Should Beliefs Aim at Truth?
May 14, 2017If beliefs can be described as having a goal or purpose, then surely that is something like aiming at the truth.
Distortion in Philosophy
Serena Wong
14 June 2018
Philosophy has, of course, become more diverse in recent years, with more women and people of color entering the field. However, that hasn't changed the lack of diversity in the canon of philosophy.
In particular, as Ray Briggs, Stanford philosophy professor and featured contributor on our blog, argues, some of the philosophical examples used over and over again are misogynistic, or rely on false hypothesis. Briggs worries that “when most of the authors we read are white and male, some aspects of the subject matter get distorted, and it’s hard to tell where the essential stuff ends and the accidental stuff begins.”
Could these examples distort current philosophers' attention, directing them to certain problems over others?
Read more here: http://dailynous.com/2018/04/16/examples-that-distort/
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Related Shows
Should Beliefs Aim at Truth?
May 14, 2017If beliefs can be described as having a goal or purpose, then surely that is something like aiming at the truth.
Cognitive Bias
Jul 16, 2017Aristotle thought that rationality was the faculty that distinguished humans from other animals.
Science and Gender
Mar 02, 2014What does gender have to do with science? The obvious answer is ‘nothing.’ Science is the epitome of an objective, rational, and disinterested enterprise.
Knowing What We Know (And What We Don't)
Mar 19, 2017It seems like we know many facts about ourselves and the world around us, even if there vastly many others we know that we don’t know.
Misogyny and Gender Inequality
Feb 25, 2018With the recent #MeToo viral campaign, along with the wave of prominent male figures toppled for being serial sexual harassers or worse, the topic of misogyny has come into sharp focus.
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In her time—the 4th century CE—Hypatia was one of the most famous philosophers in Alexandria, and indeed in the ancient world. She studied and taught mathematics,... Read more
Mexican philosophy is full of fascinating ideas, from Mexica ("Aztec") and Mayan thought to Sor Juana’s feminism and Emilio Uranga’s existentialism... Read more
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Comments (1)
Harold G. Neuman
Thursday, June 14, 2018 -- 12:46 PM
This is an interesting notionThis is an interesting notion. In the April, 2018 issue of The Atlantic, Alison Gopnik (of UC Berkeley) wrote a review of Steven Pinker's new work, Enlightenment Now, charging that while Pinker "praises truth and reason" he is "curiously blind to the power and benefits of small town values". I have not read Pinker's book. Yet. Gopnik further states that Pinker claims that things are getting better, using all manner of graph and chart to illustrate and validate his assertion(s). Maybe so. I have read some of Pinker's preceding works, including The Better Angels of Our Nature, in which he makes similar assertions about violence in society---using similar graphs and charts.
Is/was he blind to the power and benefits Gopnik admires and extols? Or, were those powers and benefits simply not so crucial, in his estimation, to the story he was telling? Guess I'll have to read his book. If/when I can get my hands on it...