2016 Summer Program for Women in Philosophy

From UC – San Diego:

“We are excited to announce that we are now accepting applications for our 2016 Summer Program for Women in Philosophy. We would appreciate your distributing the attached flyer and encouraging any undergraduate women you know who may be interested to apply.

“Two seminars serve as the core of SPWP. Our faculty this summer will be Dr. Connie Rosati (University of Arizona) and an American Society of Aesthetics sponsored faculty member to be announced soon. We also offer workshops aimed at preparing students for graduate school. Students who are accepted to the program will be reimbursed for travel (up to $500) and room and board will be provided.”

On philosophy, physics, and pangolins

Here is a very interesting and insightful article about the efforts of physicists to see math in nature, and how that sometimes might result in paradoxes and dead ends. An excerpt:

That said, we should be wary of claims about ultimate truth. While quantification, as a project, is far from complete, it is an open question as to what it might ultimately embrace. Let us look again at the colour red. Red is not just an electromagnetic phenomenon, it is also a perceptual and contextual phenomenon. Stare for a minute at a green square then look away: you will see an afterimage of a red square. No red light has been presented to your eyes, yet your brain will perceive a vivid red shape. As Goethe argued in the late-18th century, and Edwin Land (who invented Polaroid film in 1932) echoed, colour cannot be reduced to purely prismatic effects. It exists as much in our minds as in the external world. To put this into a personal context, no understanding of the electromagnetic spectrum will help me to understand why certain shades of yellow make me nauseous, while electric orange fills me with joy.

Rest of the article here.

Causation lecture

The USU Philosophy Club is pleased to welcome back USU alum Mike Otteson.  Mr Otteson graduated from USU 4 years ago and is now pursuing his PhD in philosophy at the University of Kansas.

Mr Otteson will be presenting a lecture titled “The End of Humean Supremacy and the Return of Aristotle: The Rebirth of Causal Powers.”  I take it the paper will consider neo-aristotelian responses to Humean skepticism about causation.  Should be very interesting!

Thursday, January 14, 4:00-5:00 in Main 201.  All are welcome!