Valhalla & Oates

David Barnett, The Simplicity Intuition and Its Hidden Influence on Philosophy of Mind - PhilPapers Huxley’s Explanatory Gap: There can be no explanation of how states of consciousness arise from interaction among a collection of physical things.

btw, read and enjoyed your "Monadic Panpsychism" paper. I've been convinced by the paper below that the simplicity intuition is plausibly a driving force in philosophy of mind so nice to see a view that respects it.

Pick your fighter

i thought the monadic panpsychist agreed with Leibniz that conscious subjects had to be non-composite

By uniting those of all persuasions who think legally carrying should not be sufficient to justify agents of the state in killing you?

sorry - what a damp squib is or what “damp squib” means.
I regret the error.

We will be hosting a public debate at @udelaware.bsky.social on whether biological sex is binary. Debating on Friday, March 6th at 4:15pm in the Gore Recital Hall will be the authors of two recent books - Tomás Bogardus (Pepperdine Philosophy) and Agustín Fuentes (Princeton Anthropology).

learned what a "damp squib" is

Rethinking Metaphysics Amie Thomasson is a leader of a programme for deflating the pretensions of metaphysics and finding something better for philosophers to do. She locates ...

a quite critical review
Williamson on Thomasson's metaphysics

The program that questions everything finally questioned its own paywall.

Our entire archive of 600+ episodes—from Aristotle to Zhuangzi, from Anarchy to Zen Buddhism—is now FREE and open to everyone.

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or stream at philosophytalk.org.

#PhilSky #philosophy

Action Memo for Senior Bureau Official John Armstrong FROM: SUBJECT: CA/VO - Stuart Wilson, Deputy Assistant Secretary (SBU) Revocation of Fl Visa for Rumeysa OZTURK (SBU) Recommendation 1: That you approve the revocation of the Fl visa, effective immediately, for under section 221(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Due to ongoing ICE operational security, this revocation will be silent; the Department will not notify the subject. (Approve/Disapprove by 03/21/25) Decision: [Approved] (SBU) Recommendation 2: That you authorize the transmission of the attached notification to the Department of Homeland Security noting the, immediate revocation of OZTURK's visa. (Approve/Disapprove by 03/21/25) Decision: [Approved] Background (SBU} On March 21, 2025, the Assistant Director of the National Security Division of DHS/ICE's Homeland Security Investigations referred to CA information regarding Rumeysa OZTURK, a Turkish national, for a possible determination by the Secretary that the alien is deportable under INA section 237(a)(4)(C). As a nonimmigrant visa holder, such a determination is not necessary for OHS/ICE to pursue removal of OZTURK from the United States, as INA section 237(a}(1)(B) provides that an alien is deportable if their nonimmigrant visa has been revoked under INA section 221(i).

(SBU) Under INA section 221(i), the Secretary of State may at any time, in his discretion, revoke a visa.. This authority is delegated to you pursuant to Delegation of Authority 367-4. Department policy reflected in 9 FAM 403.ll~S(B) provides that a visa may be revoked in cases of a suspected ineligibility, when an individual would not meet requirements .for admission, or "in other situations where warranted." (SBU) OZTURK was issued an F-1 visa on December 14, 2020, valid until December 9, 2025. According to information provided by OHS/ICE/HSI OZTURK is a post doctorate degree candidate in Child Studies and Human Development at Tufts University. On March 21, 2025, OHS/ICE/HSI referred information to CA indicating that OZTURK co-authored an op-ed in Tufts' student newspaper. In this article, the authors wrote, "Graduate Students for Pal'estine joins Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine (TSJP), the Tufts Faculty and Staff Coalition for Ceasefire, .and Fletcher Students for Palestine to reject the ,University's response" {to a student government resolution). According to OHS/ICE/HSI, Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine was placed\\ on interim suspension 11 after it used images of weapons to promote a protest rally and urged members of the Tufts community to 'join the student intifada." OHS/ICE/HSI referral concluded that "OZTURK's involvement in these activities and associations with these groups may undermine U.S. foreign. policy by creating a hostile environment for Jewish students and indicating support for a designated terrorist organization." (SBU) While OZTURK has been involved with the actions protesting Turfts' relationship with Israel, QHS/ICE/HSI has not, however, provided any evidence showing that OZTURK has engaged in any antisemitic activity or made any public statements indicating support for a terrorist organization or antisemitism generally. While the report implies a connection between OZTURK and the now-banned Tufts Student for Justice in Pa…

OZTURK was involved in any of the activities which resulted in TJSP being suspended from Tufts. (SBU) Through a search on March 21, 2025, on available USG interagency databases, CA/VO identified no reporting specific to OZTURK, and interagency vetting partners did not provide any response to OZTURK's 2024 visa application indicating the existence of derogatory terrorism-related information. (SBU) OHS did not identify any alternative grounds of removability that would be applicable to OZTURK, including the ground of removability for aliens who have provided material support to a foreign terrorist organization or terrorist activity, and have not indicated whether it plans to consider termination of OZTURK's SEVIS registration. Although information provided by OHS/HSI/ICE does not establish any potential ineligibility for OZTURK, you may, in your discretion and in accordance with Department policy in 9 FAM 403.11-5(8), approve revocation of her F-1 visa effective immediately based on the totality of the circumstances presented indicating that revocation may be warranted.

Here is the newly-unsealed State Department memo confirming -- finally -- that the detention of Tufts student Rümeysa Öztürk was based on an op-ed.

No antisemitic activity. No support of terrorism.

An op-ed in a student newspaper.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

"Can ICE Enter a Home To Make an Arrest With Only an Administrative Warrant?" a deep dive for the law nerds new from me, posted over at Volokh.
reason.com/volokh/2026/...

Faculty Are Overwhelmed and Conflicted by AI, Survey Shows One-third of instructors say they’ve dealt with a lot of academic-integrity violations.

About 90% of instructors surveyed believe that generative AI will diminish students’ critical thinking skills, and 78% said that cheating has increased on their campus since these tools have become widely available. Will AI tools will lower value of academic degrees? https://chroni.cl/3ZkgzuC

The present is present.

in a few weeks "powerpointpresentationFINAL34b"

On Philosophy’s Importance - Daily Nous "You want to know why philosophy matters? This is the true answer, and the one upon which we must plant our flag: philosophy is the most productive force ever discovered by human beings and we are res...

"Philosophy is the most productive force ever discovered by human beings..."
A rallying cry for philosophy.

The updated SEP entry on #Hyperintensionality is online!
As the topic has exploded in recent years, might be Daniel and I haven't managed to mention YOUR stuff. Don't be upset: rest assured we've mentioned something intensionally equivalent to that. 😎

plato.stanford.edu/entries/hype...

These NYT video analyses are excellent. They convinced me that Kyle Rittenhouse was innocent of most of what was alleged about him.

This discussion with philosopher Hanna Pickard about her new book on addiction was clear, interesting from both a philosophical and a clinical perspective , and deeply humane.

As the managing editor of the Croatian Journal of Philosophy, I cordially invite you all to check out our archive! All papers are open-access, freely available to download, and you can easily search for what you need by typing in a keyword 🙂 #philsky

An essay from Joseph Heath from about 10 years ago on a related topic - "me studies" - which might be of interest.

I find Gmail’s new “write this for me” feature deeply sinister. They’re trying to convince you that you are dumb and helpless. Don’t let them steal your ability to formulate thoughts and communicate. You were capable of writing an email in 2022 and you’re capable now.

Just found a new path so my Erdos # is 5 rather than 6.

I was wondering when someone would notice my accomplishment.

FDA Issues Guidance on Modernizing Statistical Methods for Clinical Trials The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today published draft guidance designed to facilitate the use of Bayesian methodologies in clinical trials of drugs and biologics, helping drug developers make be...

Frequentists take note!

FDA Issues Guidance on Modernizing Statistical Methods for Clinical Trials The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today published draft guidance designed to facilitate the use of Bayesian methodologies in clinical trials of drugs and biologics, helping drug developers make be...

Frequentists take note!

“current AI systems are a death sentence for civic institutions, and we should treat them as such”

To celebrate #WorldLogicDay, I once again share the joke I heard Sidney Morgenbesser tell about George Santayana:

"Now there's a guy who asserted both p and not-p, and then drew out all the implications"

A Dishonest Response from TAMU President Tommy Williams - Daily Nous The interim president of Texas A&M, Tommy Williams, has publicly replied to last week's reports of his university telling a philosophy professor to remove readings by Plato and others from the syllabu...

The president of a university actually defends forcing a professor to remove Plato from his course by saying, "We didn't ban ALL Plato." Um, first, no one said you did. Second... dailynous.com/2026/01/13/a...

So relieved to learn that Texas A&M is not banning Plato altogether, but merely redacting his work to ensure it conforms to accepted state ideology

Reminder -- deadline at the end of January.