Yuri Cath

The Nature of Belief Abstract. This book explores the fundamental and complex nature of belief, addressing various philosophical questions surrounding its essence. It examines

New and free online: @msgjonhere.bsky.social
& my edited collection of essays on belief with Oxford University Press:
academic.oup.com/book/62410

Table of Contents in thread

#philsky

Oh that is sad news. I'm sorry for your loss.

Just heard the very sad news that my former teacher and colleague Malcolm Budd has died. One of the leading philosophers of art, music and natural beauty of our time.

1604: Scene of a murder? Or perspective demonstration? These things are sometimes hard to tell with Hans Vredeman de Vries, whose day is today.

Def agree. But I wonder if there still some kinds of consistency constraints on wishes/hopes. "I wish you could both get the job" is fine. But is it ok to say "I wish you good luck for getting the job" to one of the two final candidates and then say the exact same thing to the other?

For the ARC project we have a great team: Tim Bayne (Monash), Rick Skarbez @rickskarbez.bsky.social (La Trobe), Margot Strohminger (ACU), and Mary Walker (La Trobe). This 3-year project should be starting soon with ads for a post-doc and PhD position, which I'll post here when they're ready.

VR and knowing what it is like Research from Dr Yuri Cath explores the distinctive kind of knowledge that comes from lived experience.

A story on La Trobe's website about my research and the related ARC Discovery Project I will be leading on 'Virtual Reality and Knowing What It Is like'. #philsky
www.latrobe.edu.au/news/announc...

If an article is published and no one (other than an LLM) is around to read it, and no one (other than an LLM) wrote it, does it make a sound in the space of reasons?

Writing is thinking.

It's not some marginal boring task you can skip. It's the heart of it.

Yeah it's the later kind of case I'm wondering about. Can I wish that Sue wins the gold medal and that Sarah wins it (assuming no joint winners in the sport, and thinking equally of them)? Could also frame it in terms of hopes.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © 2007 Mondrian/Holtzman Trust

Still Life with Gingerpot I by Piet Mondrian, 1911
https://botfrens.com/collections/212/contents/137552

Random thoughts after channel surfing and stumbling on a reality tv show 🫠

You can sincerely wish both of them good luck for, say, doing well in the job interview. But can you sincerely wish both of them good luck for *getting* the job (that only one of them can get)? I guess, it just seems a little weird to me but I suppose wishes aren't subject to consistency norms.

Suppose two people are both going for the same job (prize/opportunity...) and you know that only one of them can get it. Can you sincerely wish them both good luck?

Painting of a butterfly

www.historyofphilosophy.net/zhuangzi-death

Time for a new #HoPWaG episode! Today we tackle the many passages in the Daoist classic, the Zhuangzi, that deal with death - including the famous "dreaming you are a butterfly" passage.

#daoism #zhuangzi #philsky #philosophy #podcasts

Thanks Keith and I hope you are recovering well now! Its looking like I will need a root canal too (maybe even an extraction and implant...) but its all still in process (been in and out of the dentist a lot this month). Fingers crossed I can get it sorted soon.

Ok real or not, I am really f-ing over this particular species of qualia. So much for the consolations of philosophy.

I'm sure I've said this before here but the phil mind equivalent of the "there are no atheists in fox holes" line has to be "there are no qualia deniers in the dentist's chair".

On the one hand, this toothache is awful and it is keeping me up all night. On the other hand, it is quite interesting (and slightly pain distracting) to introspect it whilst thinking about transparency and representationalism, and illusionism etc. Who says philosophy is useless?

Oh gosh, I'm sorry to hear that. Best wishes to your partner for a good recovery.

He wasn't a domestic terrorist. A domestic terrorist was the Oklahoma City bomber. This was a VA nurse looking out for his neighbors.

How To Help if You are Outside Minnesota Last edited January 22, 2026 I’m going to assume that if you’re reading this, you more or less understand the situation in Minnesota and I don’t have to explain it to you! That sa…

How to help Minnesota (and yourself): a clear, straightforward guide of steps you can take

naomikritzer.com/2026/01/21/h...

The park behind the building on the right was also just as full!

Fascism cannot take Minnesota anymore than the darkness can cover the North Star.

The darker it is, the brighter we’ll shine

Actually it's worse -- they're looking for people based on skin color and then, only once they've found them, trying to determine if they can charge them with violating the law.

They targeted Somali-Americans and stopped people on the street to ask "where are the Asians?"

It's pure racism.

YouTube video by Channel 4 News The world's most powerful tidal turbine - but can our grid handle it?

Two questions:
1: Why isn't New Zealand leading the world with tidal energy production?
2: If we aren't can we get some of these, eh?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ_g...

What a beautiful work!

Colourful pen and ink portrait of an elderly woman in a stylish hat.

It's taken a few years, but I've finally framed and hung the painting I did of Mary Midgley shortly after her death. Now, she can stare over my shoulder when I'm in an online meeting or seminar, judging people who start on any bullshit.

What’s it like being a raven or a crow? - Connecting Research Many of us as children may have wondered what's going on inside the mind of an animal – what are they thinking and feeling?

Ever wonder what it’s like to be inside the mischievous mind of a crafty corvid like a raven or a crow? Philosophers Drs Dr Heather Browning (Veit) and Dr. Walter Veit have pondered this question of consciousness too. Get inside their mind in this piece for The Conversation UK

🔗 rdg.ac/3SRoEnk

Don’t forget to leave water out for animals and to blame fossil fuel companies.

#heatwave #bushfires #Exxon #Shell #BP #SaudiAramco #Woodside #Santos