Here is the collection of newly commissioned essays edited by Paul Franco and Leslie Marsh forthcoming from Penn State University Press. 1. Editorial Introduction (Paul Franco & Leslie Marsh) The editors give an overview of the importance of Oakeshott to 20th Century philosophy and account for the abiding interest in Oakeshott’s work. 2. The Pursuit of Intimacy, or Rationalism…
If the human brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn’t. …
Here is a PowerPoint slide-show intended to accompany my recent talk at Sussex. PowerPoint
In a recent article in Dessent entitled “Who’s Afraid of Friedrich Hayek? The Obvious Truths and Mystical Fallacies of a Hero of the Right” Jesse Larner expresses his surprise that he finds Hayek to be “nowhere near as extreme as his ideological descendants” and “not the cynic I had braced for.” It is reassuring to know that…
According to Edge Dennett has had some second thoughts. Knowing what I do of Hayek’s philosophical psychology and his proto-connectionism, he may well approve of Dennett’s characterization. My mistake was that I had stopped the finite regress of homunculi at least one step too early! The general run of the cells that compose our bodies…
Thanks to Simon Garnier I discovered this wonderful website dedicated to representations of complexity. As a social epistemologist I have a particular interest in knowledge networks and social networks. The images that draw upon biology for inspiration are particular compelling – on aesthetic grounds alone. complexity
Here is the fully published special issue of Cognitive Systems Research Volume 9, Issues 1-2, March 2008 2. Introduction to the special issue “Perspectives on Social Cognition” Cognitive Systems Research, Volume 9, Issues 1-2, March 2008, Pages 1-4 Leslie Marsh and Christian Onof 3. Functionalism and mental boundaries Cognitive Systems Research, Volume 9, Issues…
Check out this scathing review published in The Chronicle of Higher Education (January 18th – Section: The Chronicle Review Volume 54, Issue 19, Page B5). Beyond any interest it may have to those who follow John Gray’s output, the review is salient to the recent “controversy” about philosophers being uncivil. My favourite line from the following review…
Tyler Cowen’s Washington Post review of Michael Shermer’s The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales From Evolutionary Economics.
Cass Sunstein writes on the TPM Blog that Hayek’s ideas of distributed knowledge “bear directly on open source software, wikis, prediction markets, and perhaps much more”. Yes, indeed. The mechanism that captures this aggregating phenomenon is called STIGMERGY: the phenomenon of indirect communication mediated by modifications of the environment. Indeed, much of what goes on in the complex…
manwithoutqualities 