True Lies Suppose you see John steal a cookie. He did it and you saw him do it. However, you don’t believe that Johnstole the cookie because John disguised himself as Jack. You believe, falsely, that Jack stole the cookie. As it happens, you don’t like John so you decide to lie and say that […]

Meme Selection What kind of selection applies to memes? According to my scheme, there are two kinds of selection: intentional and nomological.[1]  Suppose the meme is a jingle: if it takes up residence in your mind, is that an intentional act? Not generally, since jingles usually repeat themselves against your will. You don’t choose to […]

Double Death You might think there is nothing more to say about death. You might think death has been done to death. But I am here to report, from the depths of death studies, that death has a new wrinkle—it has a surprise up its sleeve. It turns out that every death is a double […]

Autism and Philosophy Does philosophy cause autism? Does that question elicit a jolt of recognition? I don’t believe the matter has ever been investigated scientifically, but there is anecdotal evidence to support it. That the two are correlated is prima facie plausible, but does philosophy cause autism? Not florid cases of it, to be sure, […]