Philosophy » Philosophy on the internet

This is your brain on podcasts

Lisa Heldke — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:46:11 +0000

Philosophers with an interest in the philosophy of mind might want to ruminate on the idea of subscribing to The Brain Science Podcast, the creation of physician Ginger Campbell. Campbell describes the program as “the podcast for everyone who has a brain.” The show combines interviews with philosophers, psychologists and neurologists, with summaries of important books in those fields. A recent program, for instance, was a one-hour discussion of the book Did My Neurons Make Me Do It? Philosophical and Neurobiological Perspectives on Moral Responsibility and Free Will by Nancey Murphy and Warren S. Brown.

The Brain Science Podcast is not fancy, high tech, or highly produced; it’s largely the work of one woman who is passionate about the field of neuroscience. She works hard to make her programs accessible to people from a range of backgrounds. I think, therefore, I am sure you will find them interesting.

And I thought that empty chair was for Elijah!

Lisa Heldke — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:01:25 +0000

What to do if you meet Rene Descartes.

Take that, Novalis!

Lisa Heldke — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:45:19 +0000

For at least two centuries, people who ought to know better have been alleging that “philosophy bakes no bread.” Google the expression, and you’ll find it (or a version of it) attributed to that wildly prolific philosopher, It Has Been Said. I found a hand-scrawled note to myself, claiming that

By I,Max. http://www.flickr.com/photos/_imax/126046432/

Bertrand Russell says it in The Problems of Philosophy, but I can’t seem to confirm the truth of this, so I’m inclined to think I made it up. You’ll find any number of online surveys, such as this one, asking you if you agree or disagree with the expression. If you’d been around in, say, 1867, when the Journal of Speculative Philosophy began publication, you would have found it on the masthead of the journal.

The claim seems to appear in print for the first time in the writings of one Georg Philipp Friedrich von Hardenberg, the philosopher-novelist also known as Novalis. Novalis managed to accomplish an awful lot, given that he died of tuberculosis at 28: he left an impressive collection of (fragmentary, unfinished) philosophical writings and letters, as well as two prose novels and a prose poem. He also left us with the assertion that ““Philosophy cannot bake bread—however, it can provide us with God, freedom and immortality—now which is more practical—philosophy or economics?”

What you won’t find on google is much counterevidence to Novalis’s claim. But all that is about to change, as the 2009 graduates of the philosophy department take the baking world by storm.

Kate and her apprentice, up to their elbows in philosophy

Caleb Phillips has set out to put the lie to it, in his new blog, “Philosophy that Bakes Bread.” (Google THAT expression and all you’ll find is Caleb.) Find Caleb and his oat wheat bread recipe here. And Kate Goodpaster can be found this summer at the River Rock Cafe, earrrrrrrrly in the morning, baking all manner of bready objects, to the delight of the denizens of St. Peter.

A 1965 issue of Time magazine hauled out the old chestnut about philosophy and bread in an article promising to answer that ancient question, “What (If Anything) to Expect from Today’s Philosophers.” From some of us at least, you can expect, well, bread. Here’s some I baked today, in fact.

But it’s not rabid…

Lisa Heldke — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:18:08 +0000

Philosophy Bites. Or so claim David Edmonds and Nigel Warburton, creators of a philosophy podcast that features interviews of well-known, and not-so-well-known philosophers, talking about their particular areas of expertise. The podcasts, which range from fifteen to twenty-five minutes, explore topics ranging from “alternative hedonism” to Wittgenstein’s concept of philosophy; philosophers interviewed span a similarly-wide gamut.

The presentation is decidedly low-tech and minimalist (sometimes the microphone isn’t quite where it should be; the theme music–all three bars of it–could have been written by Eric Satie); in short, it’s just what you would hope a philosophy podcast would be. It’s all about the ideas.

Welcome home Sara Jane

Lisa Heldke — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 19:06:17 +0000

The Reverend Paul Tidemann, who recently spoke at our biennial “Mom, Dad, I’m a Philosophy Major” dinner, shared with us the following remarks he wrote regarding Sara Jane Olson, who has been paroled from prison after serving a sentence for her involvement in the activities of the Symbionese Liberation Army, during the Vietnam War. Tidemann’s remarks remind us of the complexity of the moral issues at play here–and also call upon those of us in her community to welcome her home, and to acknowledge the importance of the issues for which she stood.

There is an important connection between another member of the SLA and Gustavus, as Tidemann notes in this piece; this member, who was killed during a shootout with law enforcement officers, was Camilla Hall, the daughter of longtime Gustavus religion faculty member George Hall.

As Tidemann notes, “It [the SLA] was a strange group, but it was a group of young people with a global consciousness, with a deep passion for justice for the oppressed.” The lessons we can learn from them are complicated and even contradictory. But they are no less valuable for their complexity.

welcome-home-sara-jane-olson-3-18-09-1

Kant attack ad….

Lisa Heldke — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 06:13:12 +0000

And now, just a couple months too late to inform your November vote, comes this paid political announcement about Immanuel Kant.

Think! Win Valuable Prizes!

Lisa Heldke — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:55:10 +0000

The Great American Think-Off is held each year inthe tiny town of New York Mills, Minnesota. This year’s contest topic is “Is it ever wrong to do the right thing?”

Seven-hundred-and-fifty-word essays on the topic are due by April 1 (no fooling here). Contest finalists will debate the matter in New York Mills on June 13. And the winner will take home five hundred dollars, plus travel expenses. Could that ever be wrong?

Philosophy on your iPod

Lisa Heldke — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 17:36:56 +0000

Lisa received a lime-green ipod for Christmas, a gift that vaulted her into the twenty-first century. Thanks to a tip from philosophy majors Rhea Muchalla (’09) and Shane Jensen (’10), she’s become a devotee of “Philosophy Bites,” a wonderful podcast program created by David Edmonds (of Wittgenstein’s Poker fame) and Nigel Warburton (a senior lecturer in philosophy at the Open University). Podcasts consist of ten- to twenty-minute interviews with well-known philosophers, talking about their areas of expertise in language designed to be understood by the non-expert. The interviews are, let us just say, far livelier than those dreadful talking-head films that we philosophers sometimes tend to produce, in our efforts to be “multimedia.”

Did you just this morning forget who Frege was? Misplace Machiavelli? Blank on Berkeley? Plug in your ipod and download a twenty minute refresher course! Find them at www.philosophybites.com.

Philosophy on the Internet

Andrew Twiton — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 19:04:45 +0000

For my Information Fluency class I have been investigating philosophy resources on the net. One thing that has become clear is that there aren’t many philosophy sites geared towards people outside of academia.

I find it strangely telling that the first hit on a Google search for “philosophy” is a website for a cosmetic product.
www.philosophy.com