Top News, Articles, and Interviews in Philosophy

Have humans always lived in a “pluriverse” of worlds?

16. July 2021 Philosophy News News
In the modern West, we take it for granted that reality is an objectively knowable material world. From a young age, we are taught to visualize it as a vast abstract space full of free-standing objects that all obey timeless universal laws of science and nature. But a very different picture of reality is now emerging from new currents of thought in fields like history, anthropology, and sociology.        Related StoriesA Roman road trip: tips for travelling the Roman Empire this summerThe VSI podcast season two: Homer, film music, consciousness, samurai, and moreShakespeare and the sciences of [More]
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Shakespeare and the sciences of emotion

9. July 2021 Philosophy News News
What role should literature have in the interdisciplinary study of emotion? The dominant answer today seems to be “not much.” Scholars of literature of course write about emotion; but fundamental questions about what emotion is and how it works belong elsewhere: to psychology, cognitive science, neurophysiology, philosophy of mind. In Shakespeare’s time the picture was different. What the period called “passions” were material for ethics and for that part of natural philosophy dealing with the soul; but it was rhetoric that offered the most extensive accounts of the passions.       Related StoriesAdapting Shakespeare: shattering stereotypes of Asian women onstage and onscreenWhy did evolution create conscious states of mind?Where have you gone, Jimmy Gatz? Roman Catholic haunting in American literary [More]
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On SHAPE: a Q&A with Lucy Noakes, Eyal Poleg, Laura Wright & Mary Kelly

9. May 2021 Philosophy News News
OUP have recently announced our support for the newly created SHAPE initiative—Social Sciences, Humanities, and the Arts for People and the Economy. To further understand the crucial role these subjects play in our everyday lives, we have put three questions to four British Academy SHAPE authors and editors—social and cultural historian Lucy Noakes, historian of objects and faith Eyal Poleg, historical sociolinguist Laura Wright, and Lecturer in Contemporary Art History Mary Kelly—on what SHAPE means to them, and to their research.       Related StoriesSHAPE today and tomorrow: Q&A with Sophie Goldsworthy and Julia Black (part two)Introducing SHAPE: Q&A with Sophie Goldsworthy and Julia Black (part one)The power of pigs: tension and taboo in Haifa, [More]
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Transformative choice and “Big Decisions”

7. May 2021 Philosophy News News
Imagine being invited by a trusted friend to a “life-changing” event. Should you go? The event could be a church service, self-help talk, concert, movie, festival, hike, play, dinner party, book club, union organizing meeting, etc. What sorts of considerations do you reach for in making your choice? The philosopher L. A. Paul has put problems like these, termed transformative choices, on the map for philosophical and scientific inquiry.       Related StoriesLyricism as activism: Sigurd Olson and The Singing WildernessWas Spinoza a populist? [Long read]Fake news is not new: Russia’s 19th-century disinformation [More]
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Lyricism as activism: Sigurd Olson and The Singing Wilderness

4. May 2021 Philosophy News News
Placing the reader in the poetic and ethical space is the first step toward direct action that affects the larger human community: a step toward activism. Activism formalizes the values that inspire and ultimately direct our will—and action—to preserve and protect. By opening new worlds, other spaces, and creating experiences for the reader—and, crucially, letting the reader explore those worlds for herself or for himself—the lyric writer has an opportunity to create a protected zone for significant communication. The post Lyricism as activism: Sigurd Olson and <em>The Singing Wilderness</em> appeared first on OUPblog.        Related StoriesWas Spinoza a populist? [Long read]Fake news is not new: Russia’s 19th-century disinformation experimentPutting my mouth where my money is: the origin of [More]
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Was Spinoza a populist? [Long read]

29. April 2021 Philosophy News News
Recent studies of Spinoza’s political theory in a contemporary perspective often place it in one of two categories, depicting him either as a defender of individual free speech and liberal democracy or as a champion of radical democracy and collective popular power. For some, he is something like a liberal supporter of the equal individual rights of all citizens to express whatever is on their mind, an early defender of “free speech.” The post Was Spinoza a populist? [Long read] appeared first on OUPblog.        Related StoriesThe coming refugee crisis: how COVID-19 exacerbates forced displacementWhat if COVID-19 had emerged in 1719?Can skepticism and curiosity get along? Benjamin Franklin shows they can [More]
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SHAPE today and tomorrow: Q&A with Sophie Goldsworthy and Julia Black (part two)

12. March 2021 Philosophy News News
This second part of our Q&A with Sophie Goldsworthy, Director of Content Strategy & Acquisitions at OUP, and Professor Julia Black CBE FCA, Strategic Director of Innovation and Professor of Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and President-elect of the British Academy, reflects on how SHAPE disciplines can help us to understand the impact of the events of the pandemic and look towards the future of SHAPE. The post SHAPE today and tomorrow: Q&A with Sophie Goldsworthy and Julia Black (part two) appeared first on OUPblog.        Related StoriesIntroducing SHAPE: Q&A with Sophie Goldsworthy and Julia Black (part one)John Rawls: an ideal theorist for nonideal times?Tips for adapting the elementary music curriculum to online [More]
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How women have shaped philosophy: nine female philosophers our authors admire

8. March 2021 Philosophy News News
When asked to name a philosopher, it is more than likely that many of the major thinkers that spring to mind will be male. There is a long and rich tradition of female thinkers who have made important contributions to philosophy, and whose works merit further recognition. To celebrate Women's History Month, we asked some of our authors to tell us about a female philosopher they admire, and why. The post How women have shaped philosophy: nine female philosophers our authors admire appeared first on OUPblog.        Related StoriesTurning geology into archaeology: how two businessmen changed the face of timeDigging into the vaults of the unknown: the “Transcending Dystopia” research diariesIntroducing SHAPE: Q&A with Sophie Goldsworthy and Julia Black (part [More]
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Introducing SHAPE: Q&A with Sophie Goldsworthy and Julia Black (part one)

26. February 2021 Philosophy News News
OUP is excited to support the newly created SHAPE initiative—Social Sciences, Humanities, and the Arts for People and the Economy. SHAPE has been coined to enable us to clearly communicate the value that these disciplines bring to not only enriching the world in which we live, but also enhancing our understanding of it. In the first instalment this two-part Q&A, we spoke to Sophie Goldsworthy, Editorial and Content Strategy Director here at OUP, and Professor Julia Black CBE FCA, Strategic Director of Innovation and Professor of Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and President-elect of the British Academy, to find out more about SHAPE and what it means to them. The post Introducing SHAPE: Q&A with Sophie Goldsworthy and Julia Black (part one) appeared first on OUPblog.        Related StoriesJohn Rawls: an ideal theorist for nonideal times?Tips for adapting the elementary music curriculum to online teachingThe ruins of the post-Covid city—and the essential task of [More]
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John Rawls: an ideal theorist for nonideal times?

21. February 2021 Philosophy News News
John Rawls's "A Theory of Justice" was published fifty years ago. What is the connection between Rawls’s abstract theorizing about justice and work aiming to address real-world injustices? The post John Rawls: an ideal theorist for nonideal times? appeared first on OUPblog.        Related StoriesTips for adapting the elementary music curriculum to online teachingFive themes in Asian Shakespeare adaptationsWhich literary heroine are you? [More]
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