On the other hand, the case of gravitational attraction does not at all demonstrate what Whorf asserts about Newtonian cosmology as a System, namely that the key concepts of the cosmology emerge smoothly from or fit smoothly into, the structures of Newton's own language(s). Instead we find in Newton a real struggle, a struggle sometimes — e. g., in the General Scholium to Book III of the Principia — carried out in awareness of the issues involved, to bridge the gap between the non referential symbolism of mathematics and a language too protean to be tied down to single, pure meanings.--J.M. Coetzee (1982) "Newton and the Ideal of a Transparent Scientific Language," Journal of Literary Semantics.
Among recent philosophy the Whorf hypothesis is primarily an object of curiosity as background to Kuhn's Structure (and maybe Quine's Word and Object), although two of my favorite philosophers, Lieven Decock and our very own Helen de Cruz (and a few others), work on it. (Undoubtedly part of the lack of interest is recent, philosophical abhorrence of relativism, but the thesis has not disappeared from linguistics and psychology.)* A charismatic economist, Keith Chen, rediscovers a version of it in economics by focusing on the surprising impact of linguistic structure and financial activity (saving rates)--here's a popular video. (HT Hülya Eraslan; I ignore my methodological qualms today.) In the article quoted in the epigraph above (it's his conclusion), Coetzee is interested in the version -- he attributes it directly to Whorf -- that "we see nature along lines laid down by our native languages." I call this version, the "narrow Whorf thesis" (to distinguish it from broader claims about linguistic/cultural relativism and also Whorf's explanation for the narrow Whorf thesis.)
Now, what does the narrow Whorf thesis have to do with Newton and Coetzee?
Continue reading "Coetzee on Whorf and Newton's Mathematical Philosophy" »
Posted by Eric Schliesser on 21 August 2013 at 07:59 in Early modern philosophy, Economics, Eric Schliesser, Helen De Cruz, History of philosophy, History of science, Philosophy of Science | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
A draft summary of the Fifth Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has been leaked to the press. Although I don't have access to the draft itself, the reporting alone is interesting, but also potentially confusing to the average layperson. The New York Times tells us that "An international panel of scientists has found with near certainty that human activity is the cause of most of the temperature increases of recent decades," and quotes the document as saying, "It is extremely likely that human influence on climate caused more than half of the observed increase in global average surface temperature from 1951 to 2010." We are also told that whereas in 2007, "the chances were at least 90 percent that human activities were the cause" of climate change, saying that now in 2013 "the odds are at least 95 percent that humans are the principal cause." Reuters words this slightly differently: "it is at least 95 percent likely that human activities - chiefly the burning of fossil fuels - are the main cause of warming since the 1950s." But what do the phrases "near certainty," "extremely likely," "95 percent odds," "95 percent likely" mean? [the emphasis is mine in all of the above quotes]. In this context, I think they all mean the same thing, but that's not entirely obvious.
Continue reading "What do climate scientists mean when they cite 95% odds?" »
Posted by Roberta L. Millstein on 20 August 2013 at 19:30 in Environmental issues, Philosophy of Science, Roberta Millstein | Permalink | Comments (25) | TrackBack (0)
The following three sub-fields are highly specialized: Ancient philosophy, seventeenth/eighteenth century philosophy, and philosophy of physics. The following sub-fields have a low level of specialization: metaphilosophy, philosophy of religion, philosophy of probability, philosophy of the social sciences, decision theory, and philosophy of race and gender. Highly specialized sub-fields tend to require extensive knowledge in some area beyond the typical training of a philosopher, and outside of philosophy proper.--Brad Wray.
Brad Wray, a Kuhnian-naturalistic philosopher of science, has mined the PhilPapers data with an eye toward "the degree of specialization in each area of specialization" in the discipline. (Wray is a bit too confident that this is a "representative sample of the profession;" I worry about selection and, especially, geographical effects; even so the numbers are pretty large (3,226 people in total and 1,803 'philosophy faculty or PhD') so that the results can be illuminating if used with caution.)
Wray: "The degree of specialization of an area is a relative measure of how specialized a particular area is" and is calculated as follows: "The number of people who claim the area as their primary area of specialization/The number of people who claim the area as an area of specialization." I have posted a chunk of the abstract, which contains the core results, in the epigraph above. One of Wray's finding would not have surprised Adam Smith: "an analysis of the data suggests that the size of a specialization is correlated with the degree of specialization."
Wray's crucial result (which seems to have been explored at the prompting of a referee) is this one: "a high degree of specialization is the exception, not the norm in philosophical specialties. Many specialties seem to depend, to a significant degree, on the involvement of many who work in the area but who do not identify the area as their primary area of specialization." Of course, this says nothing about the way in which specialists set the agenda with a specialization.
Either way, this data suggests that there are still quite a few generalists in philosophy (it is amusing to me that I work in a 'specialist' area because us 'early modernists' cover two hundred years of systematic philosophy with ongoing discussions pertaining to M&E, value, science, and increasingly philosophy of religion). The question as to what degree Wray's pattern is born out by publication and citation-data is worth exploring in the future.
Posted by Eric Schliesser on 16 August 2013 at 04:08 in Eric Schliesser, History of philosophy, Improving the philosophy profession, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy profession news, Political Economy of higher education, Splendid philosopher of the week | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)
One can't help but share in Chagnon's frustration at the hasty decision of the majority of his disciplinary peers to disown its historical connection to any branch of the complex and variegated scientific tradition. After all, until very recently (and to some extent to this day still in languages such as French and German), a 'science' was any relatively systematic body of knowledge, anything the goal or product of which was scientia, and it is only in the very most recent times that the notion has been reduced to the figure of somber men seeking to run the world on the basis of claims of unassailable expertise. Yet the cartoon version of science that Chagnon proposes in response, in its total failure to recognize that there might be special problems of theory-ladenness, power inequality, looping effects, prejudice --in a word, all those factors that make the scientific study of humans a more delicate matter than the study of other domains of nature--, can easily make one wish to take the 'postmodern' turn oneself, if only to get away from this astoundingly simplistic pretense of scientificity.--Justin Smith (writing about Napoleon Chagnon's book, Noble Savages: My Life among Two Dangerous Tribes- The Yanomamö and the Anthropologists (Simon & Schuster, 2013).
Justin is one of the leading historians of philosophy of my generation. He is also a staunch defender of the fact that "one can in fact approach the subject matter of anthropology naturalistically, using the conceptual tools of European traditions of thought, and still come up with theoretically sophisticated accounts of indigenous beliefs that remain nonetheless sensitive to the actual concerns, to the 'voices', of the people being studied." (He also wants to bring some anthropological methods into the history of philosophy.)
Continue reading "Cartoon Versions of Science and the harms they do (in Anthropology)" »
Posted by Eric Schliesser on 15 August 2013 at 07:50 in Eric Schliesser, Helen De Cruz, History of philosophy, History of science, Philosophy of Science, Science | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
If this collection leaves it unclear just what naturalized metaphysics comes to, its advocates are at least making a serious attempt to engage with our pre-eminent knowledge-producing disciplines. Newton famously compared his efforts to those of a boy on the seashore who succeeded in picking up a smoother pebble or a prettier shell while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before him. While naturalist metaphysicians are at sea trying to oversee the reconstruction of Neurath's boat, many a contemporary analytic metaphysician remains on the beach embellishing his or her own sand castle, oblivious to the incoming tide.--Richard Healey.
I mentioned Healey's review favorably a few days ago. Even so, the polemical closing paragraph above, which gives voices to "the deep suspicion" of "many naturalistically inclined philosophers," is unfair and dangerous myth. Before I turn to argue this, some terminological clarification. Healey's review is about a book about "scientific metaphysics" and he calls the practitioners of it, "naturalist metaphysicians," which are contrasted with so-called "analytic metaphysicians." He never settles on definitions, but after some empirical analysis, he writes, "Whatever naturalized metaphysics comes to, it is clearly less enamored with logical analysis of language but pays much closer attention to actual science than a lot of what goes by the name of analytic metaphysics." This is a decent first approximation (and captures nicely the contrast between those that, say, start-from-David Lewis and those that, say, develop their views from grappling with the Scientific Image, or Structure).*
Continue reading "Analytic Metaphysics & Naturalized Metaphysics, Rivals or *Verstandshuwelijk*?" »
Posted by Eric Schliesser on 15 August 2013 at 03:22 in Eric Schliesser, History of science, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Science, Physics envy, Science | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
[This post was inspired by an email correspondence with John Doris.--ES]
The sciences play an important role in (at least) two ways of doing philosophy these days: (a) as an ingredient or constraint in so-called 'naturalistic turns;' (b) as an object of study in Philosophy of X (POX) -- with X = any particular science -- or General Philosophy of Science (GPOS). This (a-b) is not to deny the existence of other roles of science in philosophy, including: (c) functioning as the exemplary model of doing philosophy--I tend to refer to this as "Philosophy as Normal Science" (PANS; regular readers know I want us diminish PANS) and (d) being a source of discipline of philosophy (as, say, Williamson wishes). In practice, there are lots of blended positions. I will not define "philosophy" or "science", and I recognize that those of us that work in Europe (and, perhaps, elsewhere) are often taught (and paid/evaluated) to think of ourselves as scientists.
Here I focus on some problems that (a) and (b), especially, share in practice. The source of these is that we philosophers are generally not practicing scientists. (What I am aboout to claim also applies to those that have a PhD in some science, but it may not apply fully to those that also have ongoing research projects within some science.) This means that any science we rely on (in a-d) will be inevitably: (i) dated (science can move very fast as Bertrand Russell emphasized--it is hard enough for the professionals 'to keep up'); (ii) potentially misunderstood (we are -- despite our fabulous reasoning and conceptual skills -- not the experts in the science, after all); (iii) a partial perspective (most sciences are much larger than philosophy and can have a huge division of intellectual labor). Even if one were to ignore the effects of (i-iii) in (a-d) bits of science 'travel' from properly (stabilized) scientific domains/contexts to philosophical contexts; it is, thus, very likely that (iv) science will be partially transformed in translation (one need not be a Quine-ean holist, Kuhnian incommensurabalist to see that any disciplinary appropriation is not prima facie truth or meaning/pragmatics preserving). In practice, i-iv can be blended--and, perhaps, the list ought to be longer. I call the effects of i-iv, "NAPPs." The idea is that NAPPs is internal to naturalism (and not to be confused with excesses such as scientism or positivism).
Posted by Eric Schliesser on 13 August 2013 at 05:28 in Eric Schliesser, History of philosophy, History of science, Improving the philosophy profession, Materialism, Philosophy of Science, Science | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBack (0)
[My wife is a physician-PhD, so I doubt I am an impartial observer here.--ES]
In reality, medical care during pregnancy seemed to be one long list of rules. Being pregnant was a good deal like being a child again. There was always someone telling me what to do, but the recommendations from books and medical associations were vague and sometimes contradictory. It started right away. "You can only have two cups of coffee a day." I wondered why. What did the numbers say about how risky one, two or three cups were? This wasn't discussed anywhere.The key to good decision making is evaluating the available information—the data—and combining it with your own estimates of pluses and minuses. As an economist, I do this every day. It turns out, however, that this kind of training isn't really done much in medical schools. Medical school tends to focus much more, appropriately, on the mechanics of being a doctor--Emily Oster in WSJ [HT Diana Weinert Thomas via Facebook].
Continue reading "An Economist says to Physicians: you don't know your data!" »
Posted by Eric Schliesser on 11 August 2013 at 10:25 in Economics, Eric Schliesser, Feminism, Just how corrupt is the Harvard Economics Department, anyway?, Philosophy of Science, Science | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)
Evelyn Fox Keller (whom I cited yesterday) has long been one of my favorite philosophers. No small part of that attraction has been her critique of the search for "master molecules." As I put it here in the article I did on her for The Edinburgh Dictionary of Continental Philosophy, a "master molecule" is
an isolated and transcendent command centre whose unidirectional commands account for the order of an otherwise chaotic or passive material. Against all such hylomorphism – which has been consistently gendered in Western culture and science (the active command centre figured as masculine and the passive or chaotic matter figured as feminine) – Keller points us to the study of the morphogenetic patterns of complex interactive systems, that is, to processes of immanent self-organisation across multiple levels.
So I was greatly interested in recently coming across these 2009 lectures, where Keller writes about a stage in the origin of life that falls between physical self-organization and cellular autopoiesis, what she calls "smart matter":
Posted by John Protevi on 07 August 2013 at 01:08 in Biology and the biological, Dynamical systems theory, John Protevi, Philosophy of Science | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
[UPDATE 8 August, 2:25 pm CDT: comments by Roberta Millstein and by "bizarre" have convinced me that the author of the review, David Haig, is better seen as *diagnosing* tough guyism in his neo-Darwinist colleagues rather than as exemplifying it. My thanks to them for pushing me to see this. I'll leave the post as is -- for the record, as it were -- but ask readers to keep this change of view in mind in reading it.]
This is a fine review of Transformations of Lamarckism, ed. Gissis and Jablonka (MIT, 2011), but its conclusion is somewhat marred by a classic flaw: it attributes an "emotional reaction" to its targets without acknowledging that its own position is also emotionally inflected rather than being simply "intellectual." We can call this the self-denying political affect* of tough guyism.
Continue reading "Tough guyism is itself an emotional stance" »
Posted by John Protevi on 31 July 2013 at 01:30 in Biology and the biological, History of science, John Protevi, Philosophy of Science, Political Affect, Science | Permalink | Comments (15) | TrackBack (0)
[X-posted at Prosblogion] In the epistemology of religion, authors like Swinburne and Alston have argued influentially that mystical experience of God provides prima facie justification for some beliefs we hold about God on the basis of such experiences, e.g., that he loves us, is sovereign etc. Belief in God, so they argue, is analogous to sense perception. If I get a mystical experience that God loves me, prima facie, I am justified in believing that God loves me.
Alston relies critically on William James' Varieties of Religious Experience (1902). This seminal, but now dated psychological study draws on self-reports by mystics to characterize mystical experience. The mystical experiences James (and others) describe are unexpected, unbidden; they immediately present something (God) to one's experience, i.e., they provide a direct, unmediated awareness of God. More recent empirical work on the phenomenology of religious experience, such as that conducted by Tanya Luhrmann and other anthropologists, suggests that ordinary sense experience is a poor and misleading analogy for religious experience.
Continue reading "Mystical perception as a learned skill, and implications for religious epistemology" »
Posted by Helen De Cruz on 29 July 2013 at 14:42 in Cognitive Science, Helen De Cruz, Philosophy of Science, Religion | Permalink | Comments (16) | TrackBack (0)
Even most Kuhn-haters are committed to the popular idea that an important measure of scientific truth is consensus among the experts. The downside of this commitment is on display in Roberta Millstein's important piece on "the removal of gray wolves from endangered species status in the U.S." One could debate the merits of the proposal, of course, but a scary aspect of her account is the manufacture of scientific consensus by a government-agency. I quote the relevant bits first, and comment below the fold:
The problem is, as the authors of the proposal acknowledge, that there is a lack of consensus among scientists on what species are, what subspecies are, and how many species and subspecies of wolves there are. Nonetheless, they declare that one paper, Chambers et. al (2012), "is the only peer-reviewed synthesis of its kind conducted for North American wolves and summarizes and synthesizes the best available scientific information on the issue."...Chambers et al. (2012) appears in the journal North American Fauna, a publication of the FWS [Fish and Wildlife Service] itself; it is unclear why the paper wasn't sent to a more recognized peer-reviewed journal in the field, such as Conservation Biology. According to the website for North American Fauna, Chambers et al. (2012) is the only publication since 1991; it appears as though the journal was reborn specifically to publish the wolf study only to languish again afterward....In short, the FWS service has taken one of the most well-studied animals, about which there is great controversy...and benighted one paper, authored by itself (perhaps by some of the same people who wrote the proposal) as "the best available scientific information"....What is the urgency – so urgent that the FWS must hastily designate itself as the source of the best available science – to make policy when the science is so unsettled?"
Continue reading "Manufacturing Scientific Consensus by the Government" »
Posted by Eric Schliesser on 22 July 2013 at 01:26 in Early modern philosophy, Environmental issues, Eric Schliesser, Philosophy of Science, Roberta Millstein | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
On June 13, 2013, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) proposed removing the gray wolf, Canis lupus, from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. Under this proposal, the species of gray wolves – which was at one time protected across the 48 contiguous U.S. states – would no longer be so protected. Only one subspecies of gray wolf would be granted protection: the Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi). This would, in effect, protect only 75 of the wolves in the U.S. (the current size of the wild population of Mexican wolves). The FWS is soliciting comments on this proposed ruling here, where you can also find the text of the proposal. If you find this proposed ruling as problematic as I do, I would urge you to submit a comment.
Philosophers of biology such as myself, many of whom are well-versed in the challenges of defining the terms "species," "subspecies," and "population," not to mention skills in evaluating arguments, are particularly well placed to see the flaws in the proposed ruling. I was first alerted to potential problems in the proposal upon reading this editorial, which blamed the ruling on pressure from "a loose coalition of hunters' groups, outfitters, and ranchers." While I don't have any evidence for this assertion, after reading through the ill-defended proposal one has to wonder, "Why this? Why now? And why has the fact-finding process of the Endangered Species Act been corrupted with a 'government-manufactured scientific consensus'?" (thanks to Eric Schliesser for the felicitous phrase).
Continue reading "The Proposed Removal of Gray Wolves from Endangered Species Status in the U.S. is Arbitrary, Capricious, and Inconsistent" »
Posted by Roberta L. Millstein on 21 July 2013 at 23:58 in Environmental issues, Philosophy of Science, Roberta Millstein | Permalink | Comments (15) | TrackBack (0)
"Horn 1: no predicates carve at the joints. Here only two attractive options seem open. One is Goodmania: all talk of objecive joints in reality is simply mistaken." T. Sider (2011) Writing The Book of the World, 186.
"Let it be clear that the question here is not of the possible worlds that many of my contemporaries, especially those near Disneyland, are busy making and manipulating." N. Goodman, Ways of Worldmaking, 2.
One nugget in the Healy citation data is the near-absence of Nelson Goodman. The only work by Goodman found in the top 500 is The Structure of Appearance (1951) with 11 citations in the H4 (between 1993-2013). No mention of Goodman's Fact, Fiction, and Forecast (over 3000 citation according to google.scholar) or the foundational work in mereology; there is no harm--even Harvard professors can be forgotten (recall Jon on Collingwood paradoxicality; it seems Goodman's reputation went into decline around 1996). A more serious matter is that Goodman's Languages of Art (published in 1976), which over 4000 citations, is invisible in the H4. So, this tells you at once that nominalism is discussed and aesthetics is seriously neglected in our supposedly, generalist journals. This should come us no surprise (recall this post earlier in the week.) Given the significance of the widely deployed aesthetic principles embedded in the theoretical virtues of simplicity, elegance, harmony, this absence is something of a scandal (over and beyond the intrinsic value of aesthetics). (By the way: in the Stanford Encyclopedia, Goodman's aesthetics is the only entry primarily devoted to Goodman--it even contains a biographical sketch, as if the editors doubt there ever will be a systematic Goodman entry.)
The absence of Goodman's (1978) Ways of Worldmaking (WOW) is in some sense more important. (For the record: I never met Goodman.) Let me explain.
Continue reading "Goodmania and Fashion in Philosophy; more reflections on Sider" »
Posted by Eric Schliesser on 08 July 2013 at 02:29 in Eric Schliesser, Jon Cogburn, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Science, Physics envy | Permalink | Comments (15) | TrackBack (0)
Cross-posted from our Psychology Today blog.
For over sixty years it has been widely accepted that twinning, the process that results in identical or conjoined twins, normally occurs about two weeks after fertilization, or conception. This assumption has been used as a premise in what philosophers call the "twinning argument." The idea behind the twinning argument is that since one thing cannot be identical to two things, a twin cannot be identical to a zygote, or fertilized egg. Arguing from that to the general conclusion that none of us is identical to a zygote is more complicated and involves the further premise that it is not fully determined at the time of fertilization whether a zygote will undergo twinning.
Continue reading "The timing of twinning. Does the new model of twinning have any bioethical consequences?" »
Posted by Berit Brogaard on 04 July 2013 at 13:45 in Berit Brogaard, Biology and the biological, Philosophy of Science | Permalink | Comments (26) | TrackBack (0)
Brian Weatherson has done some nice data crunching of his own inspired by the Healy-data (eliciting an important comment by Jennifer Nagel), especially here. In particular, he looked at citations in a broader range of journals than the H4. Now Brian's crucial point is: "Lesson 1: It's easy to be wrong about what people are talking about, if you try to generalise from personal experience." This is important to keep in mind for all of us that need to make decisions about the future of the field (i.e., future job candidates and those that supervise them.) Brian is a privileged observer having helped shape cutting-edge M&E as a presence at a variety of top departments. (I made a similar observation last week in light of converging evidence.) His data also show that the recent debate over philosophical intuitions (see Catarina [and Mohan and here]) is generating a lot of discussion outside of the H4. This is part of a larger phenomenon: while H4 articles are cutting edge (by stipulation), their citations are a lagging indicator of current trends (see also here and here). This may be due, in part, to their relatively slow refereeing process (thus, building in delay from submission to acceptance), or it may be due to in-crowd refereeing (so that in effect citations of high status males are privileged).
Here I focus on Brian's surprise about "336 citations for a paper about mechanisms!" This is a reference to "Thinking about mechanisms" by P Machamer, L. Darden, CF Craver in Philosophy of science (2000) [here for direct access]. (Hereafter MDC) There is no evidence that Brian thinks MDC does not merit attention. Brian's lack of awareness of the importance of this paper is indicative of a genuine split between: (a) post-Lewisian folk that take the metaphysics and epistemology of science, especially inspired by text-book physics, seriously and (b) those of us that focus more on scientific practice, past and present, in our philosophy of science, epistemology, and even metaphysics. Moreover, Brian's tendency to suggest that the high citation-rate for MDC must be due to a non-philosophical audience suggests (with N=1) that folk in (a) tend to underestimate how large the community of (b) is within philosophy.
Continue reading "On the Contrast between post-Lewisian M&E and Philosophy of Scientific Practice" »
Posted by Eric Schliesser on 02 July 2013 at 00:06 in Eric Schliesser, Improving the philosophy profession, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy profession news, Splendid philosopher of the week | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBack (0)
Williamson's final paragraph begins: "In making these comments, it is hard not to feel like the headmaster of a minor public school at speech day, telling everyone to pull their socks up after a particularly bad term". I cannot speak for the participants at the conference, but my own reaction to being compared to a wayward British schoolboy was: So who died and made you headmaster?--Tim Maudlin
Yesterday, David Auerbach reminded us that Timothy Williamson is a serial dismiss-er. In this piece (it appeared in 2006, but it self-plagiarizes stuff that appeared in the 2004 Leiter volume), Williamson rails against sloppiness in...analytical philosophy: " Much contemporary analytic philosophy − not least on realism and truth -- seems to be written in the tacit hope of discursively muddling through, uncontrolled by any clear methodological constraints...We who classify ourselves as 'analytic philosophers' tend to fall into the assumption that our allegiance automatically confers on us methodological virtue." (11; see also p. 4)
I much prefer searching self-criticism than kicking the outsider. So, I was about to start really liking Williamson. But it turns out, Williamson is not above kicking down. For the very same passage continues: "within the analytic tradition many philosophers use arguments only to the extent that most 'continental' philosophers do: some kind of inferential movement is observ able, but it lacks the clear articulation into premises and conclusion and the explicitness about the form of the inference that much good philosophy achieves." (11) Okay, so the point is: most analytical philosophers think they are superior in philosophical virtue to continental philosophers, but they are as bad as the legitimately despised continental philosophers. Yes, in context Williamson says he is deploying "crude stereotypes," but he is not disowning the stereotype about continental philosophy! (Cf. "Much even of analytic philosophy moves too fast in its haste to reach the sexy bits." (15; emphasis added--ES)) The main point of Williamson's piece is to double-down on the stereotypical virtues of analytical philosophy: "precision" and "rigour" (15), and to do so in opposition to the despised 'other.' In fact, the un-argued hostility toward Kant, which I noticed yesterday, is a trope in Williamson: "if we aim to be rigorous, we cannot expect to sound like Heraclitus, or even Kant: we have to sacrifice the stereotype of depth." (15; logically that allows Kant to rigerous, of course, but if you sound like Kant, etc...) [Doubling-down is not the whole story, but about that more tomorrow.]
Posted by Eric Schliesser on 25 June 2013 at 09:52 in Analytic - Continental divide (and its overcoming), Eric Schliesser, History of philosophy, History of science, Improving the philosophy profession, Philosophy of Science | Permalink | Comments (22) | TrackBack (0)
The idea that there is something like an efficient market in scientific ideas (EMISI), supporting a ruling 'paradigm,' is very dangerous in the policy sciences. Even if we assume that scientists are individually pure truth-seekers, imperfections in scientific markets can produce non-epistemic (and epistemic) externalities (recall here, including criticism of a famous paper by Aumann). EMISI provides cover for 'The Everybody Did It' (TEDI) Syndrome (recall here). With Merel Lefevere, I have been exploring in what circumstances the presence of TEDI Syndrome is indicative of collective negligence (or a negative externalities). One possible consequence of our approach is that those scientists/institutions that interface with policy should seek out critics and critical alternatives to the existing paradigm. Jon Faust, an economist, sometimes acts as such an in-house critic at the United States Federal Reserve (the Fed) and the Riksbank. Two of his relatively non-technical papers (here and here) prompted this post.
Central Banks rely, in part, on models developed by academic economists to set monetary policy. Yet, Faust notes two problems in the way the intellectual supply-chain works: (i) there is almost no venue for "high-level conversation" about "academic work and its relation to actual practice." (53) (ii) State of the art models are often applied without full knowledge of all their possible consequences in the real world because these models models "have substantial areas of omission and coarse approximation" (55) In light of (i) and (ii), Faust's aim (iii) is to help central bankers and the modellers develop "a formal literature on best methods and practices for using materially flawed models in practical policymaking," (55) or "how to make the most responsible use in policymaking of what we now know." (60) My first reaction was, 'it is about time;' my second, more generous response was warmth in my philosophical heart that Faust is engaging in philosophy of scientific methodology and non-ideal regime/institution construction. His main idea is to adapt a kind of policy protocol from a literature that "goes under names like "human relevance of animal studies" and "interspecies extrapolation" (57) in the practice(s) of Toxicology.
Continue reading "Weekly Philo of Economics: Central Banking with materially flawed models" »
Posted by Eric Schliesser on 10 May 2013 at 10:00 in "Austerity"? You mean class war, don't you?, Dynamical systems theory, Economics, Eric Schliesser, Philosophy of Science, Political Economy | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
For some years now, I've been maintaining a webpage of internet resources that aims to be useful to historians and philosophers of biology; it originally began as a page just for myself and grew over time. Although it has been public for a long time, and linked to from places like Wikipedia's philosophy of biology page, it occured to me that some who might be interested don't know about the page. So, at John Protevi's suggestion, I am linking to it here (continuing a series of NewAPPS posts calling attention to web resources useful for philosophers; see, e.g., here and here).
If you find it useful, please feel free to share with students and colleagues. And if you see things that are missing or mistaken, please let me know. I am happy to make additions and corrections. Apologies in advance if I have overlooked your page of publicly available HPB articles or other important internet source for HPBers.
But mainly, having put in the effort to maintain it, I'd love to know that others besides myself are using it!
Posted by Roberta L. Millstein on 15 April 2013 at 10:13 in Biology and the biological, Philosophy of Science, Roberta Millstein | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Manuel DeLanda published his Intensive Science and Virtual Philosophy a little more than ten years ago. The book influenced me greatly at the time, and still does. Here's a slightly revised and expanded version of a review of it I did way back in 2003 in Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology. Here's the hook:
DeLanda provides a doubled difference, a differentiation and differenciation, of Deleuze. While DeLanda certainly provides a straightforward explanation of the process Deleuze calls counter-actualization (moving from the actual to the virtual), he does so not by an interpretation of Deleuze's full philosophical output, but by a reconstruction of the ontology and epistemology of Difference and Repetition and The Logic of Sense: 'This line of argumentation ... is, in fact, not Deleuze's own, although it follows directly from his ontological analysis' (39). As DeLanda puts it: Deleuze's world rather than his words. But this folds Deleuze back on himself, giving us a virtualization of Deleuze, moving from the actual productions of Deleuze (his books) to the differentiated structures of his production process (the network of his concepts) in order to produce a new, divergent, differenciation (DeLanda's book). By virtue of being a book on Deleuze, of course, this product has itself the all-important fold of explaining the structures of all processes (or more precisely, explaining that all processes are structured, and that the structure of the realm of those structures, the virtual, can itself by explicated).
And here's an outline of ISVP I did for a course I taught back then.
Posted by John Protevi on 14 March 2013 at 18:57 in Deleuze (and Guattari, sometimes), John Protevi, Philosophy of Science | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
In a forthcoming paper (I heard a version of it here), Jonathan Schaffer offers the following argument:
1. Leibnizian substance: Something is a substance if and only if it evolves by the fundamental laws
2. Russellian laws: The cosmos is the one and only thing that evolves by the fundamental laws
3. Spinozan monism: The cosmos is the one and only substance (from 1 and 2)
As Schaffer is well aware, there is lots of irony in all of this. (At NewAPPS we have discussed Russell's reservations about Spinoza several times here, here, and also Jeff. [Recall also Russell's debts to Boole on Clarke vs Spinoza; and Stebbing on Spinoza.]) Now, my objection to this argument is inspired by my reading of Spinoza's so-called "Letter on the Infinite," but what follows is not meant to be a historical argument (or a gotcha, 'you got the history wrong' moment). Recall that I read Spinoza as claming that characterizing and grasping substance as such does not involve our ordinary scientific 'utensils' (e.g., measures, mathematics, laws of nature), but rather concepts like essence and eternity. Mathematical physics can only give a partial view of substance as such. Now one reason for this is that mathematical physics of Spinoza's day, treats some part of nature as a closed system (governed by its own 'conservation' rules/laws). Moreover, Spinoza would deny that fundamentally the universe evolves. For, applying temporal concepts to the universe is, however useful it may be, always a less than fully adequate conceptualization of the universe.
Continue reading "Spinoza vs Jonathan Schaffer [Open vs Closed Systems.]" »
Posted by Eric Schliesser on 03 February 2013 at 11:00 in Eric Schliesser, History of philosophy, History of science, Jeff Bell, Philosophy of Science, Physics envy, Science | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBack (0)
In an earlier post, I began to write about John Hawthorne and Daniel Nolan's analysis of teleological causation. (Eric has written about related topics too.) My aim there was primarily to summarize H&N's analysis. Here I have some critical thoughts—I have only been thinking about this for a couple of weeks, so my opinions are far from final. H&N ask two questions: Is teleology coherent? Is teleology consistent with contemporary physics? Can it be added on? In my opinion, their analysis demonstrates coherence. (That's not a very high bar, but they clear it with ease.) I am less clear about consistency with physics.
Let's start by considering the motion of a single particle. (I'll consider ensembles of particles in a further post.) H&N distinguish three types of process (all more fully described in my earlier post): mechanical (for simplicity's sake, Newtonian), retrotemporally mechanical (like Newton's, but moving backward in time), and teleological or goal-directed. Since Newtonian trajectories are reversible—the temporal reversal of a trajectory is possible if the trajectory is possible—the paths of single particles do not distinguish between the first two options. If they are consistent with Newtonian mechanics, they are also consistent with time-reversed Newtonian mechanics. (See Eric Winsberg's comments on my earlier post.)
Now, Hawthorne and Nolan open the door to two ways of distinguishing goal-direction or teleological causation from both mechanical and retro-mechanical causation at the level of single particles.
Posted by Mohan Matthen on 21 January 2013 at 10:46 in Eric Schliesser, Minds on Monday, Mohan Matthen, Philosophy of Science | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)
Evolutionary naturalism provides an account of our capacities that undermines their reliability, and in doing so undermines itself...I agree with Alvin Plantinga that...the application of evolutionary theory to the understanding of our own cognitive capacities should undermine, though it need not completely destroy, our confidence in them. Mechanisms of belief formation that have selective advantage in the everyday struggle for existence do not warrant our confidence in the construction of theoretical accounts of the world as a whole. I think the evolutionary hypothesis would imply that though our cognitive capacities could be reliable, we do not have the kind of reason to rely on them that we ordinarily take ourselves to have using in them directly--as we do in science. Thomas Nagel, Mind and Cosmos, 27-28 (emphasis in original)
A non-trivial (albeit not the most fundamental) feature of Nagel's book (recall my here, here, here; see Feser's response to me and also Mohan's posts: here, here, here and here) is his reliance on Plantinga's so-called evolutionary argument against naturalism (hereafter EAAN; see also pp. 74-78). Let's leave aside the fact that Nagel pretends in his book that this (evolving) EAAN argument has not been subject to significant criticism. (It must be convenient to think that one is obliged to engage only with one's referee [Sober, although even his criticism of EAAN is ignored], one's colleague [Street], one's cheerleader [Plantinga], and one's deus ex machina [Hawthorne & Nolan].) Here I explore a response to this style of argument that is overlooked by Nagel and, I think, not explored in the literature (but would love to learn otherwise--it's not my field). So, let's grant -- for the sake of argument -- the claim that "Mechanisms of belief formation that have selective advantage in the everyday struggle for existence do not warrant our confidence in the construction of theoretical accounts of the world as a whole." What follows from this?
My quick and dirty answer is: nothing. For the crucial parts of science really do not rely on such mechanisms of belief formation. Much of scientific reason is or can be performed by machines; as I have argued before, ordinary cognition, perception, and locution does not really matter epistemically in the sciences.
Continue reading "Nagel and the Evolutionary Argument against Naturalism" »
Posted by Eric Schliesser on 13 January 2013 at 10:32 in Biology and the biological, Catarina Dutilh Novaes, Eric Schliesser, Helen De Cruz, Mohan Matthen, Philosophy of Science, Religion, Science | Permalink | Comments (57) | TrackBack (0)
Since an article by Macfie (1971), scholars have recognized that Smith uses the phrase "invisible hand" three times in his corpus; once in Wealth of Nations; once in The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Recently the great, late Warren Samuels bequeathed us a lifetime of scholarship on the enormous variety of interpretations that Smith's "invisible hand" has generated. In this post I focus on the "third" use, which occurs in Smith's "History of Astronomy" -- one of the founding documents of the philosophy of science (and simultaneously the history of the philosophy of science) -- published posthumously in 1795.
Hence the origin of Polytheism, and of that vulgar superstition which ascribes all the irregular events of nature to the favour or displeasure of intelligent, though invisible beings, to gods, daemons, witches, genii, fairies. For it may be observed, that in all Polytheistic religions, among savages, as well as in the early ages of Heathen antiquity, it is the irregular events of nature only that are ascribed to the agency and power of their gods. Fire burns, and water refreshes; heavy bodies descend, and lighter substances fly upwards, by the necessity of their own nature; nor was the invisible hand of Jupiter s ever apprehended to be employed in those matters. But thunder and lightning, storms and sunshine, those more irregular events, were ascribed to his favour, or his anger. Man, the only designing power with which they were acquainted, never acts but either to stop, or to alter the course, which natural events would take, if left to themselves. Those other intelligent beings, whom they imagined, but knew not, were naturally supposed to act in the same manner; not to employ themselves in supporting the ordinary course of things, which went on of its own accord, but to stop, to thwart, and to disturb it. And thus, in the first ages of the world, the lowest and most pusillanimous superstition supplied the place of philosophy.
Continue reading "Weekly Philo of Economics: Adam Smith's Third Invisible Hand." »
Posted by Eric Schliesser on 08 January 2013 at 10:32 in Early modern philosophy, Economics, Eric Schliesser, History of philosophy, History of science, Philosophy of Science | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)
At his blog Edward Feser has been responding to Thomas Nagel's critics (no, not me (yet)!). In response to Sober's review he concludes with the following sociological remark:
That, I think, is precisely what is going on -- the "presuppositions that Nagel is trying to transcend" run so deep in contemporary academic philosophical culture that it is difficult for most philosophers to get any critical distance on them. They lack, as Nietzsche might have said, the courage for an attack on their own convictions. And yet the evidence that there is something deeply wrong with the naturalistic consensus is all around them even in "mainstream" academic philosophy -- in the work of renegade naturalists like Nagel, Searle, Fodor, McGinn, et al.; dualists like Chalmers, Brie Gertler, Howard Robinson, John Foster, et al.; and neo-Aristotelians like the "new essentialist" metaphysicians and philosophers of science (Cartwright, Ellis, Martin, Heil, Mumford, et al.) and the analytical Thomists (Oderberg, Klima, Haldane, et al.). It's psychologically easy (even if philosophically sleazy) to dismiss one or two of these thinkers as outliers who needn't be taken seriously. But as their ranks slowly grow, it will be, and ought to be, harder both psychologically and philosophically to dismiss them.
Which is no doubt why the more ideological naturalists would very dearly like to strangle this growing challenge to the consensus while it is still in its crib -- hence the un-philosophical nastiness with which Nagel's views have been greeted in some quarters. But Sober, to his credit, is not an ideologue, and is sober enough to acknowledge at least the possibility that Nagel is on to something.--Edward Feser.
Continue reading "Are we living in an age where the naturalistic consensus will be shattered?" »
Posted by Eric Schliesser on 19 December 2012 at 09:36 in Biology and the biological, Catarina Dutilh Novaes, Eric Schliesser, Mohan Matthen, Philosophy of Science, Religion, Science | Permalink | Comments (21) | TrackBack (0)
Analytical philosophy has made great progress over the last century. But its original, necessary biases did some harm, too. In particular, detailed working knowledge of the history of philosophy and metaphysics was banished for several generations. While metaphysics is thriving again, we still lack (despite the brilliance of David Lewis' modular approach) complete systems of thought that can rival in depth and interlocking breadth the past masters (say, Suarez, Leibniz, etc.). The damage has also been more narrow. For example, one of the most obvious so-called 'Kuhn Losses' is our relative ignorance of the nature and implications of the Principle of Sufficient Reason (PSR). This is no surprise because analytical philosophy was founded in the act of rejecting PSR. Our forefathers' attempt to balance between common sense and the truths of science meant -- as science and the PSR parted ways -- the willing submission to brute, ultimate facts (recall this post).
In Mind & Cosmos, Thomas Nagel happily embraces "a form of the principle of sufficient reason" (17) in support of his "common sense" (5, 7, etc.) and against the recent "orthodox scientific consensus." (10; 5) Rather than accepting this "ideological consensus," (128) Nagel insists -- regularly using language reminiscent of the great Feyerabend -- that "almost everyone in our secular culture has been browbeaten into regarding the reductive research program as sacrosanct." (7) While Nagel insists that the champions of scientific enlightenment are bullies, he treats the "defenders of intelligent design" with "gratitude" (Plantinga returns the gratitude), even though Nagel clearly recognizes that once one embraces one's inner sensus divinitatis one is also compelled in one's judgments. (12)
A classic statement of the PSR is Spinoza's "For each thing there must be assigned a cause, or reason, both for its existence and for its nonexistence." (Ethics 1p11d2) That is to say, any PSR worth having imposes significant explanatory demands (especially of non-arbitrariness) on any philosophical system in which it is deployed. Below the fold I critically discuss Nagel's way of combining the PSR and his attempted revisionary science, but here I just register the marvelousness of Nagel's deployment of the PSR as an instrument in the service of common sense! (cf. 91-2) This is certainly an original move in the history of metaphysics--one that, in a single, magical stroke overturns Lovejoy's long narrative.
Continue reading "Thomas Nagel and the Principle of Sufficient Reason (or, on unprincipled natural teleology)" »
Posted by Eric Schliesser on 10 December 2012 at 04:44 in Analytic - Continental divide (and its overcoming), Biology and the biological, Eric Schliesser, History of philosophy, History of science, Materialism, Mohan Matthen, Philosophy of Science, Religion, Science, Spinoza | Permalink | Comments (24) | TrackBack (0)
[cross-posted from our Psychology Today blog]
When I was a child one of my favorite books was about a pair of identical twins who decided to switch clothes. They looked so much alike that their parents had had to dress one in blue and the other in green. The twin boys fooled their parents for a long long time. An obedient 3-year old, I was thrilled by their ingenuity and boldness.
Though parents can usually tell the difference between their identical twins--grandparents, teachers, neighbors and peers sometimes cannot. And for good reasons. Identical twins very often look almost exactly alike. No surprise there, if identical twin share all of their DNA.
Continue reading "Identical twins are not genetically identical: Potential consequences for the Minnesota Twin Study" »
Posted by Berit Brogaard on 29 November 2012 at 06:35 in Berit Brogaard, Philosophy of Science | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)


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veggie meal plan – march 25, 2015
Have been working from my handwritten notes for this week's meal plan. Haven't quite cleared through the rough (my turn in bed started a couple of nights ago), but we are getting there. He has been an absolute champ and is bringing the smiles full on. Love him. Digital capture of the analog meal plan below: I'll get links up to some of the recipes shortly.


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Texas on the Potomac
Texas conservatives question Obama's constitutional law knowledge
Michelle Obama wins commitment of 15,000 new jobs for veterans and military spouses
First Lady Michelle Obama announced the commitment from 11 companies to dedicate more than 15,000 jobs to veterans and military spouses.
These jobs are designed to adapt to the lives of American military spouses around the globe and to work around the career-oriented problems they often face.[Read More]
Mexican president says end of U.S. assault weapon ban contributed to drug cartel violence
Texas Democrats tweet their disdain for the House GOP budget
Hail Mary? Obama lawyer says Supreme Court should 'respect' Congress' policy choices on healthcare
Quoting the Constitution's preamble, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli said the law helps "secure the blessings of liberty'' for more than 40 million uninsured people and frees them from worries over bankruptcy if a loved one gets a cancer diagnosis. Congress "made a judgment . . . maybe they were right, maybe they weren't,'' he told the justices at the conclusion of the third and final day of arguments over the Affordable Care Act, also referred to as "Obamacare."[Read More]


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Archives for "Video"
May 24, 2011 9:15 am
Video: Looking back, Emily Cassidy '11 reflects on 'the criminology guy'
Through Commencement, we'll offer brief videos of Bates seniors reflecting on their Bates experience. Here, Emily Cassidy '11 of East…
May 23, 2011 12:39 pm
Video: Looking back, Walter Garcia '11 reflects on debating
Through Commencement, we'll offer brief videos of Bates seniors reflecting on their Bates experience. Here, Walter Garcia '11 of Deer…
May 20, 2011 11:33 am
Video: Looking back, Molly Newton '11 reflects on 'Why Bates?'
Through Commencement, we'll offer brief videos of Bates seniors reflecting on their Bates experience. Here, Molly Newton '11 of Northampton,…
May 3, 2011 10:08 am
Video: Performance of "Santo" during Modern Dance Company tribute to Leonard Plavin
The dance "Santo" was performed during the Bates Modern Dance Company reunion tribute to the late Leonard Plavin, who photographed…
May 2, 2011 2:49 pm
Video: Bodies in motion as dance alums rehearse their tributes
This short video shows offers the sights and sounds of Modern Dance Company alumni choreographing new dance pieces in Pettigrew…
May 2, 2011 2:47 pm
Sentiments sweet, feet fleet as dance alumni celebrate Plavins
The standing ovation alone would have been plenty. But, lest there be any doubt about the reason for the gathering, a few dozen Bates dancers put it into words, too: "We love you, Marcy." The shout-out to Marcy Plavin kicked off an April 30 evening of dance honoring the retired Bates dance director and her husband, the late Leonard Plavin, a photographer who compiled an invaluable visual archive depicting 40 years of dance at the college.
May 2, 2011 1:47 pm
Quips and quotes overheard during alumni dance reunion rehearsals
A visitor on the first floor of Chase Hall heard muffled footfalls coming from somewhere on the second floor. Climbing…
April 27, 2011 8:16 am
Video: coach Pat Cosquer '97 gives Bates squash a mind-and-body ethic
Head coach for the successful Bates squash program, Patrick Cosquer '97, illuminates the powerful mind-and-body ethic that makes his men's…
April 18, 2011 12:15 pm
Video: Inspired by native Zimbabwe, studio art major Clyde Bango '11 makes wire sculptures
Video storyteller Brooke Morse-Karzen '12 of Wilmette, Ill., portrays studio art major Clyde Bango '11 as he prepares his yearlong…
April 18, 2011 12:08 pm
Video: Schaeffer Theatre celebrates 50th anniversary
As Bates marks Schaeffer Theatre's 50th anniversary, Johsua Ajamu '14 of Breinigsville, Penn., explores the theater from top to bottom…


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Today is my last day of Spring Break! I have enjoyed it immensely! I managed to get in a spa treatment or two! And I got the chance to craft. All in all, it has been a wonderful break!
When I saw this new paper pack called Jack & Jill by Echo Park, I thought it might be for babies? But inside are the prettiest papers! I am a sucker for anything floral.
My washi tape is some older tape I have in my stash. I stamped a pretty Sentiment from Verve's set called Great Friend and used my Stampin' Up butterfly punches to accent the paper.
Today I was inspired to play along with the fun sketch at Verve and I am playing along with Simon Says Stamp-Anything Goes. LOVE the clean lines of the sketch and right away I knew I wanted to showcase some pretty new paper and some washi tape!


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The compact Arborist 130 is a simple-to-use and cost-effective road tow chipper designed in traditional in-line format. A member of the popular Arborist range, it has been specifically engineered for disposal of waste brash, as over the last few years an increase in the market for firewood means that useable wood is kept for log production.
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Petite black polka dot button coat
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This black coat from The Collection Petite has a white polka dot pattern with a three button front fastening and button detail cuffs. It has two lower pockets and a fold down collar.
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- 58% polyester, 24% acrylic, 7% viscose, 4% wool, 4% nylon, 3% cotton
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"Look at my Library..these books rank #1.."
I love these books.
He was great..
These books are so good....that I'm not looking forward to listening to anything on my wish list..there's no way another book could be as good. If you look at my library.. and like the types of books I've listened to.. you will love these books.
"This is a great series."
This series is in my top ten.
There are many great characters in this book. I don't have a favorite.
The only issue I have with this series is the different races. The discription and significance of the different races isn't clear until you get to the second or third book. The series gets better and better.
"I really liked this book."
I enjoyed it every bit as much as I did the following books.
14 by Peter Clines
Extinction Machine by Jonathan Maberry
A Dance with Dragons by George R.R Martin
Ghost Story: The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Daniel O'Malley's gives his characters such substance, you feel as if you really know them. Some you like...some you hate.
"The best book I've listened to all year."
Very Very Cool.
The extreme circumstances that are presented in a way that's real to life, even though it's way out there.
Ray Porter makes the characters pop.
It was all great.
"This is a Great Book."
I love everything about his book.....The book description doesn't do it justice. I purchased the book based on the great reviews...I'm glad I did. You will really like the characters. The story will blow your mind. Ray Porter is a wonderful narrator.
"This is more along the lines of Sherlock Holmes.."
I remember reading the first 3 books 20 + years ago... They didn't age well.
I will probably listen to some of the other books in this series, but not in any hurry to do so.
"You will be hooked."
Love the characters.
I'm not sure what book compares to this...
Listen to it... you'll like it.
"I like everything about this book...."
I really like the audio version... Did not read it... Who reads?
I didn't give any insight to the story.. but if you liked some of the other book's I've given high marks to... you'll like this one. I look forward to listening to the third book in this series.
"This maybe my favorite books of all time."
If you're Generation X, you will love this book.
This book was different... Great Story.
Wil was great.
If this book was food... you couldn't eat your fill..... You would never want it to stop.
"I truly hated listening to this book.."
I don't get it... why was this book considered great? I listened for about an hour and had to stop. The narration got on my nerves, and I disliked the story.
There are so many other great books to listen to... don't waste your time with this one.
Report Inappropriate Content
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Upon first visiting Sissy Panty Buns, you'll encounter a lengthy discussion of censorship that's all "feigned rubric" this and "furtherance of the anti-sexuality, pro-corporate interest policies of that administration" that. In fact, you could spin the scroll wheel for quite a while before discovering anything on this site that would repel average Internet users, except the serious discussion and big-word text walls, two factors that, when combined, eliminate almost all of them. Anyway, this link will allow you to skip directly to a gallery filled with photos of an old dude wearing assorted sheer panties and flashing coy over-the-shoulder glances at the camera. This makes a bold statement about something.
These images are intended for ADULT WOMEN ONLY, so it's a good thing Sissy Panty Buns was submitted by "Sarah," an ADULT WOMAN. Despite being part of the site's intended demographic, Sarah finds it "totally creepy," but that works, because Panty Buns invites women to insult him! This leaves him vulnerable to the possibility of being tricked by men pretending to be women, but everyone knows that has never happened in the history of the Internet.
Rock legend David Bowie has changed his identity with almost every album. Can you remember all these classic Bowie characters?
Tucker Carlson's idiot brother just called New York mayor Bill de Blasio's spokeswoman a "LabiaFace."
A psychic terrorist travels to the 1990s to win his true love by murdering her entire wedding party!
The SA Goons deliver another knockout round of soccer GIFs!
Get caught up on these last-minute Bloodborne changes and read our review!
Awful Links of the Day spotlights the worst and weirdest websites on the internet. And we're not talking "weird" in a good way either.
Copyright ©2015 Rich "Lowtax" Kyanka & Something Awful LLC.


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Is it only me????
I am 4 weeks 3 days pregnant I am bloated all the time and extremely tired and nauseated but I am still extremely happy I am embracing all the symptoms they don't either bother me (yet lol) just happy to be pregnant!!!!!! Am I the only one???
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Of course you're not the only one :) I'm almost 11 weeks and I'm just starting to feel better. I'm still extremely tired and now I have lower back pain and ligament pains.......the joys of pregnancy! I love being pregnant :)
by Member on May. 6, 2012 at 8:42 PM
I'm right there with you
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Recipe of the Day
BBQ Potatoes with Green Onions
There's nothing fancy about these grilled potatoes, but you'll be surprised at how much flavor they get from just a few green onions!
Mylene Bernicky
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Microwave Recipes
Jalapeno Popper Spread
Marshmallow Fondant
Grilled Asian Chicken
Microwave Lemon Curd
Microwave Peanut Brittle
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Microwave Popcorn
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Microwave Bread and Butter Pickles
Basic Microwave Risotto
Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole
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Mom's Warm Milk
Loaded Potato Soup I
Creamy Hot Chocolate
Bunny cakes, lamb cakes, chocolate eggs, and carrot cakes to nibble on.
Breakfast casseroles, drinks, fancy eggs, and brunch ideas for a sweet Easter event.
Delicious recipes, party ideas, and cooking tips! Get a year of Allrecipes magazine for $7.99!
See how to make fresh jams and jellies from scratch—in just 30 minutes!
See how to nuke a potato so it tastes just like a slow, oven-baked potato.
The no-nonsense way to make quick, perfect corn on the cob.


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The third of six webisodes documenting the making of former MEGADETH drummer Nick Menza's first ever instructional DVD, "Intense Mega Drumming", an exclusive sneak preview of rare and never before seen video footage from the "Menza Mega Vault", "A Decade Of Deth" with clips featuring Dime Bag Darrell, Phil Anselmo Pantera, Scott Weiland and Eric Kretz, Stone Temple Pilots, can be viewed below.According to a press release, the "Intense Mega Drumming" DVD will be "educational, entertaining and will feature Menza's years of playing drums in MEGADETH with tons of tips and tricks from his arsenal to help teach anybody out there become a better player. In addition to the DVD will include a bonus disc of exclusive out of control backstage footage, plus rare live concert footage of Pantera, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice In Chains, just to name a few.
Posts Tagged 'Nick Menza'
Former MEGADETH Drummer Nick Menza: Menza Mega Video Vault Never Before Seen Video Footage Posted Online
Tags: MEGADETH, Nick Menza
Posted in Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal | Comments (0)
Former MEGADETH Members NICK MENZA, JAMES LOMENZO METALLICA Motorbreath Free MP3 Download
Famed MEGADETH alumni drummer Nick Menza and bassist James LoMenzo former MEGADETH, WHITE LION, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY is offering a free MP3 download of their version of the METALLICA classic Motorbreath with guitarist / vocalist Davor Garasic from Croatian thrash metal band Sufosia.
(the download is available at link location below)
According to a press release, Menza and LoMenzo recnetley announced a working musical relationship that will lead into a full working, writing, recording and touring band at some point.
Their first encounter / jam session took place on June 25th at Menza's Disintegrator Studios in Studio City, CA where they cracked through some of the old Megadeth catalog along with some of their favorite Metallica and Zeppelin songs.
Nick Menza exclusively told BWBK: James is a top-notch player with a killer sound and I'm totally pumped and looking forward to creating some heavy original material with him once we officially solidified the rest of the line up. he ads, things are still in the developing stages soon as James fulfills his touring obligations with John Fogerty we will sink our teeth into this project. right now we are having some fun and collaborating with other players from around the world via the internet to see what's out there, nothing is set in stone…
James LoMenzo: I've been a fan of Nick's drumming for a long time. Nick is a great guy and he's one of Metal's stand out drummers. It's an honor and a privilege to be making music with him and I look forward to what we'll create.
Menza joined MEGADETH for the 1990 recording "Rust In Peace" and for the next ten years became associated with the band's "classic" and most profitable era. Following the reissue of the entire MEGADETH catalog, Menza was invited to reunite with the band in 2004. Days after a reunion was announced, Menza was fired after rehearsals and replaced with Shawn Drover. Mustaine said that this was because Nick "just wasn't prepared.
LoMenzo joined MEGADETH in 2006, toured and performed on two of the groups studio albums, 2007 "United Abominations", 2009 "Endgame" it was then announced in 2010 that original MEGADETH bassist Dave Ellefson would replace LoMenzo.
Tags: james lomenzo, MEGADETH, Nick Menza
Posted in Heavy Metal | Comments (0)
MARTY FRIEDMAN – solo artist, ex- Megadeth
Marty Friedman is an American guitarist, best known for his career as the lead/rhythm guitarist for Megadeth which spanned nearly the full decade of the 1990s. During that period, the band reached its commercial peak and released several classic albums including RUST IN PEACE, COUNTDOWN TO EXTINCTION and YOUTHANASIA. Marty's last album with the band was RISK (1999) and after the following tour he quit the band. Later on, Friedman relocated in Tokyo where he's been living since 2003. Friedman has been visibly active in Japan. He's hosted several TV and radio shows and works with various Japanese musicians. Friedman has released several solo albums, first of those were released prior his Megadeth tenure, and he just put out INFERNO which is his 12th solo release to date. This spring, Friedman finally returned to Finland, for the first time since the Risk tour. The current tour, titled GUITAR UNIVERSE 2, also features Friedman's long-time friend Gus G. and it started in Helsinki on May 2nd. Before the show we had the pleasure to sit down with Marty and discuss about his current tour, INFERNO, living in Japan, the Metal All Stars tour, KISS, and various other topics.
Tags: Firewind, Gus G., Inferno, Marty Friedman, MEGADETH, Nick Menza
Posted in 2014, Interviews | Comments (0)
Former MEGADETH Drummer NICK MENZA Collaborates With Polish Guitarist WIDEK
Drum-cam footage of former MEGADETH drummer Nick Menza laying down the drums to the song "Enter Through The Sun" can be seen below.
"Enter Through The Sun" marks the second collaboration to a previous "Ghost Resurrection" between Menza and Widek (Maciej Dawidek) can also be seen below.The footage was shot this past Monday, Febuary 3 at the Soultone Cymbals Studios in Los Angeles, California.
"Enter Through The Sun" will feature SYMPHONY X bassist Mike LePond and THREAT SIGNAL frontman Jon Howard.
Menza: "It feels good be jamming across the internet with such talented and rad players, Mike LePond is first rate I'm huge fan of SYMPHONY X and THREAT SIGNAL, Jon Howard has an amazing voice and vocal range. it's to bad that Widek (Maciej Dawidek) don't live here in the sates as he would be my first choice as the guitarist."
"Enter Through The Sun" is expected to be released and available free in the weeks to come.
For more information visit: www.facebook.com/
Tags: MEGADETH, Nick Menza, Widek
Posted in Heavy Metal | Comments (0)
Ex-MEGADETH Drummer Nick Menza Metal All-Stars Tour Promotional Video Released
Two promotional videos for the 2014 Metal All-Stars tour featuring former MEGADETH drummer Nick Menza can be viewed below.
Menza: I'm totally pumped and honored to get the opportunity of sharing the stage with some of the largest and legendary voices in heavy metal. It's definitely going to be a interesting and unique tour, something European and South American fans don't want to miss and I'm hoping it hits the states.
The Metal All-stars tour will feature "some of the biggest contributors to the heavy metal genre along with some of the most technical musicians in the industry," according to a press release.
Tags: Nick Menza
Posted in Heavy Metal | Comments (0)


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What does free speech mean to you?
An Echo Press editorial
Imagine if this entire page was blank.
Imagine if every letter, every column, every editorial, was first read by government officials who could ruthlessly edit out anything that they thought would cast the government in a bad light.
Are you a newspaper subscriber but you don't have a Digital Access account yet? https://secure.forumcomm.com/?publisher_ID=40&event=subscriber/lookup.
You will need your subscription account number and phone number. Not sure if you have an account? Email us at email@example.com and we can help you.


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"Our goal is to become a transit country for transport, power transmissions, gas pipelines and fiber optics," said Ashraf Ghani, the president of Afghanistan.
The following passages are excerpted from Eduardo Galeano's book "Children of the Days: A Calendar of Human History."
Steve Horn is a freelance investigative journalist, and a researcher and writer at DeSmogBlog.


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Senator John. McCain faced angry residents while defending his immigration plan during a town hall in his home border State of Arizona.
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Excerpted from post Empaths: Hypersensitivity, Anxiety, & Coping.
From the blog Empathic Perspectives: Where the Empathic Mind Expands.
Have you ever walked into a room full of people, and found yourself feeling as though you are suffocating?
How about feeling overwhelmed when there is an emotional current running through a crowd you are among, like intense anger, immense sadness, or even joyous elation?
HSPs and crowds
As Empaths and Highly Sensitive People (HSP), we tend to be hypersensitive to the emotions and emotional states of others. And when you compound this with a crowd of people, the feelings can become so intense that they can induce moments of high stress and anxiety within an Empath and/or HSP.
Comparing sensitivity and empathy
When viewing these two lists of traits [16 Common Empath Traits, and Traits Of A Highly Sensitive Person], there are some very obvious commonalities associated with high sensitivity and anxiety.
Blocking emotions, avoidance of disharmony caused by emotionally turbulent situations, can be moody or have large mood swings due to overwhelming thoughts, feelings and emotion, tend to be slower at recovering from intense stimuli…..and so on. The list is filled with traits that are anxiety related due to the overwhelming nature of hypersensitive people (Empaths, HSPs).
Social Anxiety Disorder
Social Anxiety Disorder, or SAD [see list: Symptoms Of Social Anxiety Disorder] …is an anxiety disorder that can occur, even within an Empath, when they begin to feel the weight of the world closing in on them, particularly during social functions. Because, you see, being an Empath/HSP does not mean you are above or beyond such things. And because of the hypersensitivity, it can be hard to recognize in yourself.
But beyond that, anyone with a hypersensitive personality is prone to anxiety, whether they have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder (defined as: a blanket term covering several different forms of abnormal and pathological fear and anxiety) or not.
7 coping strategies
1. Recognize your emotional limits.
2. Learn relaxation methods
3. Never feel ashamed to spend time alone
4. Spending time with animals or a walk in nature
5. If there are certain personality types that overwhelm you…try to spend as little time with this person as you can.
6. Don't be afraid to consult a therapist,
7. If you feel yourself completely pulling away from others…take small steps to reintegrate yourself. Online resources are available to help support you and help you begin to cope with what is happening
Highly Sensitive
Anxiety Relief Solutions
Article: Highly Sensitive People – Traits and Characteristics
Podcast transcript: Transforming Strong Negative Emotions with Judith Orloff


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VERAMEAT's meticulously handcrafted jewelry is an epic mélange of artful anatomy, cunning weaponry, and wild animals aplenty. Constructed from gold-plated brass, this adorable Swan Love Ring will become a beloved companion—whether you're feeling like a warrior princess, caveperson, or Lower East Side enchantress.
1cm high. Designer Vera Balyura crafts each piece by hand, imbuing playful features and artful details that have made her collection a favorite among style savvy celebs like Amy Sedaris, Miranda July, Michel Gondry and Tilda Swinton.
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Town Square
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MENLO PARKDefamation lawsuit against a MP FProtection District Board member Virgina Chang Kirlay won't be dismissed.
http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_22429443/judge-indicates-he-wont-toss-defamation-suit-against?source=autofeed# "...Original post made by Susan Smith on Jan. 23, 2013
Last comment by Connecting the dots, on Jan 29, 2013 at 9:38 am | 21 comments | 2230 Views
SCHOOLS & KIDSVoters to decide whether to adopt $23 million bond measure for new school in Menlo Park
School board members last night (June 11) agreed with Menlo Park City School District staff that district voters should be...Original post made on Jun. 12, 2013
Last comment by Grateful, on Jun 15, 2013 at 2:53 pm | 21 comments | 2936 Views
AROUND TOWNCoroner confirms girl was killed by truck
The San Mateo County coroner Friday confirmed that a 16-year-old girl was fatally struck by a fire truck at the San Francisco...Original post made on Jul. 19, 2013
Last comment by ndnorth, on Jul 23, 2013 at 9:38 am | 21 comments | 1492 Views
MENLO PARKMenlo Park to buy surveillance equipment, but delay use until crafting privacy policy
After several hours of sometimes spirited discussion on Tuesday night, the Menlo Park City Council voted to approve the purchase...Original post made on Sep. 25, 2013
Last comment by Peter Carpenter, on Sep 27, 2013 at 1:07 pm | 21 comments | 8358 Views
AROUND TOWNSan Mateo County sheriff's deputy arrested for alleged molestation
San Mateo County sheriff's deputy arrested for alleged molestation http://www.smdailyjournal.com/articles/lnews/2013-10-01/san-mateo-county-sheriffs-deputy-arrested-for-alleged-m...Original post made by Lurker on Oct. 1, 2013
Last comment by another, on Oct 3, 2013 at 1:21 pm | 21 comments | 10999 Views
AROUND TOWNThe other big project in downtown Menlo Park
While attention has been focused on what Stanford University plans to build in Menlo Park, another developer has quietly...Original post made on Nov. 5, 2013
Last comment by cassandra, on Nov 7, 2013 at 11:09 pm | 21 comments | 18327 Views
SPORTSGuest opinion: Bleachers wrong for Atherton park
In the fall of 2012, Atherton voted to "Save Our Park" by aborting well-thought-out plans for a library, which might have...Original post made on Jan. 30, 2014
Last comment by Now what?, on Feb 5, 2014 at 7:09 pm | 21 comments | 10747 Views
MENLO PARKMenlo Park: Granny unit discussion continues
The Planning Commission is in the throes of figuring out how to incorporate secondary units, also known as "granny units,"...Original post made on Feb. 5, 2014
Last comment by Homeless Person, on May 9, 2014 at 3:21 pm | 21 comments | 10691 Views
ATHERTONAtherton police consult FBI on vandalism targeting wealthy
The Atherton Police Department is reviewing material on security cameras made available by residents and consulting with...Original post made on Feb. 21, 2014
Last comment by Whats_U_Gonna_Do?, on Feb 26, 2014 at 12:20 pm | 21 comments | 6264 Views
AROUND TOWNIncumbent faces watchdog in District 3 supervisorial race
Big differences in beliefs on government's proper role in our lives, and on local government's effectiveness in fulfilling...Original post made on May. 23, 2014
Last comment by Michael G. Stogner, on May 26, 2014 at 5:36 pm | 21 comments | 3216 Views
THE LOCAL DISHMenlo Park: Crepes Cafe closing on July 28
Crepes Cafe in Menlo Park will be closing on July 28, according to a message posted on its doors from owner Janet Scopazzi....Original post made on Jul. 17, 2014
Last comment by Rick Moen, on Aug 23, 2014 at 2:45 am | 21 comments | 6452 Views
AROUND TOWNWe are all Ferguson Stop Military Creep
We must stop Military Creep to all of our Police Departments and Sheriff Office. Law Enforcement by Peace Officers is extremely...Original post made by Michael G. Stogner on Aug. 14, 2014
Last comment by JulieToo, on Aug 20, 2014 at 11:30 pm | 21 comments | 626 Views
MENLO PARKMan killed in Menlo Park police shooting
A man is dead this afternoon after reportedly being shot by a Menlo Park police officer. The shooting happened on Willow...Original post made on Nov. 11, 2014
Last comment by Michael G. Stogner, on Nov 18, 2014 at 8:36 am | 21 comments | 10510 Views
AROUND TOWNSan Mateo County Sheriff Deputy Juan Lopez was arrested
San Mateo County Sheriff Deputy Juan Lopez was arrested this afternoon. You will recall this brave sole ran against his boss...Original post made by Michael G. Stogner on Nov. 13, 2014
Last comment by Michael G. Stogner, on Nov 20, 2014 at 12:20 pm | 21 comments | 2134 Views
ATHERTONAtherton unhappy about Caltrain electrification project
Caltrain's governing board has approved the environmental report needed to go ahead with electrification of the rail service...Original post made on Jan. 20, 2015
Last comment by Peter Carpenter, on Jan 24, 2015 at 2:34 pm | 21 comments | 3591 Views
MENLO PARKDA clears Menlo Park officers in fatal shooting
The three Menlo Park police officers who shot and killed a fleeing burglary suspect on Nov. 11 used justifiable force, according...Original post made on Feb. 6, 2015
Last comment by dm, on Feb 8, 2015 at 8:55 pm | 21 comments | 3797 Views
MENLO PARKMenlo Park to look at extending parking time limits downtown
Menlo Park will be looking at four changes to downtown parking, including letting people park in the downtown plazas for...Original post made on Mar. 25, 2015
Last comment by oldtimer, 15 hours ago | 21 comments | 1831 Views
ATHERTONAtherton: Fired finance director seeks to block investigation report
The murky details surrounding the unceremonious firing of Atherton Finance Director John Johns on Oct. 29 might be revealed...Original post made on Nov. 7, 2007
Last comment by OutsideObserverLOL, on Dec 12, 2007 at 4:02 pm | 20 comments | 3557 Views
ATHERTONAtherton report cites porn, expenses and 'bullying' in firing of finance director
It wasn't the hostile workplace charge that got the former Atherton finance director John Johns fired. According to an investigator's...Original post made on Dec. 12, 2007
Last comment by counselor, on Apr 9, 2009 at 1:04 pm | 20 comments | 8097 Views
MENLO PARKHave you had your say on the new gym?
Efforts to build a new Burgess Gym with Menlo Park taxpayers' dollars got off to a confusing start last week, as gym user...Original post made on Feb. 7, 2008
Last comment by Rory Brown, on Feb 14, 2008 at 2:25 pm | 20 comments | 2688 Views
Page 49.75 of 505
Continuation of Office Cap Discussion
By Steve Levy | 19 comments | 3,650 views
By John Raftrey and Lori McCormick | 2 comments | 2,527 views
Ramen shop replaces Muraccis in Los Altos
By Elena Kadvany | 11 comments | 2,397 views
"Its Not About the Nail"
By Chandrama Anderson | 5 comments | 1,811 views
Now Playing - Your Dinner!
By Laura Stec | 0 comments | 687 views