Gavin Foster🦧

The Center is very sad to report the untimely passing of Andrew Cooper (Warwick), who was a Fellow at the Center for Philosophy of Science in 2023. Andrew was an outstanding philosopher in addition to a wonderful human being.

"You seem happier"

Thanks, I deleted all my emails and went to look at birds instead.

Monkeys have rhythm Synchronizing movements to music is a hallmark of human culture, but its evolutionary and neurobiological origins remain unknown. This ability requires (i) extracting a steady rhythmic pulse, or beat,...

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

You should use Gemini, it looks like it understands you

A person’s head with a question mark inside

Latest papers: Agata Machcewicz-Grad discusses a hybrid view of beliefs developed by Tim Crane and Katalin Farkas, which combines a fictionalist treatment of standing beliefs with a realist account of occurrent judgments doi.org/10.1080/0951... #philsky #philpsy

I feel attacked

Ready to start thinking about summer? ☀️
Issues in Philosophy of Memory 5 is headed to Purdue
June 10-12, 2026

Keynote lineup is 🔥🔥🔥. Come join us!

Call for papers is live. 750 word abstracts, on any philosophical topic related to memory. Submit by Dec 20th!

I'm updating my AI poster to fill out the last few years (2022-2025). I have an idea of how it will go, but I thought it would be a good idea to get a wide range of input to make sure I cover as much as possible. Please comment (preferably with a source link) something you think is worth adding. 🥳

Tomorrow Mason Westfall (Johns Hopkins) will join the CAIC Brown Bag series for a mid-week talk titled "Are Sexual Orientations Really About Gender?"

Jumping spiders can recognise one another. This ability to learn, remember and represent images is quite surprising for such a tiny-brained animal!
buff.ly/dCkwPr0

As dozens of frog species have declined across Central America, scientists have witnessed a remarkable chain of events: With fewer tadpoles to eat mosquito larvae, rates of mosquito-borne malaria in the region have climbed, resulting in a fivefold increase in cases. https://wapo.st/4paBuuT

After science Twenty-five years ago, Ted Chiang wrote a prescient science fiction short that began: “It has been 25 years since a report of original research was last submitted to our editors for publication, makin...

New piece w/ James Evans in Science explores what we call 'science after science', an era where our ability to control nature may exceed our ability to understand it; a new struggle to sustain curiosity & understanding under AI's predictive dominance. #ai #science

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Don't forget to submit your philosophy and psychology papers to SSPP 2026 in Atlanta! It's going to be a banger.
southernsociety.org/AnnualMeeting/

You also own a beautiful table

This Friday, Eric Margolis will be giving a talk titled 'Why the Approximate Number System Supports Concept Nativism—Even If There Are No Innate Concepts' the CAIC Brown Bag Series.

1/7 Vocal mimicry, robots, and music

The ability to mimic sounds could be extremely common among corvids. Here, it has been found in 39 species (30%), but it is predicted that it could be present in around 82% of them.

(paper) link.springer.com/article/10.1...

(Indiana tenancy law is the worst in the country, so this should tell you just how bad of a condition the property was in...)

Just won my court case against my previous landlord in full after a lot of time and work. What a great way to start the week.

Tip: a lease doesn't start if the property you're renting out is flooded and has mold everywhere!

🥳

Phenomena: Canadians
Noumena: Canada

🥳 HOT OFF THE PRESS 🔥

Screenshot of a Tweet pointing out that academic spam is actually in its own way kind of encouraging.

I think about this post every day 🧪

Massive congratulations to my friend and @jhu.edu colleague, @chazfirestone.bsky.social!

Chaz will receive the 2025 APA Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution to Psychology, in the area of perception and motor performance. A well-earned honor for a superstar!

tfw the ceremony is scheduled at peak bedtime

(thank you apa!! and everyone!!)

This week in the Psychological Sciences Department:

Would you like a podcast and book deal with that as well my good sir?

Highlights from Maria Waggoner's talk 'Socially Extended Moral Understanding and Outcome Homogenization in GenAI' at the CAIC Brown Bag on Friday

Telling myself over and over again that it doesn't matter cause we still have hockey...

Home - CSHPS/SCHPS Announcing the 9th Notes and Records Essay Award

Canadian Society for the History & Philosophy of Science (CSHPS) invites submissions for its next annual meeting, to be held in Halifax June 4-6, 2026. Submission Deadline: Saturday January 10, 2026 #HPS
cshps.ca

😓