Bias and Blame – New Leverhulme Trust project for Department of Philosophy
December 19, 2013
By Jules Holroyd. The Leverhulme Trust has awarded a 36 month grant to the University of Nottingham, for a project led by Dr Jules Holroyd (Department of Philosophy, Nottingham), in collaboration with Dr Tom Stafford (Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield) titled “Bias and Blame: Do Moral Interactions Modulate the Expression of Implicit Bias?”. The …
Biodiversity Offsetting and Extrinsic Properties
November 28, 2013
In September the UK government published a consultation paper on “biodiversity offsetting”. This is a mechanism whereby damage to one part of the natural environment (in the process of development) is compensated for by nurturing or creating a different part of the natural environment. Nottinghamshire is involved in the piloting phase. The scheme raises the …
Harm and Climate Change, Part II
July 29, 2013
Some of the people affected by climate change (see the IPCC report) are yet to be born. These people will not first experience a planet and way of life unaffected by climate change, only to see that verdant utopia snatched away. Rather, they will only ever experience a degraded planet and way of life. In …
Morality: What is it good for?
June 17, 2013
At his press conference concerning the current crisis in Syria yesterday, David Cameron said: ‘It is no secret that President Putin and I have had our disagreements on some of these issues, but what I take from our conversation today is that we can overcome these differences if we recognise that we share some fundamental …
Education and Pornography
June 3, 2013
Should teachers discuss pornography as part of a child’s sex education? (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20042508.) Those in the ‘yes’ camp argue that pornography perpetuates unrealistic norms and children need to know this. Those in the ‘no’ camp think that such inappropriate material has no place in schools. The philosopher is in a unique position to strengthen the ‘yes’ …
Harm and Climate Change, Part 1
May 13, 2013
The recent report about atmospheric C02 levels reaching the symbolic level of 400 parts per million calls attention to some of the issues dealt with in the Philosophy Department’s Environmental Ethics module. Suppose you are engaged in an activity that causes significant harm to others. It forces them out of their homes, raises the cost …
Measles, Mill, Madoff
April 26, 2013
What can the state legitimately compel its citizens to do? This is not a question about the means of compulsion (e.g. criminal vs. civil law; incentives vs. penalties) but the question of whether such compulsion is ever justified. There are good reasons to think not. One is that it is usually the individual who is …
Can a rat teach a rat with only its mind?
March 21, 2013
Sometimes scientific news stories amaze me. Here is one: scientists have connected the brains of lab rats, allowing one to communicate directly to another via cables. One rat knew which lever to push for a reward because it was attached to another rat who knew. Scientists made the tentative conclusion that one of the brains …
Freedom of Religious Expression
January 16, 2013
Freedom of religious expression is once again in the news. The European court of Human Rights has this week delivered a mix bag of verdicts concerning the action of Christians in the UK ranging from the wearing of a cross at work, a marriage counselor sacked after saying he might object to giving sex therapy …
Video Games: Are They Art?
January 3, 2013
The Museum of Modern Art in New York has recently admitted a number of video games, ranging from arcade classics like Pac-man to rather more esoteric titles such as flOw, into their hallowed halls. Predictably, this move has been met with a flurry of voices asking the ubiquitous question ‘but is it art?’ Jonathan Jones, …
