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All Outputs (1500)

Surveys of the scientific community on the existence of extraterrestrial life (2025)
Journal Article
Vickers, P., Gardiner, E., Gillen, C., Hyde, B., Jeancolas, C., Mitchell Finnigan, S., Nováková, J. N., Strandin, H., Tasdan, U., Taylor, H., & McMahon, S. (2025). Surveys of the scientific community on the existence of extraterrestrial life. Nature Astronomy, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-024-02451-0

During February–June 2024 we conducted four surveys among researchers regarding the likely existence of basic, complex, and intelligent extraterrestrial life. Our results offer a snapshot of community opinion and reveal a significant degree of consen... Read More about Surveys of the scientific community on the existence of extraterrestrial life.

Reliability Trumps Truth (2024)
Journal Article
Cartwright, N. (2024). Reliability Trumps Truth. Filozofia, 79(10), 1069-1082. https://doi.org/10.31577/filozofia.2024.79.10.1

This paper argues that reliability is a better desideratum for scientific claims than is truth as soon as we focus on ‘helping to change the world (for the better)’ as a central aim of science.

Development of a novel methodology for ascertaining scientific opinion and extent of agreement (2024)
Journal Article
Vickers, P., Adamo, L., Alfano, M., Clark, C., Cresto, E., Cui, H., Dang, H., Dellsén, F., Dupin, N., Gradowski, L., Graf, S., Guevara, A., Hallap, M., Hamilton, J., Hardey, M., Helm, P., Landrum, A., Levy, N., Machery, E., Mills, S., …Mitchell Finnigan, S. (2024). Development of a novel methodology for ascertaining scientific opinion and extent of agreement. PLoS ONE, 19(12), Article e0313541. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0313541

We take up the challenge of developing an international network with capacity to survey the world’s scientists on an ongoing basis, providing rich datasets regarding the opinions of scientists and scientific sub-communities, both at a time and also o... Read More about Development of a novel methodology for ascertaining scientific opinion and extent of agreement.

The linguistic dead zone of value-aligned agency, natural and artificial (2024)
Journal Article
LaCroix, T. (online). The linguistic dead zone of value-aligned agency, natural and artificial. Philosophical Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-024-02257-w

The value alignment problem for artificial intelligence (AI) asks how we can ensure that the “values”—i.e., objective functions—of artificial systems are aligned with the values of humanity. In this paper, I argue that linguistic communication is a n... Read More about The linguistic dead zone of value-aligned agency, natural and artificial.

Decolonising the Curriculum: common-sense, threshold concepts and epistemic injustice (2024)
Journal Article
Stopford, R. (online). Decolonising the Curriculum: common-sense, threshold concepts and epistemic injustice. Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-024-01354-3

In On the Affective Threshold of Power and Privilege (2023), Julie Rattray reflects on the impact of decolonising the curriculum (DtC) on Threshold Concept (TC) theory. In this paper, I focus on student troublesomeness in the context of DtC—troubleso... Read More about Decolonising the Curriculum: common-sense, threshold concepts and epistemic injustice.

Fiction Writing as Philosophical Methodology (2024)
Journal Article
Uckelman, S. L. (2024). Fiction Writing as Philosophical Methodology. Principia, 28(3 - Special Issue: 13th Principia International Symposium), 453-475. https://doi.org/10.5007/1808-1711.2024.e98571

In this paper I argue for a novel philosophical methodology, fiction writing. Much has been made, in philosophy, of the relationship between fiction and thought experiments, but this literature focuses predominantly on completed pieces of fiction: Fu... Read More about Fiction Writing as Philosophical Methodology.

Why Middle-Sized Matters: Quantum Realism, Minds and the Problem of Macro-Objects (2024)
Journal Article
Simpson, W. M. (2024). Why Middle-Sized Matters: Quantum Realism, Minds and the Problem of Macro-Objects. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 2877(1), Article 012121. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2877/1/012121

The Problem of Macro-Objects concerns how three-dimensional, middle-sized objects, such as scientists and their measuring devices, can exist in a quantum world. This paper discusses the problem for wave function realism and the primitive ontology app... Read More about Why Middle-Sized Matters: Quantum Realism, Minds and the Problem of Macro-Objects.

Cosmopsychism and the Laws of Physics: A Hylomorphic Perspective (2024)
Journal Article
Simpson, W. (2024). Cosmopsychism and the Laws of Physics: A Hylomorphic Perspective. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 31(9-10), 132-157. https://doi.org/10.53765/20512201.31.9.132

I outline a hylomorphic account of physical reality in which the cosmos as a whole has mental properties which explain its nomological order. According to this theory, the cosmos is directed in its temporal development toward certain ends or goals wh... Read More about Cosmopsychism and the Laws of Physics: A Hylomorphic Perspective.

Prime Matter Revisited (2024)
Book Chapter
Simpson, W. (in press). Prime Matter Revisited. In Thomism Revisited. Cambridge University Press

The ‘Predelinquent’ and the Community: Psychiatric Surveillance and Predictive Policing in Interwar Berkeley (2024)
Journal Article
Shepherd, J. (online). The ‘Predelinquent’ and the Community: Psychiatric Surveillance and Predictive Policing in Interwar Berkeley. Social History of Medicine, https://doi.org/10.1093/shm/hkae057

Through the 1920s and 1930s, the Berkeley Police Department, renowned as a centre of scientific training and investigation, developed new programmes of predictive policing targeting ‘predelinquent’ youth. Led by Chief August Vollmer, schools, chariti... Read More about The ‘Predelinquent’ and the Community: Psychiatric Surveillance and Predictive Policing in Interwar Berkeley.

Markedness Neutralisation and the Unity of Opposites in Heraclitus (2024)
Journal Article
Begley, K. (2024). Markedness Neutralisation and the Unity of Opposites in Heraclitus. Archai: As origens do pensamento ocidental, Article e03406. https://doi.org/10.14195/1984-249x_34_06

In this article, I shed new light on a misunderstood aspect of Heraclitus’ style. The opposites employed by Heraclitus are often of equal status except that one member of each pair may also appear as a designation for the encompassing whole. I begin... Read More about Markedness Neutralisation and the Unity of Opposites in Heraclitus.

The Entanglement Problem for Psychological Hylomorphism (2024)
Journal Article
Simpson, W., & Koons, R. (in press). The Entanglement Problem for Psychological Hylomorphism. Res Philosophica,

The theory of psychological hylomorphism has recently been advanced by David Charles as a viable alternative to physicalist and dualist theories of the mind. According to Charles, a human or animal is a psycho-physical whole whose mental and physical... Read More about The Entanglement Problem for Psychological Hylomorphism.

Generative Linguistics and the Computational Level (2024)
Journal Article
Mallory, F. (2024). Generative Linguistics and the Computational Level. Croatian Journal of Philosophy, 24(71), 195-218. https://doi.org/10.52685/cjp.24.71.5

Generative linguistics is widely claimed to produce theories at the level of computation in the sense outlined by David Marr. Marr even used generative grammar as an example of a computational level theory. At this level, a theory specifies a functio... Read More about Generative Linguistics and the Computational Level.

Teleology (2024)
Book
Tugby, M. (2024). Teleology. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009257404

Teleology is about functions, ends, and goals in nature. This Element offers a philosophical examination of these phenomena and aims to reinstate teleology as a core part of the metaphysics of science. It starts with a critical analysis of three theo... Read More about Teleology.