Fintan Mallory
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Fintan Mallory
@fintanmallory.com
2.6K followers 1K following 1.7K posts
Philosopher at Durham University fintanmallory.com
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It’s worth knowing that the health minister of Ireland’s centre-right government is concerned about contagion from ‘the English disease’ (transphobia)
'This movement seeped in and made it cruel for trans people' - Health Minister condemns divisive debate' on trans rights
December 5, 2025 at 12:34 PM
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Okay McEwan, you don’t see epistemologists out there writing On Chesil Beach, let’s stick to what we’re good at.
Cover the the novel What we can know by Ian McEwan
November 30, 2025 at 2:45 PM
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I feel like this is a euphemism I’m going to start using. Did you hear yer man exited the market? Sure, that’ll be a well-attended funeral.
Guardian headline: Fifty higher education providers at risk of exiting market in England, MPs told
November 25, 2025 at 7:31 PM
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A Simpsons meme where a child points and says 'stop he's already dead' while (Homer dressed as) Krusty the Clown violently assaults the 'Krustyburgler'. The Krustyburgler is labelled 'The Given' while Homer is labelled 'Ruth Millikan'
November 25, 2025 at 12:53 PM
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This Millikan line goes (as they say) hard.
"White Queen Psychology" is a diatribe against meaning rationalism, as was the Epilogue of LTOBC. My desire is to kill meaning rationalism dead, and then beat on it. Perhaps I will succeed in raising one or two more doubts about it. Reasoning, I insist, is done in the world, not in one's head. Logical pos- sibility (known a priori) is impossible. And the only hope for inten- tional psychology is to embrace its biological roots.
November 25, 2025 at 11:36 AM
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Don’t think you need to know Irish to see the issue with this philosophical dictionary entry
ciall, a.b. An mhéid faoi leith a bheadh le tabhairt mar fhios le focal (nó le comhartha ar bith eile dá leithéid) de bhrí an chumais irithe a bhainfeadh leis chun an gnó sin a déanamh (.i. an fios áirithe sin a chur in iúl). G Dinn; D Bedeutung, Sinn, E meaning, sense, signification; F sens, signification; L sensus, significatio.
November 25, 2025 at 10:01 AM
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While it’s not the worst thing about this, they really could have worked on the gender balance…
lan Hacking (b.1936) As the night folds its silver veil over the skyline, we delve into the tranquil depths of philosophy, where the thoughts of lan Hacking flow like a gentle rive... 19m ... 16 Oct . Subscribers Only PREMIUM: Simon Blackburn (b.1944) In an era of vibrant intellectual exploration, we traverse the serene and profound landscapes of Simon Blackburns philosophical insights, where t... 20m 15 Oct Jason Stanley (b.1969) In the gentle murmur of the evening, we wander through the intricate landscape of language and power, guided by the profound philosophies of Ja... 19m 14 Oct • Subscribers Only PREMIUM: Charles Travis (b.1943) In the quiet murmur of twilight, our thoughts meander through the lush, evolving landscape of language shaped
November 22, 2025 at 6:14 PM
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“Born in the not-so-distant year of 1964, Hawthorne emerged on the philosophical scene as a figure of immense potential”
Transcript of the John Hawthorne episode: Born in the not-so-distant year of 1964, Hawthorne emerged on the philosophical scene as a figure of immense potential, which he has continued to fulfill impressively through his ongoing career. Currently, he enriches minds as a professor at the University of Southern California, where his teachings and writings continue to influence a new generation of thinkers. Tonight, we
November 22, 2025 at 6:13 PM
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Stephen Yablo is subscriber only content
28 Oct • Subscribers Only PREMIUM: Stephen Yablo (b.1962) As dusk settles, we drift into the serene realm of Stephen Yablos philosophical landscape, where the intricate interplay of language and reality shapes..
November 22, 2025 at 6:12 PM
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Struggling to sleep? Have you considered a rambling machine-generated podcast tangentially connected to the work of famous philosophers making use of any information in the public domain?
Cover of the sleep with philosophy podcast episode on Robert Brandom
November 22, 2025 at 6:11 PM
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And Putnam's paper comparing Rorty and Quine has one of my favourite titles.
A Comparison of Something with Something Else Hilary Putnam The idea of comparing the views of Willard Van Quine and Richard Rorty may seem a trifle bizarre, not to say dotty, but I have a justification (I think). First of all, the present paper was written for a conference at which we were invited to compare issues in literary theory and issues in the philosophy of science (or at least that is how I construed the title of the conference and the announcement that we would "discuss such questions as ... ," followed by the formidable list of questions that we all received). Now, I don't want to plead complete innocence with respect to literary theory, but I have to admit that this idea made my blood run cold. On the other hand, there are points at which the ideas of Richard Rorty and the ideas of Van Quine can be compared, and I do think such a comparison can deepen our understanding of both thinkers. Rorty is close to (if by no means identical with) "literary theory," and Quine is certainly a towering figure in "philosophy of science." So I was sort of fulfilling the assignment (as the student says, shamefacedly) by comparing R. R. and W.
November 20, 2025 at 10:03 PM
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I feel like we get fewer of these "I’m going to compare the views of some people I know" papers these days. It’s a genre I really like. Here's a great one by Millikan.
Compare and Contrast Dretske, Fodor, and Millikan on Teleosemantics by Ruth Garrett Millikan By "teleosemantics" is means a teleofunctional account of what determines the semantic contents of inner representations. One contrast among these three authors is that Millikan and Dretske adopt teleological accounts with Fodor rejects teleosemantics. But I can compare the teleosemantic view Fodor would have held had he not thought better of it, namely, the view he rejects in Psychosemantics (1987) and in A Theory of Content (1990). I will emphasize Millikan's view because it seems to be the most difficult - it has, at least, managed to trip some very competent commentators- and because I have studied it the hardest.
November 20, 2025 at 10:02 PM
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Happy International Men's Day! Don't forget, there's nothing more 'men' than Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
November 19, 2025 at 8:47 PM
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Our understanding of species is constantly changing. Every year, some species are "split" into two or more, while others are "lumped" from multiple species into one, as we gain a better understanding of the relationships between birds. The eBird/Clements Checklist is updated annually to reflect the latest developments in avian taxonomy. "Taxonomy Time" is an opportunity to celebrate the many scientific advances in ornithology made over the past year—some of them thanks to your eBird data!
November 17, 2025 at 10:29 AM
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The Guardian did a study of Reform supporters. When your data analysis suggests that 10% of the 'Contrarian Youth' block are over 55, I think you need to pick new labels for your clusters.
A set of bar charts breaking identifying categories of reform voters; hardline conservatives, working right, ... contrarian youth. The contrarian youth are 55% 18-34, 25%35-64, and 10% 55+
November 13, 2025 at 7:43 PM
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Turing: If the question of whether machines think could be settled by looking at how the general public use words, then a Gallup poll would do. But that's absurd.
Op-ed: Right, so a YouGov poll it is!
If the meaning of the words "machine" and "think" are to be found by examining how they are commonly used it is difficult to escape the conclusion that the meaning and the answer to the question, "Can machines think?" is to be sought in a statistical survey such as a Gallup poll. But this is absurd.
November 11, 2025 at 6:27 PM
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I’d heard about this kind of thing but it hadn’t occurred to me that ChatGPT would be advertising it on their website.
Al dating companion (Tinder, Bumble, Hinge) By community builder ° Al Tinder Assistant designed to enhance your conversation strategies on Dating apps, boosting your match success through personalized interaction guidance.
November 11, 2025 at 9:58 AM
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The motivational quotes (?) for the local running event have taken a distinctive theme for Remembrance Sunday
A forest path strewn with leaves. A sign for a running event reads: “It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder Albert Einstein” A forest path strewn with leaves. A sign for a running event reads: “It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. Voltaire, 1771”
November 9, 2025 at 12:14 PM
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Got a chance to see my colleague’s slides and Mencius is due a trip to the serious burns unit.
A quote from Mencius “ When you rule by force, the people merely obey; when you rule by virtue, they are loyal and trustworthy”. The text below reads “the legalist response” followed by a picture of the state of Qin.
November 9, 2025 at 10:57 AM
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Love looking through the "Race Classification" section in Appendix 2 to see that it wasn't *only* based on people's names.
A2. Race Classification For our race classification, we combine a standard name-based approach with a novel face-based approach for enhanced accuracy. Greenwald et al. (2023) demonstrate that face-based methods can often outperform name-based ones. Our name-based race classification comes directly from Revelio Labs, who predict an individual’s race/ethnicity using first name, last name, and location, with their model drawing from U.S. Census data for its predictions.
November 6, 2025 at 8:27 PM
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The epigraph for @travislacroix.bsky.social‘s new book is quite good. And I thought Dune was just about magic worms and stuff.
Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them. - Frank Herbert (1965) Dune
November 4, 2025 at 8:15 PM
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Reading Quine's review of Ways of Worldmaking by Nelson Goodman.
This book is a congeries. Not indeed an incongruous congeries, as of congers and costermongers, but withal a congeries to conjure with. Homer Simpson saying "Brilliant. I have absolutely no idea what's going on."
November 3, 2025 at 7:19 PM
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I went back to look at the original and this is just awesome graphic design for 1850. Check out that font!
The cover of The Red Republican. The font is wild and scratched. A cartoon of a hat is on a bundle of sticks which I'm sure has some significance. Below, the text of the first english translation of the communist manifesto.
November 2, 2025 at 10:26 PM
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If you draw the cognitive science hexagram, Jerry Fodor appears and calls you a relativist.
A drawing of the traditional cognitive science hexagon with Philosophy, Linguistics, Anthropology, Neuroscience, Artificial Intelligence and Psychology at each side. The overlapping lines call to mind more traditional spooky pentagrams.
November 2, 2025 at 7:35 PM
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I think we’re sharing our autumn pictures today.
A small golden tree surrounded by massive yellow oaks A golden bush in a wood surrounded by faded green trees
November 2, 2025 at 5:17 PM