Robinson's Podcast Robinson Erhardt

Simon Blackburn was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and Edna J. Koury Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Though he has worked in many areas of philosophy, he is best known for his contributions to metaethics and the philosophy of language. Simon and Robinson discuss the distinction between ethics and metaethics before primarily focusing on the latter, where they explore the concept of realism. Simon’s latest books are Lust and Mirror, Mirror.



OUTLINE:

4:31 Simon’s History with Metaethics

8:20 Distinguishing Ethics and Metaethics

12:57 On Moral Realism

39:42 Frege and the True 

43:57 Moral Quasi-realism

54:52 Moral Quasi-realism and Living a Good Life 



Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com



Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

David Albert is the Frederick E. Woodbridge Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University, where he directs the Philosophical Foundations of Physics program. Tim Maudlin is Professor of Philosophy at NYU. Both David and Tim are renowned as leading philosophers of physics, though their work extends beyond that to the philosophy of science and metaphysics. David is a prior guest (episodes 23 and 30) of Robinson’s Podcast, as is Tim (episode 46). David, Tim, and Robinson discuss the foundations of quantum theory, beginning with its historical motivation, tracking through some important concepts—superposition and the measurement problem—and then exploring some of its philosophical aspects (such as determinism, realism, the potential for backward causation, and more).  



Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com 



OUTLINE:

00:00 In This Episode…

00:17 Introduction

2:51 What Motivated the Development of Quantum Theory?

7:05 Superposition and the Measurement Problem

31:42 John Bell’s Theory of Local Beables

44:30 Formalism and Interpretation in Quantum Theory

51:52 The Einstein-Podoksky-Rosen Argument

58:26 On “Interpretations” of Quantum Theory

1:11:17 The Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber Theory of Spontaneous Collapse

1:16:19 The Many Worlds Theory

1:30:46 Determinism

1:46:29 Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Field Theory

1:48:28 Realism

1:52:15 Monism and Entanglement

1:58:19 Backward Causation

2:04:32 An Experiment to Further Foundations



Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.

Noam Chomsky is Professor of Linguistics Emeritus at MIT and Laureate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Arizona. He not only counts as among the most influential linguists of all time, but he has played a major role in the development of twentieth and twenty-first century philosophy, cognitive science, and political theory. Noam and Robinson talk about some of the major topics in modern linguistics, ranging from generative and universal grammar to innateness hypotheses and the current limitations of large language models for studying human linguistic faculties. There are also philosophical dimensions to the conversation, as Noam touches on his time with Nelson Goodman, Hilary Putnam, and W. V. O. Quine, while other concerns—such as the indeterminacy of reference and the relationship between thought and language—recur throughout the discussion. 

 

OUTLINE:

00:00 In This Episode…

00:27 Introduction

8:32 Noam’s Entry into Linguistics 

11:03 Ferdinand de Saussure and Twentieth Century Linguistics

23:04 The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

26:00 Thoughts on Language and Behaviorism

35:24 Innateness Hypotheses in Linguistics

42:00 Innateness and Universal Grammar

46:02 Limitations of Large Language Models

48:42 Impossible Languages and What Linguists Study

1:00:10 Historical Shifts in Linguistics

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com



Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Tania Lombrozo is Arthur W. Marks ’19 Professor of Psychology at Princeton University, where she directs the Concepts & Cognition Lab. Before that, she did her undergraduate work at Stanford University (!), her graduate work at Harvard University, and then taught at the University of California, Berkeley. Robinson and Tania discuss her work on explanation. Among other things, they touch on our intuitions about what makes explanations good, what makes certain observations seem to demand explanation, some of the differences between religious and scientific explanations, and how we reason about morally charged situations. Keep up with Tania’s work through:



Twitter: https://twitter.com/TaniaLombrozo



Tania’s Website: https://psych.princeton.edu/people/tania-lombrozo



The Concepts & Cognition Lab: https://cognition.princeton.edu



OUTLINE:

00:00 Introduction

2:23 From Philosophy to Psychology

8:03:39 Tania’s Interest in Learning and Explanation

11:28 Experiments to Test Our Intuitions About Explanation

16:16 Our Intuitions About What Makes a Good Explanation

27:06 Explanation-Based Processes

29:30 What Demands Explanation?

38:33 Religious and Scientific Explanation?

40:51 What Makes a Good Answer?

43:59 Marr’s Levels of Explanation

48:36 Tania’s Work with Neuroscientists

54:05 More on Explanations in Science and Religion

1:00:58 Moral Reasoning and Explanation

1:07:28 Can Science Explain the Human Mind?

1:12:57 Philosophy and Psychology

1:16:39 Psychology in Tania’s Life



Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com



Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.

Sarah Moss is the William Wilhartz Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Law by courtesy at the University of Michigan. She works primarily in epistemology and the philosophy of language, though in the case of this conversation her work has an important bearing on legal philosophy. Robinson and Sarah talk about her book Probabilistic Knowledge, which argues that you can know something that you believe even if you do not believe it fully, and as she quite aptly points out, “The central theses of the book have significant consequences for social and political questions concerning racial profiling, statistical evidence, and legal standards of proof,” all of which are discussed in this episode. Robinson and Sarah begin by introducing the concept of probabilistic belief before turning to Sarah’s argument in favor of probabilistic knowledge. They then turn to some applications of her work to outstanding puzzles in philosophy and law. Keep up with Sarah on her website, http://www-personal.umich.edu/~ssmoss/, and check out Probabilistic Knowledge on Amazon, https://a.co/d/iobL8iZ.



Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com



OUTLINE:

00:00 Introduction

3:58 Math and Epistemology

7:35 What is Probabilistic Belief?

11:22 Sarah, David Lewis, and Robert Stalnaker

28:26 Credence and Probabilistic Belief

33:40 Are All Beliefs Probabilistic?

56:57 Probabilistic Knowledge and Racial Profiling

1:20:25 Probabilistic Knowledge and Transformative Experience

1:29:30 Statistical Evidence and Legal Proof

1:48:39 Pragmatic Encroachment on Legal Proceedings

2:04:07 Is Belief a Strong or a Weak Attitude?

2:12:39 The Preface Paradox

2:21:06 Probabilistic Knowledge and the Newcomb Problem

2:27:18 Probabilistic Knowledge and the Philosophy of Action



Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.

Thomas Ryckman is Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University, where he works on the philosophy of physics. Mark Wilson is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh, where he works at the intersection of the philosophy of math and physics on the one side and metaphysics and the philosophy of language on the other. Tom, Mark, and Robinson discuss the present state of analytic philosophy, the dominant tradition in the United States, including some potential obstacles and important ideas of the twentieth century that have been forgotten.



OUTLINE:

00:00 Introduction

2:07 Tom and Mark’s Friendship

9:46 Problems with Contemporary Analytic Philosophy

15:18 Hertz and a Metaphysical Notion of Force

18:04 Thoughts on Wittgenstein

20:40 Mark and the French Structuralists

29:41 The Single Greatest Problem Confronting Analytic Philosophy Today

37:45 Some Thoughts on Grounding

1:02:40 Mach, Duhem, Hertz, and Analytic Philosophy

1:14:26 A Historical Overemphasis on Logic

1:29:54 Final Thoughts on the Current State of Academic Philosophy



Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com



Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.