As explained in the previous post, one very rich area of inquiry concerns the extent to which normative theories of causal reasoning, from both philosophy and elsewhere, successfully characterize how, as an empirical matter, ...Read More ›
Featured Article · Hastings Bioethics
A remarkable experiment was reported last week in which a kidney from a genetically modified pig was attached to blood vessels in a brain-dead individual, with the family’s consent. In the study, hailed as “a huge breakthrough,” the pig’s kidney functioned normally, suggesting the future feasibility of successfully transplanting organs from pigs into human beings. This research raises a host of ethical issues, including the ethics of xenotransplantation. Here I focus on the implications for the status of individuals declared brain-dead, or dead by neurological criteria, who are unable to breathe spontaneously and are being maintained in hospitals with the aid of mechanical ventilation. ¶ It is interesting that an article in The New York Times initially described the subject in the experiment as being “kept alive on a ventilator” –a common description of a person declared brain-dead. In a version published two days later, “kept alive” was changed to “sustained.” Presumably, this wording change was meant to be consistent with the...
Recent Media · Podcasts & Lectures
Individuals Declared Brain-Dead Remain Biologically Alive: A remarkable experiment was reported last week in which a kidney from a genetically modified pig was attached to blood vessels in a brain-dead individual, with the family’s consent. I ...
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Hastings Bioethics -
Which Came First, Creative Practices or Imagination?
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The Junkyard -
Woodward on Invariance across Background Conditions
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Brains Blog -
Invariance and Causation by Absence: I am very pleased to contribute to this symposium on Causation with a Human Face (CHF). My commentary concerns chapter 6 of CHF, which uses the notion of invariance to shed light on various puzzle cases ab ...
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Brains Blog -
Do Delusions Have and Give Meaning?: Today’s post is by Rosa Ritunnano (University of Birmingham and Melbourne), consultant psychiatrist and PhD candidate at the Institute for Mental Health, Birmingham, UK. Here she talks about a recent ...
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Imperfect Cognitions -
A previous post mentioned the notion of distinctions within causation (or among causal claims). The general idea is that a relationship can satisfy a minimal “interventionist” condition for causation (in the sense that X can be related to Y in such a way that some interventions on X are associated with a change in Y) but nonetheless differ along a number of other dimensions– these are what give us distinctions within causation. One such dimension has to do with invariance (aka robustness, stability, insensitivity etc ). Suppose that X causes Y in the minimal interventionist sense just described. Invariance comes in many different varieties but the common element is that the invariance of such an X–>Y causal relationship has to do with the extent to which that relationship would continue to hold as various other things change. Different sorts of such “other things&#... Read More ›
Brains Blog · Featured Blog
Remote-Working Positions in Academic Philosophy
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Daily Nous -
Risability: Aristotle says that a necessary accident of the human being is risability—the capability for laughter. As far as I can tell, necessary accidents are supposed to derive from the essence of a thing. So, how do we derive risability f...
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Alexander Pruss -
Anarchism: [Revised entry by Andrew Fiala on October 26, 2021. Changes to: Main text, Bibliography] Anarchism is a political theory that is skeptical of the justification of authority and power. Anarchism is usually grounded in moral claims...
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Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy -
THINGS TO COME: I have now reread about 1/3 of The Racial Contract by Charles Mills, the last major work to be assigned in my course next semester, and my long standing impression is confirmed that it is the most important work of political t...
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The Philosopher’s Stone -
Philosophy of Well-Being: A “Dysfunctional” Situation?
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Daily Nous -
Can one lie without asserting a proposition?: I am starting to think that one can lie without asserting a proposition. Let’s say that a counterintelligence agent tells an enemy spy that a new weapons technology has just been deployed, in orde...
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Alexander Pruss -
Invariance and Distinctions Within Causation: A previous post mentioned the notion of distinctions within causation (or among causal claims). The general idea is that a relationship can satisfy a minimal “interventionist” condi ...
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Brains Blog -
Empirical Results concerning Causal Reasoning and Their Philosophical Significance: As explained in the previous post, one very rich area of inquiry concerns the extent to which normative theories of causal reasoning, from both philosophy and ...
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Brains Blog -
New Book in Draft: The Weirdness of the World
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Splintered Mind -
Summary of “Longtermism” and “Existential Risk”: Phil Torres recently published “The Dangerous Ideas of “Longtermism” and “Existential Risk” in Current Affairs. The essay’s thesis is that so-called rationalists have created a dist ...
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Reason and Meaning -
What’s Wrong with Rights?
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The Forum -
Five Choices (5): The Experts vs the People: Part five of Five Choices, a Philosophical Reflection on Scientific Knowledge Who can we trust to make the important decisions? We have a choice. One approach is to stand by the ideals of democrac ...
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Only a Game -
New Article: James McCune Smith and Glasgow: A Scholar’s Transatlantic Journey, 1821-1837
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Ordinary Philosophy -
