Tag Archives: Philosophy

Colors are objective, according to two philosophers − even though the blue you see doesn’t match what I see

Elay Shech is Professor of Philosophy, Auburn University.
Elay Shech is interested in philosophy of physics, philosophy of science, philosophy of mathematics, and history of philosophy, as well as issues in biomedical and environmental ethics. His work primarily concerns the nature and role of idealizations and representations in the sciences and, more specifically, in condensed matter physics.

Michael Watkins is Professor of Philosophy, Auburn University.
Michael Watkins earned his PhD from The Ohio State University. He has taught at Auburn for the past 20 years, during which time he has also held adjunct and visiting appointments at Dalhousie University in Canada, the University of Rijeka in Croatia, and Cornell. He publishes in metaphysics, philosophy of mind, aesthetics and ethics, with special interests in philosophical problems related to color, perception, and objectivity. He is a past Lanier Professor.

What’s it like being a raven or a crow?

Walter Veit is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Philosophy at the University of Reading, where I am also the director of the PPE program as well as the philosophy MA program.
“Furthermore, I am an external member of the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. My interests are broad, but I work primarily in and at the intersections of (i) the Philosophy of Cognitive and Biological Sciences, (ii) the Philosophy of Mind, and (iii) Applied Ethics. Much of my recent writing has been on animal minds, welfare, and ethics, as well as evolution. My first monograph titled ‘A Philosophy for the Science of Animal Consciousness‘ integrating this research into a coherent whole has been published with Routledge. I received my PhD in 2023 from the School of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Sydney. I also spent time during my PhD as a visiting student at the London School of Economics and Political Science, the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Oxford, before I moved on to a post-doctoral position at the University of Bristol.”

Heather Browning is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Southampton.
“My primary research interests are animal welfare, ethics, and consciousness. I completed my PhD at the Australian National University, with a thesis on the measurement of animal welfare.
I have previously worked as a researcher in animal sentience and welfare at the London School of Economics, as part of the Foundations of Animal Sentience project. I was part of the research team who produced a report for DEFRA reviewing the evidence of sentience in cephalopod molluscs and decapod crustaceans, leading to an amendment of the UK’s Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act to include their protection.
I also worked for many years as a zookeeper and zoo animal welfare officer, interested in the practical application of animal welfare measurement.”

God’s AI Reckoning: The Final Revelation

As artificial intelligence grows more capable, it’s reshaping how humanity confronts belief. This essay explores how machines now pose questions once reserved for prophets and philosophers—disrupting spiritual traditions, simulating consciousness, and reinterpreting faith as a cognitive inheritance. From data-driven skepticism to the algorithmic search for meaning, AI isn’t just analyzing religion—it’s participating in the inquiry. Drawing on philosophy, neuroscience, and cultural reflection, the piece asks: when machines illuminate what was once unknowable, does divinity fade… or evolve?

A Psychedelic Mind: Metaphysics and Psychiatry

This article examines whether “mind altering” substances transcend the experiences of consciousness or are they mere chemicals that release or inhibit the flow of neurotransmitters in the brain. The central question would be to investigate the metaphysical nature of mind-altering substances and whether they truly are ‘revelations’ transcending the crisis of existence or whether they prevent us from seeing our normal reality and thus are a delusional escape. The phenomenological account of a drug induced substance would allow for the transcendental or ‘higher’ self-consciousness felt during such an experience to be real and the research on the use of psychedelic substances in psychiatric therapy might prove drugs to be a novel means of discovering the metaphysical and neurological realities of consciousness. Thus, my aim is to study if psychedelics help us reach the limits of our experience in time and space and enter into the mystical and metaphysical realms of the nature of the ‘self’, its consciousness, realism/ anti realism of its existence and the world experienced by it.

6 ways AI can partner with us in creative inquiry, inspired by media theorist Marshall McLuhan

Gordon A. Gow is Director, Media & Technology Studies, University of Alberta
“I am a professor of media and communications at the University of Alberta, where I currently serve as Director of the Media & Technology Studies unit and hold a cross-appointment with the Department of Sociology. Before joining the University of Alberta in 2006, I was a Lecturer in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics, where I directed the Graduate Programme in Media and Communications Regulation and Policy.
My research and teaching focus on the social impacts of digital media and technology. I lead collaborative projects on digital leadership and literacy, particularly through a technology stewardship initiative involving both Canadian and international partners. My areas of expertise include social media, communication for development, community informatics, the political economy of communication, communication policy and regulation, and science and technology studies.
I also have a longstanding interest in media ecology, with a particular focus on the work of Marshall McLuhan, Harold Innis, and others associated with the Toronto School of Communication.”

Your world is different from a pigeon’s – but a new theory explains how we can still live in the same reality

Catherine Legg is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, Deakin University.

“My areas of research include philosophies of language, mind and mathematics. I have long standing interests in the American pragmatists, particularly Charles Peirce, and currently co-edit the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry ‘Pragmatism’. I maintain a side-interest in artificial intelligence, having previously worked as an ontological engineer. I’m also very interested in philosophy of education, and am involved with the Philosophy for Children movement.”

Contemplating Oblivion

Keith Wiley was one of the original members of MURG, the Mind Uploading Research Group, an online community dating to the mid-90s that discussed issues of consciousness with an aim toward mind uploading. He has written a previous book, ‘A Taxonomy and Metaphysics of Mind-Uploading’, about the philosophical interpretation of mind uploading, various invited book chapters, peer-reviewed journal articles, and magazine articles, in addition to several essays on a broad array of topics.

Duchamp and Infinity

The art of Marcel Duchamp is notable for its thematic repetition, notably that of Eros. The infinity symbol, ∞, is a more specific throughline, appearing in works by or associated with Duchamp from 1921 onwards. The concept of infinity has three primary applications: the mathematical, the physical, and the metaphysical. With respect to Duchamp, the authors analyse mathematical applications via the Möbius strip and Klein bottle. They investigate physical manifestations of infinity via Duchamp’s La Bagarre d’Austerlitz (1921) and Anémic Cinéma (1926). The infinity symbols in a diagram representing Adam and Eve developed with Georges Bataille, published in Duchamp’s satirical journal ‘Mémento Universel Da Costa’ (1949), serve to clarify metaphysical aspects. For Marcel Duchamp, creativity was Erotism, a psychological and spiritual quest for continuity, infinity.

Sonic Temporality

Mara Sacof is a music producer, runner, and creative studying Zoology at Queen Mary University of London. Her growing fascination with electronic composition, as well as her interests in philosophy, consciousness, and the natural world, led her to write an essay titled ‘Sonic Temporality’. This piece of text explores the relationship between perception and sound, drawing insights into how the concept of time can be manipulated in a digital world of music. The influence of artistic movements such as surrealism and futurism are also touched upon, offering a reflection into how this led producers to make philosophical enquiries into temporality.