Category Archives: Philosophy & Politics

What Dancy’s Late Late Show appearance has to say about the philosopher’s disappearance | Andrew Taggart

Dr. Andrew J. Taggart, Philosophical Counselor, considers the role of the public philosopher and gives a shout out to our efforts here at CSID. On April 1, 2010, the professional philosopher Jonathan Dancy, who happens to be the father-in-law of … Continue reading

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Exchange on Holbrook and Briggle’s “Knowing and Acting”, Briggle, Fuller, Holbrook and Lipinska « Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective

Exchange on Holbrook and Briggle’s “Knowing and Acting”, Briggle, Fuller, Holbrook and Lipinska « Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective.

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Mothers of Jews who like bacon: Where Facebook meets identity politics

Tom Scott did something extraordinary last week: he typed in searches on Facebook’s new Graph Search feature and posted images of the results on his tumblr, called ActualFacebookGraphSearches. … which sounds quite un-extraordinary. Except that Scott – something of an … Continue reading

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Bieberians at the Gate? | Inside Higher Ed

Essay on the idea that non-philosophers should judge philosophers | Inside Higher Ed. Comments on this piece are most welcome!

Posted in Accountability, CSID Publications, Future of the University, Peer Review, Philosophy & Politics, Public Philosophizing | Leave a comment

Science Progress publicizes study of beliefs about hydraulic fracturing for natural gas

http://scienceprogress.org/2012/12/technology-and-society-fracking-ideology/ As a follow up to the Science Progress article I co-authored with Dr. Adam Briggle earlier this July, we have written another short piece that again explains the subject of our study, Technology and Society: Fracking Ideology, and requests reader participation. … Continue reading

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After Kyoto: Special Issue of NATURE

On 1 January 2013, the world can go back to emitting greenhouse gases with abandon. The pollution-reduction commitments that nations made as part of the Kyoto Protocol will expire, leaving the planet without any international climate regulation and uncertain prospects … Continue reading

Posted in Climate Change, Degrowth Economics, Environmental policy, Globalization, Philosophy & Politics, Public Philosophizing, Science and technology ramifications, Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security, TechnoScience & Technoscientism | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The looming spectre of differential tuition

Someone can do the relatively simple accounting and see that the humanities–”majors without an immediate job payoff”–are already subsidizing those which have a “job payoff.” In fact, this was already done at few institutions, including UCLA. But this is a … Continue reading

Posted in Basic News, Economics & STEM Research, Future of the University, Graduate Studies, Philosophy & Politics, Public Pedagogy, Public Philosophizing, Science and technology ramifications, STEM Policy | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

More Scientists-Statesmen?

Only a handful of physicists have reached the halls of Congress. Bill Foster, a particle physicist and businessman just elected as a Democrat to the House of Representatives from Illinois’s newly drawn 11th district, wants this situation to change. The … Continue reading

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*Fracking survey* — Make sure your beliefs about hydraulic fracturing for natural gas are counted!

Technology and Society: Fracking Ideology A survey of beliefs about hydraulic fracturing for natural gas Dear energy consumers, Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” for natural gas plays an important role in the debate about our energy future. As an energy consumer, … Continue reading

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Denton Drilling: Draft ordinance needs overhaul

Last night, about forty dedicated citizens gathered to review the draft gas drilling ordinance and generate ideas for how to improve it. There was one clear take home message: The draft ordinance is inadequate. It gets an F. We need … Continue reading

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Study shows gender bias in science is real… Scientific American Blog Network

Whenever the subject of women in science comes up, there are people fiercely committed to the idea that sexism does not exist. They will point to everything and anything else to explain differences while becoming angry and condescending if you … Continue reading

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Want to Change Academic Publishing? Just Say No – Commentary – The Chronicle of Higher Education

When I became a professor, 20 years ago, I received a request from a woman who lived close to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where I taught: Could she come and talk to me about a set of interests she … Continue reading

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On the benefits of a philosophy major « Pleas and Excuses

The blog post below has a very nice graphic which details the proven skills that one obtains with a degree in philosophy. While I am tired of having to justify this over and over, I think it is important to … Continue reading

Posted in Basic News, Future of the University, Interdisciplinarity, Philosophy & Politics, Public Pedagogy, Public Philosophizing, Transdisciplinarity | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Can E-Tutoring Bridge Economic Divides?

In a 1984 paper that is regarded as a classic of educational psychology, Benjamin Bloom, a professor at the University of Chicago, showed that being tutored is the most effective way to learn, vastly superior to being taught in a classroom. … Continue reading

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The Religiosity of the Fracking Debate

CSID Faculty Fellow Adam Briggle publishes at Science Progress: The debate over hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and the shale gas revolution it has spawned has a religious aura to it. Both sides have an unshakeable conviction that fracking is either … Continue reading

Posted in Environmental policy, Gas Fracking, Globalization, Philosophy & Politics, Public Philosophizing, Science and technology ramifications, Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security, TechnoScience & Technoscientism | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How generous is the UK science budget, really? guardian.co.uk

Whatever you think about spending on sport, in times of austerity or otherwise, there is no denying that the strategy paid off – at least, if your yardstick for success is Olympic medals. The message couldn’t be more clear: if … Continue reading

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The Veil of Ignorance: How Americans view wealth & inequality – BBC News

When you taste wine and you know the label and you know the price, you are going to be influenced by that. And when you are tasting wine in a blind way, now you don’t have anything to base it … Continue reading

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Bernanke to Economists: More Philosophy, Please – Businessweek

Less economics and more philosophy… On Monday, Ben Bernanke wasn’t talking like a scientist. He was talking like a philosopher. “The ultimate purpose of economics, of course, is to understand and promote the enhancement of well-being,” he said. To a … Continue reading

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“Fracked Ideologies” published at Science Progress

The use of high-volume hydraulic fracturing for natural gas drilling has ignited a fiery political debate. Advocates tout natural gas as a clean-burning, cheap, and abundant fuel that can boost economic growth and energy security. Detractors question these benefits and … Continue reading

Posted in Accountability, Basic News, Broader Impacts, Degrowth Economics, Economics & STEM Research, Environmental policy, Gas Fracking, Philosophy & Politics, Public Philosophizing, Science and technology ramifications, Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security, TechnoScience & Technoscientism | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

We need a knowledgeable nudge

Here Michael Levi of the Council on Foreign Relations argues that the SCOTUS ruling on the Affordable Care Act bodes well for the constitutionality of environmental policies that use taxes to influence our behavior. Of particular interest to me here … Continue reading

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Here’s the map… what’s the territory?

Maps of science have been proliferating for a number of years now, and interest has been heavily correlated to the advancement of mapping technologies. Philosophy has finally produced a blip on the mapping radar, and the results are pretty interesting. … Continue reading

Posted in Future of the University, Metrics, Philosophy & Politics | Leave a comment

The Case for Breaking Up With Your Parents

While Lambert, author of “Nonstop,” admires the multitasking undergraduates Harvard attracts, he also worries about the intellectual and emotional costs of such all-consuming busyness. In a turn toward gravitas, he quotes the French film director Jean Renoir’s observation that “the … Continue reading

Posted in Basic News, Degrowth Economics, Economics & STEM Research, Future of the University, Globalization, Occupy Wall Street, Philosophy & Politics, Public Pedagogy, Public Philosophizing, Science and technology ramifications, TechnoScience & Technoscientism | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Happiness: No longer the dismal science? | The Economist

They argue that happiness can be measured objectively; that it differs systematically across societies and over time; that happiness has predictable causes and is correlated to specific things (such as wealth, income distribution, health and political institutions); and that therefore it should be possible for … Continue reading

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Amazon vs. Apple: Competing Ecosystem Strategies

This shift from products to solutions matters to everyone. In industries ranging from consumer electronics to construction and from media to mining, the firms seizing the lead are those that can best align ecosystems of offers and partners. An interesting … Continue reading

Posted in Basic News, Economics & STEM Research, Future of the University, Globalization, Philosophy & Politics, Science and technology ramifications, Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security, TechnoScience & Technoscientism | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Existential Logic of Scapegoating

My longtime companion & I are reading David Hume together right now. I have so enjoyed dipping back into his viewpoint and seeing how much his work influenced my entire professional vocation as a philosopher. I think the influence has … Continue reading

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