I'm on the record as saying the word/concept/meaning distinction is pretty meaningless in CE. (And I tend to mush together meanings/concepts anyway as bad habit I picked up from xphi).
October 28, 2026 at 6:59 PM
I'm on the record as saying the word/concept/meaning distinction is pretty meaningless in CE. (And I tend to mush together meanings/concepts anyway as bad habit I picked up from xphi).
Critical metaphors reduced misinformation. The authors argue that metaphors act as epistemic conditioning devices: they shape judgments by structuring understanding.
#De-extinction #Biotech #Conservation #Biodiversity
#DeExtinction #Misinformation #Metaphor #PhilSci #PhilBio #xphi
#De-extinction #Biotech #Conservation #Biodiversity
#DeExtinction #Misinformation #Metaphor #PhilSci #PhilBio #xphi
October 21, 2026 at 11:32 AM
Critical metaphors reduced misinformation. The authors argue that metaphors act as epistemic conditioning devices: they shape judgments by structuring understanding.
#De-extinction #Biotech #Conservation #Biodiversity
#DeExtinction #Misinformation #Metaphor #PhilSci #PhilBio #xphi
#De-extinction #Biotech #Conservation #Biodiversity
#DeExtinction #Misinformation #Metaphor #PhilSci #PhilBio #xphi
Amazing. Any theories on why it looks so easy? Just the other month I was talking to a philosopher about their first foray into xphi and they said "it looked so easy, and then we tried it ourselves..."
October 11, 2026 at 2:20 PM
Amazing. Any theories on why it looks so easy? Just the other month I was talking to a philosopher about their first foray into xphi and they said "it looked so easy, and then we tried it ourselves..."
does anyone still play the bullshit games cog sci and "xphi" were coming up with or has all that woo merged with rationalism like it feels like
October 11, 2026 at 7:30 PM
does anyone still play the bullshit games cog sci and "xphi" were coming up with or has all that woo merged with rationalism like it feels like
I had a great time discussing the dilemmas we face in life, #medicine, and research with the #Philosophy Department at University of Nevada Las Vegas!
Great things happening there, including a new #MedicalEthics course!
www.unlv.edu/event/your-h...
#health #ethics #bioethics #xPhi #morality #edu
Great things happening there, including a new #MedicalEthics course!
www.unlv.edu/event/your-h...
#health #ethics #bioethics #xPhi #morality #edu
October 9, 2026 at 3:57 PM
I had a great time discussing the dilemmas we face in life, #medicine, and research with the #Philosophy Department at University of Nevada Las Vegas!
Great things happening there, including a new #MedicalEthics course!
www.unlv.edu/event/your-h...
#health #ethics #bioethics #xPhi #morality #edu
Great things happening there, including a new #MedicalEthics course!
www.unlv.edu/event/your-h...
#health #ethics #bioethics #xPhi #morality #edu
For anyone interested, I talk about this in the discussion section of a forthcoming xphi paper on trust and AI philpapers.org/rec/LANTIA-8
September 29, 2026 at 2:17 PM
For anyone interested, I talk about this in the discussion section of a forthcoming xphi paper on trust and AI philpapers.org/rec/LANTIA-8
In case anyone thinks the xphi wars are still on, this should set your mind to rest.
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Lindauer, Matthew. The Fruitfulness of Normative Concepts. Oxford University Press, 2025. Pp. 232. $99.00 (cloth). | Ethics: Vol 137, No 1
www.journals.uchicago.edu
September 22, 2026 at 12:33 AM
In case anyone thinks the xphi wars are still on, this should set your mind to rest.
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Totally true. It's become clear the last two weeks that the picture of xphi that non-xphi folk has is very much rooted in the 2000s and early 2010s
TBF, I don't think those of us who work on meta-xphi have helped matters, since that lit never caught up either.
TBF, I don't think those of us who work on meta-xphi have helped matters, since that lit never caught up either.
September 20, 2026 at 9:37 AM
Totally true. It's become clear the last two weeks that the picture of xphi that non-xphi folk has is very much rooted in the 2000s and early 2010s
TBF, I don't think those of us who work on meta-xphi have helped matters, since that lit never caught up either.
TBF, I don't think those of us who work on meta-xphi have helped matters, since that lit never caught up either.
This is all to say that I think there's an opportunity to fruitfully revisit meta-xphi
September 20, 2026 at 9:38 AM
This is all to say that I think there's an opportunity to fruitfully revisit meta-xphi
How would you feel about xphi being viewed as the experimental wing of philosophy, so like when philosophers dealing with philosophical questions think it'd help to do an experiment of whatever kind, and think they can handle it, those experiments are xphi
September 19, 2026 at 4:05 PM
How would you feel about xphi being viewed as the experimental wing of philosophy, so like when philosophers dealing with philosophical questions think it'd help to do an experiment of whatever kind, and think they can handle it, those experiments are xphi
My camp is trying to fight for legitimacy within philosophy departments.
By explicitly aligning xphi with cogsci, your camp is helping confirm people's sense that xphi _does_ belong elsewhere.
Which makes my life, and many others lives, even harder come job season.
By explicitly aligning xphi with cogsci, your camp is helping confirm people's sense that xphi _does_ belong elsewhere.
Which makes my life, and many others lives, even harder come job season.
September 19, 2026 at 3:23 PM
My camp is trying to fight for legitimacy within philosophy departments.
By explicitly aligning xphi with cogsci, your camp is helping confirm people's sense that xphi _does_ belong elsewhere.
Which makes my life, and many others lives, even harder come job season.
By explicitly aligning xphi with cogsci, your camp is helping confirm people's sense that xphi _does_ belong elsewhere.
Which makes my life, and many others lives, even harder come job season.
A philosopher who thinks armchair stuff is all bunk or xphi is all bunk should no more be sabotaging the careers of philosophers doing the sort they don't like than a nominalist should be sabotaging the careers of platonists or vice versa
September 19, 2026 at 4:29 PM
A philosopher who thinks armchair stuff is all bunk or xphi is all bunk should no more be sabotaging the careers of philosophers doing the sort they don't like than a nominalist should be sabotaging the careers of platonists or vice versa
@xphilosopher.bsky.social I know our interests are very different and we do very different types of xphi, but as I wrote the other week, I'm worried this sort of rhetoric is hurting people like me, who do see our work as largely philosophical.
September 19, 2026 at 3:23 PM
@xphilosopher.bsky.social I know our interests are very different and we do very different types of xphi, but as I wrote the other week, I'm worried this sort of rhetoric is hurting people like me, who do see our work as largely philosophical.
There are So Many xphi papers where this isn't a plausible reading.
And even many of the papers that have this reading available are motivated by some form of the following naturalistic/pragmatistic metaphilosophy: claims about X are continuous with psychological judgments of X.
And even many of the papers that have this reading available are motivated by some form of the following naturalistic/pragmatistic metaphilosophy: claims about X are continuous with psychological judgments of X.
September 19, 2026 at 2:57 PM
There are So Many xphi papers where this isn't a plausible reading.
And even many of the papers that have this reading available are motivated by some form of the following naturalistic/pragmatistic metaphilosophy: claims about X are continuous with psychological judgments of X.
And even many of the papers that have this reading available are motivated by some form of the following naturalistic/pragmatistic metaphilosophy: claims about X are continuous with psychological judgments of X.
I'm no xphi person, so I haven't read as much as others, and even of the ones I've read this isn't all people or papers, but it's certainly a view I'm personally amenable too
September 19, 2026 at 4:16 PM
I'm no xphi person, so I haven't read as much as others, and even of the ones I've read this isn't all people or papers, but it's certainly a view I'm personally amenable too
Whether that work would, properly speaking, be xphi, I guess so? It be derived from the tradition.
It would definitely require the tradition to be more corporate and less DIY, but it's been moving that way for ages.
It would definitely require the tradition to be more corporate and less DIY, but it's been moving that way for ages.
September 19, 2026 at 4:09 PM
Whether that work would, properly speaking, be xphi, I guess so? It be derived from the tradition.
It would definitely require the tradition to be more corporate and less DIY, but it's been moving that way for ages.
It would definitely require the tradition to be more corporate and less DIY, but it's been moving that way for ages.
I don't know. I'd have said that many xphi people have some form of naturalistic or pragmatist philosophy and would take their findings as at the very least providing good evidence for philosophical claims, even if not bearing directly on the truth
September 19, 2026 at 4:15 PM
I don't know. I'd have said that many xphi people have some form of naturalistic or pragmatist philosophy and would take their findings as at the very least providing good evidence for philosophical claims, even if not bearing directly on the truth
I guess I should just write this paper since it's coming up so much: The sense that xphi isn't philosophy is based on conflating rationalism with philosophy more broadly.
This is, as far as I can tell, a recent position unique to analytic philosophy (pointers to counterexamples welcome)
This is, as far as I can tell, a recent position unique to analytic philosophy (pointers to counterexamples welcome)
September 19, 2026 at 3:04 PM
I guess I should just write this paper since it's coming up so much: The sense that xphi isn't philosophy is based on conflating rationalism with philosophy more broadly.
This is, as far as I can tell, a recent position unique to analytic philosophy (pointers to counterexamples welcome)
This is, as far as I can tell, a recent position unique to analytic philosophy (pointers to counterexamples welcome)
If you think philosophy is about cognitive metaphysics and its fixed points, then xphi is squarely philosophical I think
September 18, 2026 at 5:56 PM
If you think philosophy is about cognitive metaphysics and its fixed points, then xphi is squarely philosophical I think
Yeah you're right. In general "xphi" seems to stand for the research program of eliciting folk intuitions about philosophical research questions.
September 18, 2026 at 6:01 PM
Yeah you're right. In general "xphi" seems to stand for the research program of eliciting folk intuitions about philosophical research questions.
We're sharing a new #MetaAnalysis at #CornellUniversity to the International Society for #MoralPsychology.
I posted about our presentation on LinkedIn, and I hope to add comments about other presentations: www.linkedin.com/fee...
#ethics #cogSci #xPhi #bioethics #psychology
I posted about our presentation on LinkedIn, and I hope to add comments about other presentations: www.linkedin.com/fee...
#ethics #cogSci #xPhi #bioethics #psychology
September 19, 2026 at 1:48 AM
We're sharing a new #MetaAnalysis at #CornellUniversity to the International Society for #MoralPsychology.
I posted about our presentation on LinkedIn, and I hope to add comments about other presentations: www.linkedin.com/fee...
#ethics #cogSci #xPhi #bioethics #psychology
I posted about our presentation on LinkedIn, and I hope to add comments about other presentations: www.linkedin.com/fee...
#ethics #cogSci #xPhi #bioethics #psychology
I've been pestering someone to post an abandoned draft of theirs on PhilPapers because I genuinely believe it is one of the best papers ever written about xphi.
But the paper is very long and very goofy (and the author has no intention of changing either) so it'll never find a home in a journal.
But the paper is very long and very goofy (and the author has no intention of changing either) so it'll never find a home in a journal.
September 16, 2026 at 9:24 AM
I've been pestering someone to post an abandoned draft of theirs on PhilPapers because I genuinely believe it is one of the best papers ever written about xphi.
But the paper is very long and very goofy (and the author has no intention of changing either) so it'll never find a home in a journal.
But the paper is very long and very goofy (and the author has no intention of changing either) so it'll never find a home in a journal.
Prof. Mario Attie-Picker is a leading researcher on how to avoid blame: bsky.app/profile/xphi...
This new paper by Mario Attie-Picker suggests a surprising answer
You can get out of blame by either:
(a) saying that you are not responsible
(b) saying that you *are* responsible and then asking for forgiveness
You can get out of blame by either:
(a) saying that you are not responsible
(b) saying that you *are* responsible and then asking for forgiveness
September 12, 2026 at 1:23 PM
Prof. Mario Attie-Picker is a leading researcher on how to avoid blame: bsky.app/profile/xphi...
This doesn't strike me as a problem because I don't think you can only do XPhi, you have to do XPhi about another philosophical topic.
I would be surprised if there was a job for a mathematical philosopher. Logician, formal epistemology, formal ethics, sure.
I would be surprised if there was a job for a mathematical philosopher. Logician, formal epistemology, formal ethics, sure.
September 8, 2026 at 1:05 AM
This doesn't strike me as a problem because I don't think you can only do XPhi, you have to do XPhi about another philosophical topic.
I would be surprised if there was a job for a mathematical philosopher. Logician, formal epistemology, formal ethics, sure.
I would be surprised if there was a job for a mathematical philosopher. Logician, formal epistemology, formal ethics, sure.