Philosophers' Cafe: Why Should I Vote?

On the benefits of a philosophy major

According to the Educational Testing Service, which administers the GRE, the analytic writing section tests “critical thinking and analytical writing skills. It assesses [your] ability to articulate and support complex ideas, construct and evaluate arguments, and sustain a focused and coherent discussion.” Philosophy majors are also the best with regard to verbal ability, and the best of the liberal arts students at quantitative reasoning. Simply put, our students have the best all-around intellectual skills.

On the benefits of a philosophy major « Pleas and Excuses:

After Spinoza: wiser, freer, happier

An interview with Ursula Renz at 3:AM Magazine.

Ursula Renz does strenuous brooding on Spinoza’s ethics in Klagenfurt and Zurich. The results of this won a major prize. But she thinks philosophy is largely its own reward and sometimes you worry that you’ll never work it out. She sees Spinoza as more radical than Descartes but breaks less. She thinks after reading Spinoza’s Ethics we will be wiser, freer and happier but she has doubts about philosophy as therapy. She is the jive sister of Spinoza studies.

After Spinoza: wiser, freer, happier » 3:AM Magazine

The rise in stock of philosophy graduates

I think, therefore, I earn. Good news from the UK. "Philosophy graduates are suddenly all the rage with employers. What can they possibly have to offer?"
The rise in stock of philosophy graduates

Philosophers' Cafe

We now have topics for our Philosophers' Cafe series this semester.

Friday, September 28 from 3:00 to 4:00 in GH 316

Why do (should?) we vote in political elections? Is voting a civic virtue? A duty? Should I vote mor my interests or society's interests? If I vote for a losing candidate or proposition, am I obligated to follow the will of the majority?

Friday, October 27 from 3:00-4:00 in GH 316

ERGO Card Tournament. A card game the follows the rules of logic. Prizes! 

Friday, November 30 from 3:00-4:00 in GH 316

Is moral knowledge learned or innate? Meno asks the question of Socrates and we are still asking the question today. What do philosophers say? What do scientists say? What is moral knowledge anyway?

Crimes and Misdemeanors

The NKU Film and Philosophy Series will present Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors on Friday, October 14, form 3:00-6:00 in the Digitoriun, GH. Join us for a great movie and discussion.

Whisperer of doubt: Interview with Simon Blackburn

Simon Blackburn is a groovy humanist philosopher who sticks it to the Pope and thinks respect can’t be taken for granted. He has written many books so that people are clear that the citadel of conservativism is prey to the whispers of doubt. So he’s a tough-minded whisperer out to topple injustices and remind people that we’re all in the grip of some ideas from somewhere and someone for some reason somehow. So we’d better make sure we’re ok with it all. He doesn’t dumb-down but brings people up to philosophy, which makes him a jive jewell radical.

Whisperer of doubt » 3:AM Magazine:

Best Majors for GRE Scores: Still Physics and Philosophy

Although the GRE made significant revisions to the test this academic year, one fact remains: Physics and philosophy students still rocked the test. Physics majors tied for first in the math section, and philosophy students topped the verbal and writing sections.

Buzz Blog

Philosophy Club and Fall Events

Any NKU students interested in joining the Philosophy Club should contact Rudy Garns or Yaw Frimpong-Mansoh. Members of Phi Sigma Tau are especially encouraged to participate. We will gather names of interested students over the next week and then organize a meeting to elect officers and set an agenda.

We do have a schedule of philosophy-oriented fall events for all NKU students.

Fall 2012

Film and Philosophy Series

The second Friday of each month we will screen a particularly thought provoking film and follow it with a discussion. Open to everyone. Cookies and beverages will be available.

Friday, September 14, 3:00-6:00 Digitorium (GH) Crimes and Misdemeanors (Woody Allen, 1989)

Friday, October 12, 3:00-6:00 Digitorium (GH) A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick, 1971)

Friday, November 9, 3:00-6:00 Digitorium (GH) Solaris (Andrey Tarkovskiy, 1972)

Philosophers' Cafe

The fourth Friday of each month we invite students, faculty, staff and community members to join us for an informal discussion of a pre-selected philosophical issue.

Friday, September 28, 3:00-4:00 GH 316 Topic: TBA

Friday, October 26(tentative), 3:00-4:00 GH 316 Topic: TBA

Friday, November 30, 3:00-4:00 GH 316 Topic: TBA

Please join us.

Socially Engaged Philosophy of Science

49th Annual Cincinnati Philosophy Colloquium: Socially Engaged Philosophy of Science, 11-13 October 2012. This will be a good colloquium and a great opportunity for NKU faculty and students to interact with some good philosophers on some interesting issues.

49th Annual Colloquium at UC: Socially Engaged Philosophy of Science

Bernanke to Economists: More Philosophy, Please

On Monday, Ben Bernanke wasn’t talking like a scientist. He was talking like a philosopher. “The ultimate purpose of economics, of course, is to understand and promote the enhancement of well-being,” he said. To a roomful of economists, he suggested that the measurements they were using, like gross domestic product and personal consumption expenditures, were inadequate to that understanding. “Aggregate statistics can sometimes mask important information,” he said. Translation: People are unhappy, and we don’t know exactly why. “We should see better and more direct measurements of economic well being,” he said, “the ultimate objective of our policy decision.” Translation: I know it’s hard to measure happiness. Start doing it, anyway.

Bernanke to Economists: More Philosophy, Please

Crimes and Misdemeanors

Our first film in this fall's Film and Philosophy series is Woody Allen's 1989 film Crimes and Misdemeanors. Join us Friday, Sept. 14 from 3:00-6:00 in the NKU Digitorium (Griffin Hall) for a lively discussion on questions of justice and morality.

Philosophical teaching will get students thinking for themselves again

Teachers need to stop teaching to the test and adopt a more philosophical teaching style across the curriculum....

Philosophical teaching will get students thinking for themselves again

How the Internet Could Learn to Feel

An interview with Christof Koch.

Consciousness is the central factor of our lives. The only way I know I exist is because I'm conscious. I might be mistaken about who exactly I am -- for example, how attractive I am to the opposite sex -- but there's no doubt I have feelings of pain, pleasure, anger, of being a man, of waking up. Until recently, science has neglected to incorporate the fact of consciousness into its theories. If science wants a complete understanding of everything in the universe, it has to include consciousness.

The Nature of Consciousness: How the Internet Could Learn to Feel - Steve Paulson - The Atlantic

Martha Nussbaum: the new religious intolerance

Martha Nussbaum talks about the new religious intolerance.

In her new book, The New Religious Intolerance: Overcoming the Politics of Fear in an Anxious Age (Harvard University Press, 2012), the internationally celebrated philosopher Martha Nussbaum argues that in the past decade there has been an upsurge in 'Islamophobia'. It culminated in the initial—but wrong—assumption that Muslims were responsible for the massacre of 77 people in Norway in July 2011. When the killer turned out to be an anti-Muslim zealot, Nussbaum argued that people needed to re-examine their attitudes based on fear. But in this extended interview, she also discusses the challenge that the radical fringe of Islam poses for traditional western views of tolerance.

Martha Nussbaum: the new religious intolerance - Religion and Ethics Report - ABC Radio National

Interview with philosopher Richard Brown

Shombies v. Zombies

Richard Brown is a funkybodacious philosopher of consciousness and leader of the Shombie universe. He’s asked why 1+1 has to equal 2, presented a short argument proving that there is no God, shown what’s wrong with eating meat, discussed both the delayed choice quantum eraser and pain asymbolia whils’t he flies his freak flag to Alan Turing. He denies Skynet forced him to co-write Terminator and Philosophy: I’ll Be Back Therefore I Am but has never been known to sleep. He’s another renegade philosophical musical doo bee doo from the legendary NYC bands who brought you 8-bit fusion higher-order thoughts about vegan unicorn meat with experimental breakbeats. Jammin’.

Read the interview.

Quit Your Technology Job and Get a Humanities Ph.D.

Dr. Damon Horowitz is a philosopher and entrepreneur, exploring what is possible at the intersection of technology and the humanities. He discusses the value of a humanities Ph.D. in a world that is being continuously inundated with new technology, and how to apply the degree toward a successful career. 

Socrates narrowly acquitted 2,400 years after death

The vote was close again. And this time the death penalty was not on the line.

Socrates’ sentencing to death has modern-day implications, as the issues of freedom of speech are as resonant today, as they were 2,400 years ago, say the organizers of the mock re-trial.

Not guilty: Socrates narrowly acquitted 2,400 years after death

What Physics Learns From Philosophy

...what about the oft-heard claim that philosophy, unlike science, makes no progress? As Bertrand Russell (himself no slouch at physics and mathematics) observed, philosophy aims at knowledge, and as soon as it obtains definite knowledge in a specific area, that area ceases to be called “philosophy.” And scientific progress gives philosophers more and more to do. Allow me to quote Nietzsche (although I know that will be considered by some to be in bad taste): “As the circle of science grows larger, it touches paradox at more places.” Physicists expand the circle, and philosophers help clear up the paradoxes. May both camps flourish. 

What Physics Learns From Philosophy - NYTimes.com

Do Not Listen to Peter Cohan and Cut the Humanities Departments

"...Matthew Goldstein, the CUNY chancellor, who majored in mathematics and statistics: 'If I were to start again as an undergraduate, I would major in philosophy…I think that subject is really at the core of just about everything we do. If you study humanities or political systems or sciences in general, philosophy is really the mother ship from which all of these disciplines grow.'"

Do Not Listen to Peter Cohan and Cut the Humanities Departments - Forbes