Matt Lindauer

The Politics of Humiliation The politics of humiliation has moved to the center of the reactionary project under Trump II.

Excellent essay by Toby Buckle on the disturbing role of humiliation in our politics and how to respond to it. We need a lasting coalition asserting “the conviction that everyone should be able to walk with their heads held high.” @polphilpod.bsky.social

www.liberalcurrents.com/the-politi/

Very happy that our paper on how 'thoughtful frequentists' should use hypothesis testing is now an award winning paper. It was very nice to have @laabho.bsky.social over for a visit in Eindhoven during his PhD to start this project!

www.linkedin.com/posts/aom-rm...

Femi and the Foundation

come see us and Clifford Cartel get after it live on Aug 15th at Pearl Street Warehouse!

www.unionstagepresents.com/shows/femi-a...

Love this! Thanks for the great visualizations of this trend!

Dropped cases against LA protesters reveal false claims from federal agents Revealed: records show border patrol gave inaccurate testimony about people it jailed. Prosecutors now face ‘embarrassing’ dismissals

The Guardian reports they have reviewed records revealing that charges have been dropped in at least five cases — a total of eight felonies dropped — owing to the fact that agents straight up lied about having been assaulted by protestors.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

But it is heartening that the current crop of philosophers seems far less dismissive of empirical research, whether directly conducted or drawn on by philosophers, as well as other traditions in philosophy that were not really given their due until recently. /fin

conclude from certain results, and so on. I am firmly on the side of needing reasons and arguments for why given empirical results inform philosophical debates. I just wrote an entire book on the topic. :) /9

understand them, or claiming that xphi is bad psychology when xphi papers are regularly published and cited in the best psych journals), you’d seem like a complete dinosaur.

Again, this is all to be distinguished from genuine disagreement about methods, what we can /8

or even to what they themselves do. But that’s not the sort of thing I’m referring to at all.

However, if you said the kinds of dismissive and uninformed things about empirical work now that once were publishable (e.g. criticizing the statistical analyses used in a paper when you clearly didn’t /7

dismissive attitude. Side note: in my experience, it’s people insecure about their work that tend to be the most closed-minded about other approaches.

Of course, new approaches often have to win people over, and I don’t fault anyone for asking about how new approaches relate to prior questions, /6

weren’t so committed to that standard. I even remember a couple of these people taking glee in trying to vote multiple times in Brian Leiter’s poll on xphi. But even then, the people who seemed to be most productive in philosophy, with some exceptions, often didn’t have that outright /5

But given that, I can’t imagine saying the kinds of dismissive and nasty things I was exposed to in that time. We’re supposed to, after all, go to the arguments and think hard about our own assumptions, but when I gave arguments to these sorts of people, it was apparent that they /4

on work that they really don’t have the background to evaluate (perhaps the source of discomfort). I don’t wear it on my sleeve, but there’s a ton of work that I strongly disagree with in philosophy, methodologically and substantively, and see that as part of what doing philosophy is all about. /3

I was lucky to attend a grad program where great philosophers and psychologists were often in the same conversations and labs. I’ve met some of the most wonderful and encouraging people that I know through philosophy, but there are also quite a few bullies, some of whom think they can pronounce /2

I realize that this may be a true post-tenure post™, but it really seems settled now that people think empirical research can be valuable and important to draw on in philosophy. 🧵

It was a weird time in the earlier 2000s... /1

When the global austere coffee shop aesthetic came to every AirBnB.

Letting Go Femi and the Foundation · Letting Go · Song · 2025

And it's out! "Letting Go", first single off the coming "Wrong Side of the Sun" album. Check it out here or wherever you stream music

open.spotify.com/track/2satqr...

a penguin is sticking his head out of a hole next to a job application ALT: a penguin is sticking his head out of a hole next to a job application

Attention philosophers, x-philosophers and moral psychologists - I'm hiring! Two, 3-year research fellowships on an interdisciplinary project in the Philosophical Moral Psychology Lab at the Uehiro Institute, Oxford. Pass it on! For more info and to apply: tinyurl.com/mrwwuyaw

Thank you! And thanks for all your support and encouragement. When I talk about passing it forward, you're very much in mind.

Tenure and promotion to Associate Professor! I’m so grateful to all the people who helped along the way. Thank you, I will continue to try to pass it forward.

Neuroethics: Agency in the Age of Brain Science Neuroethics is a young discipline with still-blurred boundaries, situated at the crossroads of neurology and philosophy. Yet it has successfully positio...

"broad and carefully executed, offering a wealth of insights" Really thoughtful review of my Neuroethics book in NDPR by Andrea Lavazza. ndpr.nd.edu/reviews/neur...

Texas governor asks lawmakers to pass bathroom bill with flood relief In a special session agenda primarily focused on flood response, Abbott has another ask.

i, one of like 4 trans journalists in the state of texas, wrote about said bill here www.chron.com/culture/arti...

I will admit it is vaguely darkly funny to make your whole thing "comedy is legal again" and then use the weight of the federal government to shut down comedians in unprecedented ways. like if they somehow outlawed saying "merry christmas" this year

Republican election clerks in Colorado say a GOP strategist claiming to work with the Trump administration asked for insider access to voting systems. They refused. #copolitics

Called customer service, which directed me to the online chat, which directed me to the web form, which directed me to email, which directed me to CALL THE PHONE LINE AGAIN

Medical debt shouldn’t ever be a thing in a developed country. No other Western industrialized nation has it.

Tried to put my 3-year-old to bed but he “needed a few more minutes to perform an experiment.” Couldn’t be more proud. 🥲

Very excited about the possibilities for democratic social technology that Eurosky is exploring. #eurosky #eurostack

A popular and very old argument for the value of philosophy claims that studying philosophy cultivates important intellectual abilities and dispositions. But empirical evidence for that claim has been hard to come by. Until now!
1/4