For those who are interested in following up on democracy and governmental legitimacy, check out the following article by our distinguished guest: ‘Consent and Political Legitimacy,’ Amanda Greene For a deeper dive, Amanda Greene recommends the following: Democratic Legitimacy, Fabienne Peter Democratic Authority: A Philosophical Framework, David Estlund ‘On Legitimacy and Political Deliberation,’ Bernard Manin, Elly Stein and Jane Mansbridge ‘Arguing for Majority Rule,’ Mathias Risse ‘Procedure and Substance in Deliberative Democracy,’ Joshua Cohen (in Deliberative Democracy) ‘Defending the Purely Instrumental Account of Democratic Legitimacy,’ Richard Arneson ‘Democracy: Instrumental vs....

Subscribe to Elucidations:       Last year, we talked about anarchism. This year, we turn to democracy with Amanda Greene, Lecturer in Philosophy at University College, London, and Law and Philosophy Fellow at the University of Chicago. Click here to listen to our discussion. In the West, at least, most of us consider democracy to be the obvious choice for the best form of government, but we rarely take a step back to think about why....

Those of you who would like to follow up on our interview with Bob Simpson can check out this article, which was the impetus for a lot of what we talked about: ‘You Just Believe that Because,’ Roger White That one requires a journal subscription, but you can look at Bob’s own paper on this (with Josh DiPaolo) without a journal subscription here: ‘Indoctrination Anxiety and the Etiology of Belief,’Joshua DiPaolo and Robert Mark Simpson...

Subscribe to Elucidations:       This month, we discuss genealogical anxiety with Bob Simpson, lecturer in philosophy at Monash University. Click here to listen to our conversation. If you listen to this podcast, then for better or worse, you have likely been exposed to some Nietzsche (hopefully at a safe level!). In the nineteenth century, Friedrich Nietzsche (perhaps notoriously) introduced an epistemological sense of genealogy – a genealogy of what we purport to know – by telling a story about how we have come to know the things we purport to know....

Subscribe to Elucidations:       This month, we pull up our chairs and sit down once again with Robert May, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Linguistics at the University of California, Davis. Click here to listen to our conversation. It seems sublime, unbelievable, groundbreaking – but maybe it actually doesn’t mean anything at all: $$e^{i\pi} + 1 = 0$$...

For background on categories in general, Cathy Legg recommends the following: Amie Thomasson (2013). “Categories”, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Paul Studtmann (2013). “Categories in Aristotle”, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Barry Smith (2003). “Ontology”, in Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Computing and Information, (Oxford: Blackwell) Manley Thompson (1957). “On Category Differences”, Philosophical Review, 66(4): 486–508. For background on categories as they figure in Peirce’s work, our esteemed guest recommends the following:...

Subscribe to Elucidations:       This month, we talk with Catherine Legg, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at New Zealand’s University of Waikato. She teaches us about the philosophical categories of Charles Sanders Peirce’s (pronounced like the bag “purse”). Click here to listen to our conversation. At Legg’s university, philosophy is part of the School of Social Sciences....

Those of you who would like a further taste of Mark Hopwood’s views about valuing a person as a particular can take a look at this short piece: ‘TPA Normativity of Love,’ Mark Hopwood Enjoy! Matt Teichman...

Subscribe to Elucidations:       This month, we discuss love and moral value with Mark Hopwood, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Sewanee: The University of the South, and former co-host of this podcast! Click here to listen to our conversation. In discussing rights, religion, politics, and much more, we ask: Who has moral value? Who are we obliged to accommodate, support, even love?...

Subscribe to Elucidations:       This month, we discuss conditionals with Anthony (Thony) Gillies, Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University. Click here to listen to our conversation. Lately, philosophers have resurrected interest in formal theories of what’s meant by conditional statements, or if-then statements. Conditionals are basic, because they relate conditions – knowns and unknowns, actions and results, etc....