Steve Esser
@steveesser.bsky.social
Philosopher (Philsci, Metaphysics). Other interests: effective philanthropy, finance/economics, Philly sports. stephenesser.com
A short post for giving season.
stephenesser.com/top-charity-...
stephenesser.com/top-charity-...
Top Charity Funds – Stephen Esser
stephenesser.com
December 1, 2025 at 8:25 PM
A short post for giving season.
stephenesser.com/top-charity-...
stephenesser.com/top-charity-...
This was well done. A really interesting look at an example of GiveWell decision-making this year.
After USAID got cut, I asked GiveWell if @planetmoney.bsky.social could ride along as they tried to figure out if and how to jump into the void. They said yes. They recorded weeks and weeks of deliberations. Here is the episode about it: www.npr.org/2025/11/26/n...
www.npr.org
November 28, 2025 at 4:02 PM
This was well done. A really interesting look at an example of GiveWell decision-making this year.
The old man guild said I can now wear this hat.
November 22, 2025 at 8:57 PM
The old man guild said I can now wear this hat.
Crazy stuff.
November 18, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Crazy stuff.
Enjoyed this paper. Hard to see how one can do philosophy of mind or cognitive science while remaining innocent of biology. #philsci #philsky
My paper "Why prosocial octopuses challenge the autonomy of psychological states" has just been published by Synthese. I argue that some psychological states require neural realizers, and this challenges automony.
@socphilneuro.bsky.social @gualtiero.bsky.social
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
@socphilneuro.bsky.social @gualtiero.bsky.social
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Why prosocial octopuses challenge the autonomy of psychological states - Synthese
Researchers administered MDMA (known as ecstasy) to octopuses and observed their behavior. Due, at least in part, to serotonin transport systems nearly identical to human ones, octopuses on ecstasy be...
link.springer.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Reposted by Steve Esser
🎊📣 New climate giving research & Top Climate Nonprofits just dropped! 📣🎊
Plus, we’re proud to announce $26M in grants to high-impact climate nonprofits, our largest grant cycle yet.
🔎Learn more: tinyurl.com/bdem7mh4
#ClimatePhilanthropy #EffectiveGiving #Decarbonization
Plus, we’re proud to announce $26M in grants to high-impact climate nonprofits, our largest grant cycle yet.
🔎Learn more: tinyurl.com/bdem7mh4
#ClimatePhilanthropy #EffectiveGiving #Decarbonization
Giving Green Announces $26 Million for High-Impact Climate Solutions, 2025-2026 Top Climate Nonprofits, and New Grantees | Giving Green
We are thrilled to announce $26 million in grants to high-impact climate nonprofits—the largest grantmaking cycle in our fund’s history.
tinyurl.com
November 5, 2025 at 7:57 PM
🎊📣 New climate giving research & Top Climate Nonprofits just dropped! 📣🎊
Plus, we’re proud to announce $26M in grants to high-impact climate nonprofits, our largest grant cycle yet.
🔎Learn more: tinyurl.com/bdem7mh4
#ClimatePhilanthropy #EffectiveGiving #Decarbonization
Plus, we’re proud to announce $26M in grants to high-impact climate nonprofits, our largest grant cycle yet.
🔎Learn more: tinyurl.com/bdem7mh4
#ClimatePhilanthropy #EffectiveGiving #Decarbonization
Reposted by Steve Esser
The beautiful trains of Philadelphia Pennsylvania
November 3, 2025 at 9:45 PM
The beautiful trains of Philadelphia Pennsylvania
Reposted by Steve Esser
We’re flying the nest! 🦋 Giving Green is now an independent nonprofit, with a fresh brand & site to match. Huge thanks to
IDinsight for supporting our growth since we were a side project 💚
Learn more: tinyurl.com/yc5eyvx6
IDinsight for supporting our growth since we were a side project 💚
Learn more: tinyurl.com/yc5eyvx6
October 6, 2025 at 4:20 PM
We’re flying the nest! 🦋 Giving Green is now an independent nonprofit, with a fresh brand & site to match. Huge thanks to
IDinsight for supporting our growth since we were a side project 💚
Learn more: tinyurl.com/yc5eyvx6
IDinsight for supporting our growth since we were a side project 💚
Learn more: tinyurl.com/yc5eyvx6
Thoughtful essay grounded in understanding of history of Christianity and Judaism from Adam.
Early Christians were persecuted because they resisted empire. MAGA calls itself persecuted while wielding power.
That’s not Christianity under attack. That’s Empire in red hats. New essay: A check on Christian Nationalism from a Jewish POV.
open.substack.com/pub/adammarc...
That’s not Christianity under attack. That’s Empire in red hats. New essay: A check on Christian Nationalism from a Jewish POV.
open.substack.com/pub/adammarc...
MAGA Is the New Empire
Christian nationalism forgets its Jewish beginnings—and why they still matter
open.substack.com
September 28, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Thoughtful essay grounded in understanding of history of Christianity and Judaism from Adam.
This is the way.
Call for paper - Conference on Diachronic Emergence - May 12-13, 2025, UNamur (Belgium)
Invited speakers:
- Karen Crowther
- Samuel Fletcher
- Timothy O’Connor
- Erica Onnis
- Jessica Wilson
- John Heil
More detail on how to submit a proposal:
philevents.org/event/show/1...
#philsci
Invited speakers:
- Karen Crowther
- Samuel Fletcher
- Timothy O’Connor
- Erica Onnis
- Jessica Wilson
- John Heil
More detail on how to submit a proposal:
philevents.org/event/show/1...
#philsci
Diachronic Emergence
This conference will bring together researchers in metaphysics and philosophy of science to discuss the foundations, viability, and prospects of a distinctively diachronic account of emergence—n...
philevents.org
September 13, 2025 at 1:25 PM
This is the way.
Reposted by Steve Esser
Sept. 19-20: Retirement conference in honor of Gary Hatfield at UPenn. Speakers include Aleksandra Igdalova, Rolf-Peter Horstmann, Ben Baker, Peter Schwartz, Louise Daoust, and Uljana Feest. For those interested in attending, RSVP here:
upenn.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
#philsky
upenn.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
#philsky
September 11, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Sept. 19-20: Retirement conference in honor of Gary Hatfield at UPenn. Speakers include Aleksandra Igdalova, Rolf-Peter Horstmann, Ben Baker, Peter Schwartz, Louise Daoust, and Uljana Feest. For those interested in attending, RSVP here:
upenn.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
#philsky
upenn.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
#philsky
Starting reading the new Emily Adlam monograph on QM. Very pumped up about it. #philsci
global.oup.com
September 3, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Starting reading the new Emily Adlam monograph on QM. Very pumped up about it. #philsci
A positive for me right now is that I haven't been as excited about new music in a long time. For me, this is punk(ish) and harder guitar-driven rock. Most bands I love now are led by women - this is their time it seems. Here’s a thread of bands w/recent outstanding albums. 1/6 #rockmusic #punkrock
August 28, 2025 at 3:22 PM
A positive for me right now is that I haven't been as excited about new music in a long time. For me, this is punk(ish) and harder guitar-driven rock. Most bands I love now are led by women - this is their time it seems. Here’s a thread of bands w/recent outstanding albums. 1/6 #rockmusic #punkrock
Happy one year anniversary of me submitting a paper to a philosophy journal. A couple weeks later it was sent out to reviewers. *The reviews have not been returned*
PS: I am fortunate: this isn’t doing me harm since I’m not working in academia. OTOH I’m getting old!
#philsci #philsky
PS: I am fortunate: this isn’t doing me harm since I’m not working in academia. OTOH I’m getting old!
#philsci #philsky
August 23, 2025 at 4:45 PM
This is a fresh (to me) and apt perspective on this topic. Great work!
Now out in @aimagazine.bsky.social -
Against "AI Welfare": Care Practices Should Prioritize Living Beings Over AI
philpapers.org/archive/DORA...
led by @johndorsch.bsky.social !
We propose a novel guideline, the “Precarity Guideline,” to sidestep protracted debates about AI consciousness. We
1/11
Against "AI Welfare": Care Practices Should Prioritize Living Beings Over AI
philpapers.org/archive/DORA...
led by @johndorsch.bsky.social !
We propose a novel guideline, the “Precarity Guideline,” to sidestep protracted debates about AI consciousness. We
1/11
August 9, 2025 at 7:11 PM
This is a fresh (to me) and apt perspective on this topic. Great work!
Reposted by Steve Esser
In a new article, @hannahritchie.bsky.social and @spoonerf.bsky.social look at why there are such large differences in TB death rates, and what can be done to consign tuberculosis to the history books, everywhere: ourworldindata.org/ending-tuber...
The world left its fight against tuberculosis unfinished — how can we complete the job?
If we get it right, the world could save more than 1.2 million lives every year.
ourworldindata.org
July 28, 2025 at 4:28 PM
In a new article, @hannahritchie.bsky.social and @spoonerf.bsky.social look at why there are such large differences in TB death rates, and what can be done to consign tuberculosis to the history books, everywhere: ourworldindata.org/ending-tuber...
Great series of posts! #philsci
Part 4/4 of my blog series on the semantic conception: I argue that its emphasis on models is right because representation is piecemeal, but this calls for a pragmatic conception that gives autonomy to models, not a semantic one.
pragmatictheories.blogspot.com/2025/07/refl...
#philsci #philsky
pragmatictheories.blogspot.com/2025/07/refl...
#philsci #philsky
Reflections (4): Scientific representation is piecemeal
Here are our conclusions so far: what the semantic conception of theories claims is that a theory provides us with a certain family of repr...
pragmatictheories.blogspot.com
July 17, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Great series of posts! #philsci
Reposted by Steve Esser
A popular and very old argument for the value of philosophy claims that studying philosophy cultivates important intellectual abilities and dispositions. But empirical evidence for that claim has been hard to come by. Until now!
1/4
1/4
Studying Philosophy Does Make People Better Thinkers | Journal of the American Philosophical Association | Cambridge Core
Studying Philosophy Does Make People Better Thinkers
doi.org
July 12, 2025 at 1:21 PM
A popular and very old argument for the value of philosophy claims that studying philosophy cultivates important intellectual abilities and dispositions. But empirical evidence for that claim has been hard to come by. Until now!
1/4
1/4
Amazing story from @amandagefter.bsky.social
He modeled the logic of induction; traced the contours of the embodied mind; hung out with Einstein, Wheeler, and Bohr; gave away millions for art and conservation; fought for civil and gay rights; and lived as a janitor. My new story in @nautil.us
nautil.us/finding-pete...
nautil.us/finding-pete...
Finding Peter Putnam
The forgotten janitor who discovered the logic of the mind
nautil.us
July 3, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Amazing story from @amandagefter.bsky.social
Good news! (But that is a long time to wait…)
BREAKING: Philly is getting a WNBA team 🏀
Philly awarded WNBA franchise that will begin play in 2030
What put Philadelphia over the top, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said, was “Josh [Harris] and his partners stepping up making a very, very lucrative bid for a great basketball city."
inquirer.com
June 30, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Good news! (But that is a long time to wait…)
Reposted by Steve Esser
"We use our estimates on the impact of Gavi funding on child mortality to calculate the number of lives saved by Gavi support, which is approximately 1.5 million lives."
Kartini Shastry & Daniel Tortorice's research highlights the importance of Gavi ⤵️ voxdev.org/topic/health...
Kartini Shastry & Daniel Tortorice's research highlights the importance of Gavi ⤵️ voxdev.org/topic/health...
Effective health aid: Evidence from Gavi’s vaccine programme
Coordinated health aid for vaccination has increased coverage rates and saved the lives of children around the world.
voxdev.org
June 26, 2025 at 7:40 AM
"We use our estimates on the impact of Gavi funding on child mortality to calculate the number of lives saved by Gavi support, which is approximately 1.5 million lives."
Kartini Shastry & Daniel Tortorice's research highlights the importance of Gavi ⤵️ voxdev.org/topic/health...
Kartini Shastry & Daniel Tortorice's research highlights the importance of Gavi ⤵️ voxdev.org/topic/health...
I enjoyed this: Dana Tulodziecki on how we can make sense of the role of virtues if we 1) set aside the old debate about their supposed relation to realism/truth and focus on other epistemic work they can do and 2) acknowledge that this work is a process and isn't captured in a snapshot. #philsci
Get it while it's hot: BJPS Associate Editor Dana Tulodziecki's (@193.bsky.social) addition to the Cambridge Elements series, Underdetermination and Theoretical Virtues, is out now and free
#philsci #philsky #hps
#philsci #philsky #hps
Underdetermination and Theoretical Virtues
Cambridge Core - Philosophy of Science - Underdetermination and Theoretical Virtues
www.cambridge.org
June 19, 2025 at 2:04 PM
I enjoyed this: Dana Tulodziecki on how we can make sense of the role of virtues if we 1) set aside the old debate about their supposed relation to realism/truth and focus on other epistemic work they can do and 2) acknowledge that this work is a process and isn't captured in a snapshot. #philsci
