Tag: Science
‘Being You’ Review: Why We Have a Sense of Self
When the latest would-be Einstein announces yet another theory, my eyes start to glaze over in anticipation of drivel and disappointment. Neuroscientist Anil Seth’s “Being You” is the exception that proves the rule. If you only read one book about consciousness, it must be his.
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Covid sceptics make a basic philosophical mistake
Where’s the evidence? After years in which respect for science and reason has been in decline, it should be encouraging to hear this question being doggedly asked. And yet the demand for evidence is being used by those sceptical of measures scientists generally support to bring the virus under control: vaccines, lockdowns, masks. Ironically, the scientists’ mantra is now being used against them. How did this happen?
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Out of mind
“Part of what always bothered me about moral philosophy was the assumption that for any moral dilemma there is a ‘right answer’ and a philosopher will find it for you. Ha!”
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The incoherence of evidence-based policy
Values, not data, are the basis of policy. The job of evidence is to inform policy-making to maximise the chances that any given reform achieves the ideological goal. It cannot tell us what that goal should be.
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