PHIL555: Modal Thought | Notion Overview

Syllabus (draft) on modal thought: flaxen-store-af3.notion.site/PHIL555-Moda...

Comments welcome!

So well-deserved!! 🥳

Aw thanks!! 💜

@tmandalaywala.bsky.social

Only one week left to register for our conference "Essentialism in the Human Mind" at @umassamherst.bsky.social!

Hey folks- I’ll be doing the next one of these, if your grad students want to chat Philsci, game theory, evolutionary or agent based modeling, misinformation please share

Spread the word & register for our conference "Essentialism in the Human Mind", combining perspectives from Phil & Psych, on April 26 at UMass Amherst! @umasspress.bsky.social @umassamherst.bsky.social sites.google.com/view/essenti...

In the past 5 years, there’s been an explosion of new work on the philosophy & cog sci of norms. If you want to get up to speed on it, check out this newly revised SEP entry on the Psychology of Normative Cognition by @dryan149.bsky.social, Stephen Setman & me.
plato.stanford.edu/entries/psyc...

BBC News: HPV vaccine stops 90% of cervical cancer cases Giving teenagers the HPV vaccine is cutting cases of cervical cancer by 90%, figures for England show. Scientists say it works so well that this type of cancer could be eradicated in the near future.

A vaccine that prevents cancer: ‘Scientists say the HPV vaccine works so well that this type of cancer could be eradicated in the near future.’

Over 99% of cervical cancers are caused by this virus—so preventing the infection prevents the cancer. Amazing news!

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Much of that paper shows, we think, that things are much more theoretically complex and less empirically clear than they are sometimes made out to be in much of the literature. Check it out! (3/3)

The paper re-evaluates many of the core claims of the "Generics-as-Default" research program that have acquired some sort of orthodoxy-status in philosophy, psychology, and linguistics, such as the view that generics are deeply and uniquely linked to stereotyping. (2/3)

Giving Generic Language Another Thought According to an influential research program in cognitive science, philosophy, and linguistics, there is a deep, special connection between generics and stereotyping. However, recent empirical and th...

Our paper "Giving Generic Language Another Thought" (authored by myself, Annie Bosse, Guillermo Del Pinal, and Rachel Sterken) is now officially out in WIREs Cognitive Science. wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... (1/3)

The OSF is available for preservation of datasets that need saving.

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Contact support@osf.io if you need assistance

Just a reminder that the deadline to submit to @socphilpsych.bsky.social is (for real this time) Friday, Jan 31, at 11:59 Eastern! It's going to be a fantastic meeting, with keynotes from Louise Antony and Fei Xu, some incredible invited symposia, and a preconference "Possibilities Near and Far".

Check out my new syllabus for my PhD seminar on foundations of cogsci! this semester will be so much fun flaxen-store-af3.notion.site/PHIL-755-Fou...

Will Fleisher, Algorithmic Fairness Criteria as Evidence - PhilPapers Statistical fairness criteria are widely used for diagnosing and ameliorating algorithmic bias. However, these fairness criteria are controversial as their use raises several difficult questions. I ar...

I have a new paper coming out in Ergo about algorithmic fairness, for anyone who might be interested in that sort of thing.

philpapers.org/rec/FLEAFC

We Have a Ceasefire Deal, but This Isn’t the End The widely reported agreement must hold. We haven’t begun to understand the full scope of the horrors Israel wrought. And Palestine is still not free.

This profoundly important piece by Mohammad Alsaafin is a must-read today: www.thenation.com/article/worl...

I am following the cue of Gazans celebrating on the streets and trying to feel some joy. I’m facing how numb I’ve become in order to survive. I longed for this moment for 467 days, and it’s here. And I don’t know how to access my feelings about it.

Aw, thanks so much for these extremely kind words! Made my day!!!

I wrote a blog post about the very different approaches to citing old papers in philosophy vs. psychology - and which approach is the better one

xphi.net/2025/01/03/h...

Is generic language—eg “Brits have bad teeth”—a unique cause of harmful social cognition (eg stereotyping)? @eneufeld.bsky.social et al review the evidence and conclude the generics→ social bias link is more complex and less direct than previously thought
https://buff.ly/48jgRFC

New paper alert! Junhyo Lee's & my paper on pornography's effects on desire is forthcoming in Philosophical Quarterly. We're expanding on Langton&West's presupposition model of pornography to explain its effects on desires, and argue that it issues implicit directives. philpapers.org/rec/LEEHDP?f...

SPP abstracts for the 50th Anniversary Meeting are due in one month, with a great lineup of speakers and events!

The talk recordings from the "Causality in Minds and Machines" workshop are live now.

sites.google.com/view/causali...

Thanks again to all the speakers and to the Society for Mathematical Psychology for sponsoring the workshop!

famous moments in psychology / cog-sci as lego sets, a thread.

1. Pavlov's dogs.

What's your favorite definition (/characterization/..) of analog and digital representations?

Center for Philosophy of Science Live talks and videos, featuring our visiting fellows and range of unique and engaging experts! Hosted by the Center for Philosophy of Science and University of Pittsburgh. The Center for Philosoph...

m.youtube.com/channel/UCrR...

🚀 We've officially landed on Bluesky! Excited to join this vibrant new platform and (re)connect with all of you!

🗣️💬 Help us spread the word by retweeting and following.

Check out my syllabus for my grad seminar "Foundations of Cognitive Science"! flaxen-store-af3.notion.site/PHIL-755-Fou...