Who’s a Good Boy? (Forum)

27 May 2021|

Who’s a Good Boy?

Do non-human animals have morals? Can chimpanzees tell right from wrong? Do dolphins think about what they ought to do? And can a dog really be good? Recent scientific work can shed light on these issues, but they also take us to the heart of two great philosophical questions: what does it mean to […]

Misinformation (Forum for Philosophy)

4 February 2021|

 

Misinformation 

Information may be power, but misinformation appears to be usurping the throne. From COVID-19 to QAnon, misinformation is more ubiquitous and more dangerous than ever. But why is it so much more attractive to so many? Are there factors that make misinformation more (or less) likely to be believed? What draws people into the world of conspiracy […]

Anti-vaxxers & Other Sceptics (Forum for Philosophy)

28 October 2020|

 

Anti-vaxxers & Other Sceptics (Forum for Philosophy)

Will a future COVID vaccine be undermined by anti-vaxxers? What are the causes of declining vaccination rates? Why does this medical scepticism persist, and how might it be tackled? Or might there be times when scepticism is justified? And if so, how are we to determine when we should and when […]

  • Permalink Gallery

    Tudor M Baetu (Bristol): “Pain in Psychology, Biology and Medicine. Implications for Eliminativist and Physicalist Accounts” (BSPS Lecture)

Tudor M Baetu (Bristol): “Pain in Psychology, Biology and Medicine. Implications for Eliminativist and Physicalist Accounts” (BSPS Lecture)

12 March 2018|

 

Tudor M Baetu (Bristol): “Pain in Psychology, Biology and Medicine. Implications for Eliminativist and Physicalist Accounts” (BSPS Lecture)

An analysis of arguments for pain eliminativism reveals two significant points of divergence between assumptions underlying scientific research on pain and assumptions typically endorsed by physicalist accounts. The first concerns the status of the term ‘pain’, which is an […]

  • Permalink Gallery

    Karim Thébault (Bristol): “Cosmic Singularity Resolution via Quantum Evolution”

Karim Thébault (Bristol): “Cosmic Singularity Resolution via Quantum Evolution”

13 March 2017|

Karim Thébault (Bristol): “Cosmic Singularity Resolution via Quantum Evolution”

Classical models of the universe generically feature a big bang singularity. That is, when we consider progressively earlier and earlier times, physical quantities stop behaving in a reasonable way. A particular problem is that physical quantities related to the curvature of spacetime become divergent. A long standing hope is […]