Author: Huenemann

Unifying knowledge?

Here is an interesting article by Massimo Pigliucci on several questions relating to the unification of knowledge. I find it sensible, though it’s written from a naturalistic perspective, so of course I would. The conclusion:

This isn’t a suggestion to give up, much less a mystical injunction to go ‘beyond science’. There is nothing beyond science. But there is important stuff before it: there are human emotions, expressed by literature, music and the visual arts; there is culture; there is history. The best understanding of the whole shebang that humanity can hope for will involve a continuous dialogue between all our various disciplines. This is a more humble take on human knowledge than the quest for consilience, but it is one that, ironically, is more in synch with what the natural sciences tell us about being human.

Nagel, Mind & Cosmos

Thomas Nagel’s latest book, Mind & Cosmos, is getting a fair bit of attention, probably because Nagel is “out of step” with the dominant trend in Anglo-American philosophy toward naturalism. Many of our readers may know Nagel as the “bat guy”, or the guy who argued that even if you could know all of the neurological facts about a bat, you still would be no closer to know what it is like to be a bat (hence, physicalism is false). In this book, he’s arguing that materialism and Darwinism just cannot answer all of the questions we find interesting. Brian Leiter and Michael Weisberg criticize Nagel’s book here.

Time for a poll. What do you believe? Or: what options am I missing?

Bowling results

It turns out numbers are not real (I find this incredible!) and it is always better to know the truth, despite some very compelling arguments given for the contrary. The oracle is inscrutable.

In other news, I will now ask bowlers to chip in $5 to offset the cost of games and shoes. It’s still a terrific deal for philosophical enlightenment!