Six new members were inducted into the Utah Gamma chapter of Phi Sigma Tau, the national honor society of undergraduate philosophy. Congratulations and welcome to Emily Cannon, Evan Cummings, Ben Harman, Cameron Hunter, Erika Lamborn, and Jess Van Natter.
(H/T Rob Sica.) The organizers of Philpapers conducted a fairly extensive survey to determine what most professional philosophers believe about a range of issues. See their results and methods here. Some interesting results:
1. A priori knowledge: yes 71.1%; no 18.4%; other 10.5%.
2. Abstract objects: Platonism 39.3%; nominalism 37.7%; other 23.0%.
3. Aesthetic value: objective 41.0%; subjective 34.5%; other 24.5%.
4. Analytic-synthetic distinction: yes 64.9%; no 27.1%; other 8.1%.
5. Epistemic justification: externalism 42.7%; internalism 26.4%; other 30.8%.
6. External world: non-skeptical realism 81.6%; skepticism 4.8%; idealism 4.3%; other 9.2%.
7. Free will: compatibilism 59.1%; libertarianism 13.7%; no free will 12.2%; other 14.9%.
8. God: atheism 72.8%; theism 14.6%; other 12.6%.
[…]
28. Trolley problem: switch 68.2%; don’t switch 7.6%; other 24.2%.
29. Truth: correspondence 50.8%; deflationary 24.8%; epistemic 6.9%; other 17.5%.
30. Zombies: conceivable but not metaphysically possible 35.6%; metaphysically possible 23.3%; inconceivable 16.0%; other 25.1%
Congratulations and thanks to all the philosophers who presented at the LPCS Symposium: Tate, Solum, Hunter, Hobbs, Tarbet, Harvey, and Harman. I was at first chagrined to discover each presenter would have only 10 minutes, but as we got underway, I found that “lightning philosophy” is fun. And congratulations to Tate on winning the overall “Best Paper” award for the symposium!
Congratulations to Mike Otteson! He has been accepted with funding to the doctoral program in philosophy at the University of Kansas. If you see Mike in the halls, give him a well-deserved back slap!
The Philosophy session runs from 5:15 to 6:30, in Main 117. Given the number of papers and the time constraints, it looks like we’ll have to limit each speaker to a total of 10 minutes for presentation and questions. This is speed philosophy!
USUPhilosophy 