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Brian

@brianjones005.bsky.social

I love cats, philosophy, and failing to do things (apparently). I'm against genocide. I'm also against war crimes of any kind. I'm old enough to remember a time when all that went without saying (but I'm remembering with rose colored glasses).

374 Followers  |  900 Following  |  305 Posts  |  Joined: 14.01.2025  |  2.1473

Latest posts by brianjones005.bsky.social on Bluesky

I was _extremely_ annoyed reading that book the first time. It was mostly Austin's style that annoyed me. Too playful. I need my philosophy boring and serious. But, even so, I think it's one of the most important and insightful works ever written

03.11.2025 05:31 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Resistant Beliefs, Responsive Believers - Volume 122, Issue 4, April 2025 Beliefs can be resistant to evidence. Nonetheless, the orthodox view in epistemology analyzes beliefs as evidence-responsive attitudes. I address this tension by deploying analytical tools on capaciti...

This was the centerpiece of my dissertation and has been forthcoming for a while - I'm excited to finally see this paper in print! Link here again: www.pdcnet.org/jphil/conten...

29.07.2025 13:09 β€” πŸ‘ 11    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

I am very much looking forward to reading your work

31.07.2025 05:18 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Exactly this, except I would go further: evidence resistance can be rational.

My own 'thesis' on rationality is predicated on the fact that we are finite creatures that must act under conditions of genuine uncertainty in a dynamic world (our social systems being a part of that dynamism).

31.07.2025 05:04 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

"If you scowl at children, it means that you are a baby yourself in need of a hug."

31.05.2025 01:42 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

That is strange. I'm not sure empiricism is married to a particular theory of truth, much less one that is incompatible with this, is it? I can't really comment on whatever theory is dominant in the POS, but this seems unlikely

07.05.2025 14:36 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

A topic worth discussing

30.03.2025 13:32 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Sickening how so-called happiness scientists try to cash in on inane life advice books. I wrote about this pseudo-science and its dangers. See chapter 7 of my article "Philosophy of Happiness: A Critical Introduction": philpapers.org/rec/JANPOH-3 Please help me spread the word.

29.03.2025 08:33 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Ok. I've got to read this one

27.03.2025 21:02 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Provocative title. Love it

27.03.2025 21:00 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Marc Artiga, Peter Schulte & Nir Fresco, Some Proper Functions are Distal - PhilPapers

Check out this paper that I completely agree with: @marcartiga.bsky.social, @peterschulte.bsky.social & Nir Fresco argue against @harrif.bsky.social and Justin Garson's thesis that proper functions must be proximal functions.

philpapers.org/rec/ARTSPF

28.02.2025 15:00 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0

A bit. I suppose I need to find a way to access the British journal for the philosophy of science. It's been a while since I've had an edu

28.02.2025 18:59 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Just from the abstract, I already love it

28.02.2025 18:57 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Looks interesting but I don't see a way to download the article (or even read the abstract).

28.02.2025 18:53 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Iiiinteresting

24.02.2025 21:29 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Kelly Weirich, Brazen Dogwhistles - PhilPapers A dogwhistle, in its most centrally-discussed sense, seeks to obscure part of its meaning from part of its audience. Yet, as many have noted, dogwhistles that are flaunted at an opposing ...

A paper I'm really proud of has found a home. In β€œBrazen Dogwhistles,” I give a name to those dogwhistles that are not quite meant to be secret, placing them alongside standard accounts and illuminating the role each of us can play in furthering or hindering their use. philpapers.org/rec/WEIBDV

21.02.2025 20:29 β€” πŸ‘ 67    πŸ” 17    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 3

*New Teaching Article*

This one is for those who want to introduce their students (or themselves!) to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics but need some support for them to make the most of primary texts.

philpapers.org/rec/SISTGL

19.02.2025 18:20 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Looks very interesting. Saving to read tomorrow

21.02.2025 04:23 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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St. #Augustine of Hippo was one of history’s dirty dogs πŸ• until he discovered #happiness through suffering and became the early church's greatest scholar ✝️

Read on to find out more about the patron saint of brewers 🧡

20.02.2025 15:00 β€” πŸ‘ 23    πŸ” 8    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 6
Why the Great Philosophers Aren’t that Great
Toby Svoboda
Colgate University , United States
tobysvoboda@gmail.com
Abstract: The important philosophers in history aren’t all that great. First, their works
are full of bad arguments, confused concepts, falsehoods, implausible claims, and lack
of clarity. We can see this by using a β€œpeer-review test,” which asks us to evaluate these
claims and arguments as if they were submitted to us as anonymous work. Second, I
make the case that canonizing some philosophers as great is damaging to the
philosophical project of seeking truth regardless of its source. I suggest an alternative
hypothesis. The putatively great philosophers were just intelligent individuals who had
the right ideas at the right time. They are worth reading not because of their intellectual
genius but rather for their creativity and insight, offering novel solutions to certain
problems and noticing implications others had missed. Accordingly, my position does
not entail that the β€œgreat” figures are of no philosophical interest. However, we should
do away with the idea of a β€œgreat philosopher.” Philosophy might then come to
resemble other disciplines that seek the truth, which generally do not revere their
historically important predecessors.
Keywords: Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes, Great Philosophers, Hegel, Hume, Kant,
Leibniz, Mill, Nietzsche, Philosophy, Plato

Why the Great Philosophers Aren’t that Great Toby Svoboda Colgate University , United States tobysvoboda@gmail.com Abstract: The important philosophers in history aren’t all that great. First, their works are full of bad arguments, confused concepts, falsehoods, implausible claims, and lack of clarity. We can see this by using a β€œpeer-review test,” which asks us to evaluate these claims and arguments as if they were submitted to us as anonymous work. Second, I make the case that canonizing some philosophers as great is damaging to the philosophical project of seeking truth regardless of its source. I suggest an alternative hypothesis. The putatively great philosophers were just intelligent individuals who had the right ideas at the right time. They are worth reading not because of their intellectual genius but rather for their creativity and insight, offering novel solutions to certain problems and noticing implications others had missed. Accordingly, my position does not entail that the β€œgreat” figures are of no philosophical interest. However, we should do away with the idea of a β€œgreat philosopher.” Philosophy might then come to resemble other disciplines that seek the truth, which generally do not revere their historically important predecessors. Keywords: Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes, Great Philosophers, Hegel, Hume, Kant, Leibniz, Mill, Nietzsche, Philosophy, Plato

Just based on the abstract I like this, reading it now and adding it to my noheroes list (sootyempiric.blogspot.com/p/no-heroes-...).

philpapers.org/rec/SVOWTG?r...

16.02.2025 09:41 β€” πŸ‘ 186    πŸ” 24    πŸ’¬ 26    πŸ“Œ 11

πŸ“’ New Publication!

Over 5 days of learning about ingroup and outgroup members, we found that contact eliminated racial bias in recall of person-knowledge

Open access link below

#SocialPsyc #Psychology #AcademicSky #PsychSciSky πŸ§ͺ

12.02.2025 12:42 β€” πŸ‘ 56    πŸ” 23    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
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Study: People show verbal hesitation towards left-wing political terms Researchers found that Israeli participants were slower to respond to left-wing political terms in spatial tasksβ€”a delay that increased after political priming. Follow-up tests ruled out sound or spat...

β€œA recent study published in the journal Cognition and Emotion has found that individuals in Israel may exhibit an unconscious aversion to left-wing political concepts.” #behavior #geography www.psypost.org/study-people...

12.02.2025 22:44 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

Interesting. The most noteworthy word in the title for me is the word 'terms'. I guess I'll find out when I read this, but I wonder if the bias exists against the terms, but not necessarily the underlying concepts and values

17.02.2025 14:13 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

"Rather than focusing solely on individual pathologies, [SIA] considers how social and structural factors influence and shape adjustment following adoption."

This approach seems obviously correct. E.g. I don't think you have adoption based trauma without adoption related stigma.

17.02.2025 13:59 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

The Social Identity Model of Identity Change is completely new to me. Going to have to look that up

17.02.2025 13:21 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

re: social identity

I have a 'theory' that strong identification with related social group (and domain) increases vulnerability to relevant stereotype threat by rendering dissonance caused by relevant stereotypes unresolvable.

This drawing from the action based model of dissonance.

17.02.2025 13:11 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

If you are interested in social identity, social identity loss, adoption, trauma, and/or mother and baby homes, you should 1. Read our paper, out today, open access! And 2. Follow @dearbhlamo.bsky.social! #socialpsyc

Well done Dearbhla on a fabulous first PhD paper.

17.02.2025 10:54 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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β€˜Civil War’ and Spectacle Journalism β€˜Civil War’ is disinterested in the truth. It only cares about spectacle.

Have you ever wondered what 'Nightcrawler' has to do with 'Civil War' then read this essay I wrote.

#journalism #war #civil_war #movies #philosophy #politics

medium.com/theuglymonst...

17.02.2025 12:06 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Oh, I didn't think about that, but I instantly see the connection

17.02.2025 12:38 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Yeah, totally. It's just that it doesn't do you much good to be a critical thinker when the world is governed by shallowness.

17.02.2025 12:37 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

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