Friday, October 9, 2009

Bertrand Russell hit on the head with a meatball.

Lots of peeps have been talking recently about the comic book treatment of Russell and Wittgenstein, Logicomix, as well as Robert Crumb's comic adaptation of Genesis, but how many of those peeps are aware of the following?

This drawing of Bertrand Russell being hit on the head with a meatball is from Robert Crumb's short comic, "MEATBALL." The whole thing is viewable here: [link]

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Second CFP: SSPP 2010

Second CFP: SSPP 2010: "** Second Call for papers **

102nd Meeting of the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology
April 15-17, 2010
Westin Peachtree Plaza
Atlanta, GA

SSPP Webpage: southernsociety.org/
Information
on 2010 meeting: southernsociety.org/annualmeeting.htm
Call
for papers: southernsociety.org/Call%20For%20Papers.doc

Submission
of papers having interdisciplinary interest is strongly encouraged. Papers should be no longer than 3000 words and be accompanied by an abstract of no more than 150 words. Submissions for the philosophy side of the program, accompanied by the abstract submission form from the website, should be sent to:

Daniel Weiskopf
Department of Philosophy
Georgia State University
sspp.submission@gmail.com

Submission deadline: November 16, 2009 (postmarked midnight for electronic submissions)

I would also like to draw your attention to the invited side of the program.

Philosophy Invited Program

Invited Speakers:
Alfonso Caramazza (Psychology, Harvard)
Peter Carruthers (Philosophy, Maryland)
Elizabeth Spelke (Psychology, Harvard)

Invited Symposium on Language and Thought:
José Luis Bermudez (Philosophy, Washington University)
Elisabeth Camp (Philosophy, Penn)
Michael Rescorla (Philosophy, UC Santa Barbara)

Invited Symposium on The Self:
Barry Dainton (Philosophy, Liverpool)
Jenann Ismael (Philosophy, Arizona and Sydney)
Robert Howell (Philosophy, SMU)

Invited Symposium on Mental Representation:
Kathleen Akins (Philosophy, Simon Fraser)
Larry Barsalou (Psychology, Emory)
William Ramsey (Philosophy, UNLV)


Psychology Invited Program

Invited Speakers:
Roy Baumeister (Psychology; Florida State University)
Michael J. Kane (Psychology; University of North Carolina, Greensboro)

Invited Symposium on Psychology and Philosophy of Teaching:
Linda M. Noble (Psychology; University System of Georgia, Board of Regents)
Randy A. Smith (Psychology; Lamar University; Editor Emeritus: Teaching of Psychology)
George Rainbolt (Philosophy; Georgia State University)



"

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Monday, October 5, 2009

Tinkertoy computer in old Scientific American article





The Tinkertoy computer is not fully autornatic: a human operator must crank the
read head up and down and must manage its input. After the computer's opponent
makes a move, the operator walks to the front of the machine to adjust the core
piece inside the read head, registering the contestant's move. The operator then
pulls on a string to cock the core piece for its impending whirl of recognition.
When it discovers a memory that matches the current state of the game, the core
piece spins, and the computer indicates its move.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

NDPR Daniel M. Haybron, The Pursuit of Unhappiness: The Elusive Psychology of Well-Being

NDPR Daniel M. Haybron, The Pursuit of Unhappiness: The Elusive Psychology of Well-Being: "

Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

2009-10-01 : View this Review Online : View Other NDPR Reviews

Daniel M. Haybron, The Pursuit of Unhappiness: The Elusive Psychology of Well-Being, Oxford UP, 2008, 357pp., $55.00 (hbk), ISBN 9780199545988.

Reviewed by Neera Badhwar, University of Oklahoma


'There are many good reasons not to write a book on happiness,' says Daniel Haybron in the Preface to his book. It quickly becomes obvious to the reader, however, that there are many good reasons to read it. There has recently been a spate of books and articles on well-being, the good life, and happiness understood as well-being, that which benefits a person. Haybron's book is the first book-length philosophical treatment of happiness understood as a psychological condition rather than as well-being. This in itself is a significant accomplishment. But the book is also an original and thorough investigation, richly informed by empirical psychology, of almost every topic connected, or seen as connected, with happiness: the self, well-being and virtue, and the good society. It is written in an engaging, often humorous, sometimes poetic, style, and contains a wealth of illustrations from life, literature, film, science, the arts, the news media, and Haybron's own prodigious imagination. Because the topic is so new, and the phenomenology of happiness so elusive, Haybron uses what he calls 'an elaborate form of ostension, pointing to the phenomenon without fully elucidating it' (42). He engages with both the latest science and ancient philosophy in elucidating the nature of happiness. Haybron's grasp of the relevant literatures is nothing short of astonishing. The scope of the book may be gleaned from the following overview.

..."