Russell "On Denoting"

Here is the handout on Russell "On Denoting." And here is the handout on Strawson's response. Finally, here is another handout on the Russell/Strawson debate.

Who won? Russell (read his response to Strawson linked to the homepage) argues that Strawson is simply addressing a whole 'nother question.

Russell's original article, "On Denoting," published in 1905 is such a big deal that there is actually a 100th Anniversary celebration of it going on including a whole conference on Russell and Meinong: 100 Years After 'On Denoting'.

Time Travel at USD!

The Philosophy Club will have Movie Night on Tuesday, February 15th, at 7:00 PM in Serra 315. We will be watching the short film La Jetee , that raises some interesting philosophical issues about time travel and then discussing an article by David Lewis on "The Paradoxes of Time Travel." Copies of the article are available in the philosophy office.

Pagans Online!

Here is a link to a discussion, amongst the Greco-Roman pagans, of their philosophical preferences. Many of these folks are very smart and have serious scholarly interests in the history and literature of Antiquity, but don't get the difference between epistemic preferences and epistemic preferability, between being "attracted" to a philosophy and having arguments that you think support it. Aaaargh!

Philosophical Demons

Here is the link to the article that I mentioned by O. K. Bouwsma, "Descartes Evil Genius." The story by Stanislaus Lem, "The Seventh Sally or How Trurl's Own Perfection Led to No Good" is in Douglas Hofstadter, ed. The Mind's Eye

Acquaintance and Description

Here is a nice article from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy on knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description.