Elucidations

Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • Further Reading: Social Groups

    If you want to explore our guest’s view on social groups in more detail, you can check out the following two papers: Social Structures and the Ontology of Social Groups, Katherine Ritchie The Metaphysics of Social Groups, Katherine Ritchie Happy reading!–Matt Teichman

  • Episode 115: Katherine Ritchie discusses social groups

    This month, I sit down with Katherine Ritchie (CUNY Graduate Center, City College) to talk about what a social group is. Click here to listen to our conversation. What is there to being a group of people? Does being in a group basically just mean you’re on the list of people who are in the…

  • Further reading on ideology

    For those of you who are curious to sink your teeth into Sally Haslanger’s incredible body of work, we recommend you visit her website, which features many of her writings: https://sallyhaslanger.weebly.com/

  • Episode 114: Sally Haslanger discusses ideology

    This month, Emily Dupree and I talk to Sally Haslanger (MIT) about ideology. Click here to listen to our conversation. We throw the word ‘ideology’ around a lot, but what does it actually mean? Well, unfortunately, different people mean different things by it at different times. One thing we often mean by it is ‘a…

  • Further Reading: Quantum Mechanics

    For people who are interested in delving into the philosophical literature on quantum mechanics and its interpretations, Tom Pashby recommends the Stanford Encylopedia of Philosophy entry as a starting point. Happy reading!-Matt

  • Episode 113: Tom Pashby discusses quantum mechanics

    Ever wonder what quantum mechanics is? You are not alone. This month, we talk to Tom Pashby (University of Chicago) about what makes quantum mechanics so hard to interpret, despite the fact that it makes incredibly accurate empirical predictions. Click here to listen. Quantum mechanics is hard to interpret for a number of reasons, but…

  • Episode 112: Myisha Cherry discusses the skill of conversation

    In this episode, Myisha Cherry (UC Riverside) and I talk about talking. What makes someone good at at, and what makes someone bad at it? Click here to listen to our conversation. We don’t always think of conversation as a skill. Often, we think of it as something that just happens automatically; I need to…

  • Episode 111: Greg Kobele discusses mathematical linguistics

    This month, we talk to Greg Kobele (Universität Leipzig) about what linguistics is and how abstract mathematics can be of use to it. Click here to listen to our conversation. Linguists study the rules that speakers of a given language actually follow when they speak. Not made-up rules like “never end a sentence with a…

  • Further reading on Du Bois

    For those of you who are interested in following up on what Chike Jeffers and I discussed, you can’t go wrong reading Du Bois himself: The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. Du Bois You may also be interested in reading the papers that were given during this event on Elizabeth Anderson’s book: Fall 2013 Symposium:…

  • Episode 110: Chike Jeffers discusses the social and political philosophy of W.E.B. Du Bois

    This month, we sit down with Chike Jeffers (Dalhousie University) to discuss the work of W.E.B. Du Bois. Click here to listen to our conversation. It’s the end of the American civil war. 4 million slaves have just been freed. Now what do we all do? The question still wasn’t settled by the turn of…

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