"Overall, our findings reveal an important and growing divide in political identity; they also undermine sweeping claims about ideological effects of higher education"

Ancient Athenians often used a lottery system called sortition, believing it to be fairer and less divisive than elections. In this animation, Michael Vazquez explores how lottery-based democracy worked, why it faded, and whether it could help address today’s political polarisation and distrust

Philosophy was mostly "armchair" in the mid-20th century—but it's not anymore! Philosophers have increasingly cited empirical sources and discussed empirical data and evidence. In fact, as of the 2020s, non-empirical philosophy has become the minority.

This IHE article discusses my recent work with @mvazquez.bsky.social about how students' politics change during college. Simply put, independently of political *beliefs* students seem to adopt an "educated liberal" *identity.*

Opinion | The Real ‘Diploma Divide’ Is About Identity, Not Beliefs The familiar narrative that colleges are fueling a growing divide in political beliefs is not backed up by the data. But something else consequential has changed. By Michael Vazquez and Michael Prinzing. https://bit.ly/4uQcSeM

Does going to college make people more liberal? Probably yes, but it’s complicated… For decades, US adults with degrees have held more left-leaning views on social issues, but not on economic ones. And, until the 2010s, grads did not *identify* as more liberal than non-grads.

“We got so lucky to follow such an inspiring group of students. Their journey is an excellent snapshot of how rewarding the ethics bowl experience can be.”

Should ideas be owned like physical objects, or are these property rights different? How can societies encourage innovation while making ideas accessible for the greater good? Watch this animated TED-Ed short examining philosophers’ perspectives on intellectual property rights through history

I had a great chat about how studying philosophy can make people better thinkers with @mvazquez.bsky.social, @markalfano.bsky.social, Deborah Mower, and Heather Battaly. Thanks to @apaphilosophy.bsky.social for hosting and making the recording available! www.apaonline.org/mpage/benefi...

Turns out studying philosophy is actually valuable. Philosophy majors don’t just argue well, they actually become better thinkers and do better on tests. Data from 600k students shows they outscore every other major on reasoning, curiosity and open-mindedness.

Are you a faculty member trying to convince university administrators that philosophy is important? Or a student wondering about the benefits of taking philosophy courses? Join us for “Benefits of Studying Philosophy” on August 27. Registration is open to all: www.apaonline.org/events/Event...

We are excited to announce the 4th Annual Penn-Georgetown Digital Ethics Workshop, organized by Brian Berkey and myself. The conference will take place April 3-4, 2026, at Penn. If you work on digital technology ethics, broadly construed, please consider submitting an abstract.

“When students realize their own humanity is at stake in their education, they are deeply invested in it.” bit.ly/457AAYZ

New research on the question of whether studying philosophy makes students better thinkers...

Join us for an APA Live event: The Benefits of Studying Philosophy Wednesday, August 27, 2025 6 p.m Eastern / 3 p.m. Pacific Register here: tinyurl.com/4773k45a

@mvazquez.bsky.social and I analyzed data from over half a million college students, looking at tests of verbal, logical, and mathematical reasoning, plus self-report measures of valuable habits of mind (a mix of curiosity, open-mindedness, intellectual rigor, etc.) 2/4

Elizabeth D. Rockwell Center Prize for Best Article on Ethics, Leadership, and Public Policy, for paper published in print or online in the last three years. uh.edu/hobby/edr-ce...

What do we owe the dead? In this new TED-Ed video, Sarah Stroud and I examine promises made to a dying spouse—and what moral philosophy says about keeping them: go.unc.edu/wishes This is part of an ongoing partnership with TED-Ed to build educational resources in ethics: go.unc.edu/ted-ed

On Saturday, K-12 educators from across the Triangle joined us on UNC's campus for "The Art of Inquiry: Promoting Responsible Belief in the Classroom." With guidance from @jeffgreene.bsky.social (UNC) and Paula McAvoy (NCState), participants learned strategies for fostering critical thinking...(1/2)

So fun talking to teachers about "Educating for Responsible Belief" at the “The Art of Inquiry: Promoting Responsible Belief in the Classroom” event hosted by the Applied Epistemology Project at UNC-CH (@unc-aep.bsky.social). Slides available if you're curious: https://buff.ly/4jeXJhr

Abstracts for the 2025 SPP at Cornell are due on January 24th!

Excellent reporting on how the Cuban govt military dept GAESA has billions that could be used for urgent aid but is instead being used (through GAESA owned Almest and Gaviota) to invest in tourism. Crony communist corruption, not egalitarianism, rules the island. www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-...

Them “It’s all a bit academic really.” Me (in my head) “You’re right, it’s so important we need to concentrate efforts to study it!”

If you’ve read Nudge you don’t make a New Year’s Resolution. You make a New Year’s Adjustment to Your Choice Architecture.

The SPP can for papers is out. The Society for Philosophy and Psychology (SPP) invites submissions of papers to be presented at its 51st Annual Meeting, to be held June 19-21, 2025 at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Please submit an abstract by January 24, 2025 at 11:59pm EST.

Would you trade some privacy for safer roads? Sarah Stroud and I explore this question in a new TED-Ed video! Watch here: go.unc.edu/privacy And check out our growing library of ethics content: parrcenter.unc.edu/ted-ed

2025 Request for Proposals: Building Capacity and Community at U.S. Colleges and Universities The Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest has announced another round of funding with grants for individuals and institutions. Check out: leadershipandcharacter.wfu.edu/eci/grants/

Excited for this year's colab on Euripides' Alcestis with Michael Vazquez (@mvazquez.bsky.social), Kari Lindquist, and other ultra-talented and inspiring individuals parrcenter.unc.edu/alcestis/ Alcestis is a peculiar play, and one that is peculiarly timely in 2024. Please spread the word!

Colleges have fled standardized tests, on the theory that they hurt diversity. That’s not what the research shows. “Once we brought the test requirement back, we admitted the most diverse class that we ever had in our history,” www.nytimes.com/2024/01/07/b...

Michael Prinzing and Michael Vazquez (@mvazquez.bsky.social) preprint: "Does Studying Philosophy Make People Better Thinkers." A wide ranging review of empirical work plus new research of their own. Some suggestive results but more research needed. Really interesting! #philsky

What makes life worth living? Would you choose extinction or posterity without culture & meaning? UNC philosopher Doug MacLean invites us to ponder these questions in our latest installment of the Parr Center + TED-Ed Ethical Dilemma series. Check it out! www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aEQ...

This paper is amazing Goal: To understand how philosophical education impacts philosophical intuitions Method: Tracking a sample of undergrad philosophy majors across their entire college career, giving them the same thought experiments each semester www.researchgate.net/publication/...

Has anyone tested the benefits of teaching people to make truth tables? Has it improved people's performance on any test of logical competence? A concise report of a controlled experiment would be great, but I'm interested in whatever you know about. #Logic #Teaching #edu

Too humble for words by Neil Levy | Another interesting paper from the always insightful and original @neillevy.bsky.social | link.springer.com/article/10.1... | #OpenAccess |

Lucretius (new entry - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) plato.stanford.edu/entries/lucr...