Erm, they're called palaeontologists, actually.

99% of the time, saying that feature F explains why humans are unique or special is just rhetorical window dressing for something like "F is a thing humans do and I think that's neat."

*watching civilization crumble* Wow this is harming so many people in their capacities as knowers 😔😔

Nancy Cartwright has an apt expression for this phenomenon: vanity of rigour.

I get yelled at for saying this but for many hundreds of years people went to university not to get diplomas or be employable but because immersion in the humanities was considered foundational to a good life, and school must return to its original purpose: the joy of learning.

New on the Archive: Franklin, Alexander (2026) Against Rigour: In Favour of Informal Standards for Reduction in Philosophy of Physics. [Preprint] https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/28449/

Such a fantastic talk today at LSE. A triumph in interdisciplinary philosophy!

There is this funny but confusing dynamic whereby philosophers point to neuroscience as the strongest support yet for the causal closure of the physical world, and then the neuroscientists themselves turn out to be substance dualists.

The Center for Philosophy of Science is proud to congratulate former visiting fellow Andrea Roselli on the publication of two papers. Scan the QR code or visit our website for more information. #PhilosophyofScience

I'm thankful for having been given the opportunity to present my analysis of fusion emergence from the perspective of the philosophy of physics at the 'Panpsychism, Non-Physicalism, and Causal Powers of Consciousness' workshop in @ruhr-uni-bochum.de. An enjoyable and insightful few days!

I had a great time at the ‘Panpsychism, Non-Physicalism, and the Causal Powers of Consciousness’ workshop with @heddamorch.bsky.social at Ruhr Uni Bochum. So many compelling new views that push the debate forward. I’m very grateful to have had this opportunity! Photo by @finnthwaite.bsky.social! 📸

“As the number of physicists increases, each specialty becomes more self-sustaining and self-contained. Such Balkanization carries physics, and indeed, every science further away, from natural philosophy, which, intellectually, is the meaning and goal of science.” — I.I. Rabi

Is panpsychism a philosophical dead-end or a legitimate response to the hard problem of consciousness? I respond to Walter Veit's critique and defend panpsychism as a serious metaphysical option, not ornamental fluff. #philsky @walterveit.bsky.social

I've been working for ages on a comprehensive revamp of the Stanford Encyclopedia Entry on "Animal Consciousness", with new sections on non-Western perspectives, methodological challenges and evolutionary big pictures, and it's out today: plato.stanford.edu/entries/cons.... Hope you find it useful!

Merry Christmas to me!

My article on aeonophiles (ultra-long lived organisms) came out in Aeon Magazine today!

He Knew

In my first Substack post, I write about why panpsychism - the view that consciousness is everywhere - should be taken seriously. While seemingly radical, it rests on a set of individually compelling premises about the nature of reality. Subscribe for more! ✨ #philsky

We're all fundamental. Here's my weird take on #panpsychism. Open-access article! 🙂 #philsky

“Within this culture, physicalism often functions not as a contested ontological thesis, but as a default assumption, one barely needing defence. As a result, arguments in favour of physicalism are typically held to a far lower standard of scrutiny than those opposing it.“ @finnthwaite.bsky.social

Thanks to whoever gave/sold this to Skoob books. What a find! Excited to read the real thing rather than the PDFs.

it’s a competition.

The Indispensability of Intuitions by @gnosishead.bsky.social . New in the Elements in Epistemology series. Free download till 5 November. www.cambridge.org/core/element...

Maybe not surprising when you consider how much of academia functions as a refuge for weird little gremlins who just want to be left alone to work on our model trains

It's too far-fetched, unfortunately.

Oh. That doesn’t seem right

people *always* see Superman and Clark Kent in the same place

Here is "AI Consciousness: A Centrist Manifesto". I've been working on this feverishly because the issue seems to me so urgent - and I'm worried extreme positions on both sides are becoming locked in, when the best way forward is in the centre. Please read it! philpapers.org/rec/BIRACA-4

I'm honored to have my work featured in this workshop in Bochum, January 29-30 2026. See the poster for Call for papers, and list of excellent other speakers!

For all of us there should be some threshold where we put aside all our other projects and focus instead on resisting tyranny. It's just extremely difficult to see where that line is from the inside, when you're the frog being boiled.

So grateful to everyone who helped me organise the Summer School on Panpsychism at the Institute of Philosophy in Zagreb, as well as to everyone who attended! ☺️ Special thanks to our keynotes @heddamorch.bsky.social, @davidpapineau.bsky.social, and @philipgoff.bsky.social! 🙏🏻

15 years of radio observations yielded this amazing view down the throat of a black hole. We're looking into a jet of plasma shooting out from a supermassive black hole, called PKS 1424+240. The lines depict intense magnetic fields threaded through the jet. 🧪🔭 www.mpg.de/25171297/eye...

So many of my fellow scientists are deeply anti-intellectual at heart.