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    Lives v livelihoods: Evaluating policies to address COVID-19

Lives v livelihoods: Evaluating policies to address COVID-19

21 October 2020|

Policies that suppress or control COVID-19 prevent illness and save lives, but exact an economic toll. How should we balance lives and livelihoods to determine which policy is best? Richard Bradley, Alex Voorhoeve et al. compare benefit-cost and social welfare approaches to the pandemic.

G. E. Moore’s hands vs. radical scepticism

29 September 2020|

Do we need to prove that we’re not living in a computer simulation? Jonathan Birch looks at G. E. Moore’s famous argument against scepticism.

Ideally Value-Free Coronavirus Science

9 September 2020|

How does the role of scientist relate to the role of policy-maker? Philip Thonemann looks at coronavirus science, public policy and the value free ideal.

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    A Virus Is Not a Thing, Part 3: What virology can tell us about philosophy

A Virus Is Not a Thing, Part 3: What virology can tell us about philosophy

25 August 2020|

How can findings in virology help answer ontological questions of process and substance? In the final post in this series, Stephan Guttinger looks at viral life cycles and the role of intrinsic properties.

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    A Virus Is Not a Thing, Part 2: Do viruses jump? Process-thinking and the question of pandemics

A Virus Is Not a Thing, Part 2: Do viruses jump? Process-thinking and the question of pandemics

22 July 2020|

What happens when a virus crosses species? Stephan Guttinger looks at viral jumps and the origins of pandemics.

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    A Virus Is Not a Thing, Part 1: The case for a process view of viruses

A Virus Is Not a Thing, Part 1: The case for a process view of viruses

6 July 2020|

It seems natural to picture viruses as individual microscopic entities, but might there be another more accurate way to think about them? In the first of this three-part series, Stephan Guttinger presents the case for a process view of viruses.

Keeping Close to Home: Communities and Contagion

16 June 2020|

What is the influence of community on public health? Katherine Furman considers some of the social aspects of the pandemic.

Immunity Testing: Our passport out of lockdown?

2 June 2020|

Immunity testing has been touted as one of the best ways to escape lockdown, but just how accurate will these tests have to be? Richard Bradley and Liam Kofi Bright look at inductive risk and policy-making during the pandemic.

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    Coronavirus and 5G towers: Why do people believe weird sh*t?

Coronavirus and 5G towers: Why do people believe weird sh*t?

19 May 2020|

With fake news and disinformation seemingly thriving during the COVID-19 pandemic, J. McKenzie Alexander looks at the epistemology and psychology of fringe beliefs.

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    The Naturalistic Case for Free Will, Part 3: Indeterminism as an Emergent Phenomenon

The Naturalistic Case for Free Will, Part 3: Indeterminism as an Emergent Phenomenon

21 November 2019|

Could the universe be deterministic at some levels and indeterministic at others? In the final post in this series, Christian List looks at micro and macro levels of description.