"Christianity is not a body of propositions...[It] is, rather, a way of life that is thoroughly practical. It is dedicated to engaging God...a central aim of the Christian life is not to theorize about God but to know God." -Terence Cuneo place.asburyseminary.edu/faithandphil...

This was nice to see today. www.pdcnet.org/philtheol/co... #philosophy #c18

Police and judges need a refresher on the First Amendment. Kansas’ Marion County just provided the syllabus — the expensive way.

So, I get several scam emails like this a day, but there's something special about a man wanting to write articles about casinos and sports betting whose fake name is Robert Poverty.

Oct. 26, 1775: The chancellor, masters and scholars of Oxford University address King George III to declare their “utter abhorrence” of the “seditious proceedings, by which some of your Majesty's American subjects” are resisting royal authority. The chancellor happens to Prime Minister Lord North.

Full solution to all of ethics here: www.smbc-comics.com/comic/ethics-8 #smbc

Kant on Righteous Spinoza, and some Adam Smith open.substack.com/pub/digressi...

The person that some experts say is the president of the United States has been accused of posting what appears to be a video on what some critics are calling Saturday

Just received from a colleague: looks like Penn is going to join the universities refusing the extortionary Trump "compact". I do not regret to inform you that we are going to win

Step 1: refuse to draw any distinction between "phantasm, notion, species, or whatever it is which the mind can be employed about in thinking". #philosophy #c17

Please remember that the disgust people have over Christopher Columbus is not based on some modern, 21st century “woke” ideology, but rather on contemporaneous accounts of atrocities that make many modern genocides appear quaint in comparison. Below, are the accounts of Bartlomé de las Casas.

Editorial Manager account created

Pope Leo XIV has blasted how wealthy people live in a “bubble of comfort and luxury” while the poor suffer. In his first teaching document Thursday, Leo confirms that he is in perfect lockstep with Pope Francis on matters of social injustice.

Children's literature in the 'news': theonion.com/u-s-military...

Lovely write-up about great things happening in my department! www.jmu.edu/news/cal/202...

My colleague Alan Levinovitz in the New York Times! www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/h...

In #c17 seventeenth century Iceland, 40% of the male population was named Jon Jonson. Friend was transcribing a witchcraft trial where accused, plaintiff, victim, judge, & two witnesses were all Jon Jonson. I console myself with this story whenever Renaissance Italy gives me too many Giovannis.

Oh. My. God. www.popsci.com/environment/...

In my study of #c17 & #c18 #philosophy, I’ve encountered only one John Smith, but three Samuel Johnsons, three John Clarkes, and three Edward Synges.

Just got an email from a scam academic journal asking if I wanted to "explore new advances in White Psychodrama" and it's just got me like: buddy, I can watch the news myself.

By now I’m used to board books being a bit butchered compared to the originals, but this is a new low: the board book of There’s a Wocket in my Pocket HAS NO WOCKET IN IT!

The last political column I was allowed to write in the @washingtonpost.com was a criticism of Obama. His people took issue with my piece, but we were respectful. Now he is tweeting in support of me. This is how free political speech and respect for debate *actually works*. Or used to work.

The killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has unleashed a frenzy of recrimination — and finger-pointing. But the suspect's politics may be less clear than some say.

After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.

Page proofs!

yeah, i do peer review

Remember that whole year you had to have Piketty on your coffee table to be accepted in polite society? COMIC ◆ www.smbc-comics.com/comic/unread PATREON ◆ www.patreon.com/ZachWeinersm... STORE ◆ smbc-store.myshopify.com

My department is hiring a tenure-track assistant professor in Jewish Studies this year. Application instructions here: jobs.jmu.edu/jobs/tenure-...

Good stuff happening at my university: www.jmu.edu/news/2025/09...

We’re reasonably safe where I am b/c philosophy & religious studies are lumped together & 2nd majors count, but the emphasis on majors (& esp 1st majors) is frustrating. www.chronicle.com/article/why-...

Feel totally free to criticize @djt-mirrorbot.bsky.social HE LOVES ATTENTION !

Walking home from the coffee shop and someone tried to give me a free spider plant. Yeah, I know how this works. First ones free. Then before you know it you’re repotting succulents in back alleys

Ok, but “the Ship of Theseus is just baryons. There’s no ship.” (red button panel) is actually a rather popular view in analytic metaphysics.

Ironically, pretrial release of one criminal defendant in particular is substantially responsible for where we are today.

This is an actually interesting (if frightening) general feature of our political situation. When ppl argued for religious toleration back in the 17th c, they often got responses like, "you're forgetting the most important difference: my religion is TRUE!"

We’ve got a major wifi outage on campus for the first day of classes. Hope your semester is off to a better start!

“many philosophers are aware that...Leibniz anticipated Parfit's famous non-identity problem...Leibniz (implicitly) anticipates one of the most discussed objections to Parfit, and this is a key reason why non-identity is not a complete theodicy.” blog.kennypearce.net/archives/phi... #philosophy #c18

Well this is pretty neat to see: dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/cuid/... Unfortunately I don’t read Turkish! I’ve started reading a Google Translate version and the translation is mostly intelligible so far.

I’m generally sympathetic to ‘grammatical Thomism’, but I have no patience for the “there is no problem of evil” line. If your conception of God makes religious attitudes like worship, love, and obedience appropriate, you’ve got a problem about evil. #philosophy

I am no constitutional scholar, but I can't help but feel that "the President gets to dictate what every university can teach and what every television station should broadcast" is closer to what the founding fathers were worried about when it comes to free speech than trigger warnings on syllabi.

Feeling better about my struggles to keep all the John Clarkes straight. I’ve now found 3 pieces of scholarship that discuss the writings of John Clarke, fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (fl. 1732), & 2 of them conflate him with his father, John Clarke, dean of Salisbury (1682–1757). #c18

"If my words have done no more than to shake you in the faith of your fathers, that would have been reason enough to write them. For he who does not doubt does not look; and he who does not look will not see." al-Ghazali, quoted in ibn Tufayl, Hayy ibn Yaqzan, tr. Goodman, p. 101 #philosophy

/3 Note that the alleged assault amounts to throwing BACK a tear gas canister that was thrown at protestors. It’s not assault if they throw tear gas at you but it’s assault if you throw it back. Hey ICE emphasizes they threw UNDERHAND.

Let’s talk about Professor Jonathan Caravello, who teaches math and philosophy at CSU Channel Islands. He’s been detained by the feds based on events at a protest in Ventura County on Thursday. /1 www.pacbiztimes.com/2025/07/12/c...

Dr. Caravello was violently seized while trying to help a wheelchair user after a teargas canister landed under the wheelchair. Friends, supporters, lawyers, and media have been unable to determine what happened to him after that, or where he is. dailynous.com/2025/07/12/p...

Page proofs! This is for the Edinburgh Critical History of Early Modern and Enlightenment Philosophy. #philosophy #c18

I'm sad to learn that @helendecruz.net has died. I never knew her in real life, but had exchanged tweets and then later skeets with her from time to time. Please consider supporting her family: www.gofundme.com/f/support-he... @kennypearce.bsky.social @sjggraham.bsky.social