When Viruses Help

Michael Marder (University of the Basque Country)

"It might be wise to refrain as much from attributing friendly characteristics to viruses as from ascribing adversarial qualities to them."

Genre

Philosophy of Biology

Length

1,200 words

Keywords

Anthropocentrism, Speculative Philosophy, Microbiome

Hopeful Ignorance

Linsey McGoey (University of Essex)

Review of A Passion for Ignorance: What We Choose Not to Know and Why by Renata Salecl.

Genre

Social Theory, Psychoanalysis.

Length

2,500 words

Keywords

Knowledge, sociology, love, denial, performance, exclusion.

The Rewilding of Philosophy

Alexander Douglas (University of St. Andrews)

Review of “The Parmenidean Ascent” by Michael Della Rocca.

Genre

Metaphysics, Logic.

Length

2,500 words

Keywords

Parmenides, Principle of Sufficient Reason, Bradley, intuition, relations, McTaggart, Zhuangzi.

The Art of Nothing

Joanna Borkowska

“For me, the zone of nothingness is a sacred space, a kind of pre-creative state that is essential to my work.”

Genre

Ontology, Aesthetics

Length

1,750 words

Keywords

Nothingness, creativity, consciousness, nature

Epistemic Autonomy and the Free Nose Guy Problem

Jana Bacevic (Durham University)

“Defiance of expert authority is often no more than a consequence of a desire for stricter, and more absolute, forms of authority.”

Genre

Epistemology, Social Theory

Length

4,000 words

Keywords

Expertise, democracy, egalitarianism, education, lay, science.

“Having” Children: The Choice between Procreation and Adoption

Veromi Arsiradam and Adam Ferner

“The idea that procreation is justified on the basis of being “natural” or “normal”, and thus lies beyond the realm of moral scrutiny, is becoming increasingly hard to defend.”

Genre

Ethics, Political Philosophy

Length

4,500 words

Keywords

Race, Black Lives Matter, environment, parenthood, capitalism, reproduction

Nothing Matters

Bret W. Davis (Loyola University Maryland)

“We may find that the indeterminateness of the nothing is not merely an anaemic privation but rather an amorphous wellspring teeming with as yet undefined possibilities.”

Genre

Phenomenology, Japanese Philosophy

Length

7,500 words

Keywords

Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, Nishitani , Zen, nihilism

Are We Decent Deep Down?

David Livingstone Smith (University of New England)

Review of Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman

Genre

Social and Moral Philosophy, Psychology

Length

3,500 words

Keywords

Dehumanization, veneer theory, human nature, essentialism, sociality