New CPNSS book by Tom Dickins

15 March 2023|

CPNSS project leader Tom Dickins just published his new book ‘Evolutionary Biology: Contemporary and Historical Reflections Upon Core Theory’.

Tom Dickins, together with Jonathan Birch, leads the project Foundations of Evolutionary Theory at the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science (CPNSS). As a result of […]

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    New LSE Publication: Evolutionary Game Theory by J. McKenzie Alexander

New LSE Publication: Evolutionary Game Theory by J. McKenzie Alexander

9 March 2023|

‘Evolutionary Game Theory’ by J. McKenzie Alexander has been published online and will be available for free until 22 March 2023.

The online version of the book has just been published by Cambridge University Press. The PDF can be downloaded for free until 22 March 2023 here. The book is part of the ‘Elements […]

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    Staff News: Anna Mahtani and Jonathan Birch promoted to Professor

Staff News: Anna Mahtani and Jonathan Birch promoted to Professor

7 March 2023|

Anna Mahtani and Jonathan Birch have been promoted to Professor in recognition of their outstanding research, teaching and contributions to the Department, School and discipline. The title will be official starting August 2023.

Anna Mahtani is an Associate Professor at the Department of Philosophy at LSE. She completed her PhD on the Epistemic Theory of […]

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    What has feelings? – New essay by Jonathan Birch and Kristin Andrews

What has feelings? – New essay by Jonathan Birch and Kristin Andrews

3 March 2023|

LSE Philosophy Associate Professor Jonathan Birch and Professor of Philosophy at York University in Toronto Kristin Andrews wrote an essay on animal sentience for the digital magazine Aeon.

Why would an AI system want to convince its user of its sentience? Or, to put it more carefully, why would this contribute to its objectives? It’s tempting to think: only […]

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    New Publication: ‘Criminal Proof: Fixed or Flexible?’ by Lewis Ross

New Publication: ‘Criminal Proof: Fixed or Flexible?’ by Lewis Ross

7 February 2023|

LSE Philosophy Assistant Professor Lewis Ross just published his new paper ‘Criminal Proof: Fixed or Flexible?’ in ‘The Philosophical Quarterly’

Abstract: Should we use the same standard of proof to adjudicate guilt for murder and petty theft? Why not tailor the standard of proof to the crime? These relatively neglected questions cut to the heart of central issues in […]

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    New Publication: ‘Taking Risks on Behalf of Another’ by Johanna Thoma

New Publication: ‘Taking Risks on Behalf of Another’ by Johanna Thoma

6 February 2023|

LSE Philosophy Associate Professor Johanna Thoma just published the new paper ‘Taking Risks on Behalf of Another’ in the ‘Philosophy Compass’.

Abstract: A growing number of decision theorists have, in recent years, defended the view that rationality is permissive under risk: Different rational agents may be more or less risk-averse or risk-inclined. This can result in them making different […]

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    New Publication: ‘Dispositionalism’s (grand)daddy issues: time travelling and perfect masks’

New Publication: ‘Dispositionalism’s (grand)daddy issues: time travelling and perfect masks’

2 February 2023|

Giacomo Giannini (LSE Philosophy) and Donatella Donati (University of L’Aquila) published their new paper ‘Dispositionalism’s (grand)daddy issues: time travelling and perfect masks’ in ‘Analysis’.

Abstract: There is a tension between Dispositionalism––the view that all metaphysical modality is grounded in actual irreducible dispositional properties––and the possibility of time travel. This is due to the fact that Dispositionalism makes it much […]

Philosophy Live: Time’s Arrow – Watch the recording!

1 February 2023|

The video of our Philosophy Live event ‘Time’s Arrow’ is online!

The asymmetry between the past and the future is called the Arrow of Time. For example, the events of the past year have shaped all of us, but the future years are ours to shape. We all perceive the Arrow: we remember the start of the pandemic, but […]

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    New Publication: ‘Relational Troubles Structuralist Worries for an Epistemology of Powers-Based Modality’

New Publication: ‘Relational Troubles Structuralist Worries for an Epistemology of Powers-Based Modality’

31 January 2023|

Giacomo Giannini (LSE Philosophy) and Tom Schoonen (University of Amsterdam) published their new paper ‘Relational Troubles Structuralist Worries for an Epistemology of Powers-Based Modality’ in ‘The Philosophical Quarterly’.

Abstract Dispositionalism is the theory of modality that grounds all modal truths in powers: all metaphysically possible and necessary truths are to be explained by pointing to some actual power, or […]

New Publication: ‘To be Scientific is to be Communist’

30 January 2023|

LSE Philosophy Associate Professor Liam Kofi Bright and Assistant Professor Remco Heesen just published their new paper ‘To be Scientific is to be Communist’ in ‘Social Epistemology’ – A Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Policy.

Abstract: What differentiates scientific research from non-scientific inquiry? Philosophers addressing this question have typically been inspired by the exalted social place and intellectual achievements of […]