Robinson's Podcast

Craig Callender is Professor of Philosophy and Co-Director of the Institute for Practical Ethics at UC San Diego. Craig works across the philosophy of science, and has published research on the philosophy of physics, applied ethics, the metaphysics of time, and other related areas. In this episode, Craig and Robinson discuss the content of a course he’s been teaching called Science vs Pseudoscience. More particularly, they talk about the boundary between science and pseudoscience, as well as case studies of science, pseudoscience, and conspiracy theories, including super-string theory, psychoanalysis, astrology, and more. Craig’s most recent book, What Makes Time Special? (Oxford University Press, 2017), won the prestigious Lakatos Award in 2018.  Craig’s Website: https://www.craigcallender.com  OUTLINE: 00:00 In This Episode… 00:26 Introduction 7:15 A Course on Science and Pseudoscience 14:43 Karl Popper’s Demarcation Problem 22:56 Superstring Theory 29:26 Psychoanalysis 32:29 Astrology 36:04 Pseudohistory and Expert Selection 47:02 Flat Earth Theory 51:28 Why Clever People Believe Silly Things  1:01:25 Personality Tests 1:14:12 Quantum Mumbo Jumbo 1:25:59 Replicability 1:29:15 Nutritionism 1:35:11 A Perpetual Motion Machine 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. 

Eric Trexler received his PhD in Human Movement Science from the medical school at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is a professional body builder and a sports nutrition researcher, and the co-owner of Stronger By Science, MASS Research Review, and the MacroFactor nutrition app, as well as the co-host of the terrific Stronger By Science podcast. Robinson and Eric discuss some philosophical concerns in sports science, including methodological limitations in study design and human error in scientific reasoning. Among other topics, they address the ecological validity of mechanistic research, ways in which funding and practical constraints guide experimentation, and ethical considerations that factor into the study of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. Eric’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trexlerfitness Eric’s Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/erictrexler Stronger By Science: https://www.strongerbyscience.com MASS Research Review:  https://www.strongerbyscience.com/mass/ The MacroFactor Nutrition App: https://www.macrofactorapp.com OUTLINE: 00:00 In This Episode… 00:50 Introduction 3:28 Human Movement Science 8:02 Performance Effects of Citrulline Malate and Beetroot Juice Supplementation 16:06 Interpreting Mechanistic Research 26:40 Reductive Reasoning and the Carbohydrate-Insulin Model of Obesity 55:59 Limitations of Study Design 01:16:56 Ethical Constraints on Researching Performance-Enhancing Drugs 01:25:40 MacroFactor 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. 

Peter Adamson is Professor of Late Ancient and Arabic Philosophy at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and Professor of Ancient and Medieval Philosophy at King's College London. He’s also the host of the podcast History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps and the author of the book series by the same name. Robinson and Peter talk about Neoplatonism—a philosophical movement in late antiquity—and its great thinkers, including Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, and Proclus, as well as the many issues they thought and wrote about, such as evil, theology, logic, and vegetarianism.  OUTLINE: 02:14 Introduction 7:30 What’s Interesting About Neoplatonism? 5:35 The Etymology of “Neoplatonism” 11:36 Where was Neoplatonism? 19:48 The Great Plotinus 23:56 Plotinus’ Metaphysics  32:30 Plotinus and Theology  39:46 Plotinus on Evil 1:00:15 Porphyry, His Logic, and Arguments for Vegetarianism CLIP 1:18:31 Iamblichus 1:24:02 Proclus 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. 

Elisabeth Camp is Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers, where she works on the philosophy of language, mind, and aesthetics. As she puts it, her research “focuses on thoughts and utterances that don’t fit standard propositional models.” Liz and Robinson spend the first third of their conversation discussing the poetry of Emily Dickinson and its connections to philosophy. They then move on to the substantial corpus of Liz’s work, touching on frames—or representational devices—various difficult-to-analyze speech acts and devices like insinuation and metaphor, and the semantics of maps. Keep up with Liz and her research at http://www.elisabethcamp.org. OUTLINE: 00:00 Introduction 3:30 Liz’s Interest in Figurative Language 12:03 Emily Dickinson’s “The first Day’s Night had come” 29:03 Emily Dickinson’s “This World is not Conclusion” 42:36 Mary’s Room as a Literary Creation 49:46 Imaginative Resistance 58:44 Frames as Representational Devices 1:07:34 Liz’s Taste in Problems 1:11:23 Speech Acts 1:16:41 John Searle 1:23:54 Insinuation 1:47:42 Sarcasm 1:51:00 Metaphors 2:19:42 Slurs 2:32:42 Metaphors in Science 2:40:53 Maps and Sentences 2:57:53 Animal Minds and Mental Language 3:05:37 Cognitive Science at Rutgers 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. 

Frank Jackson is Emeritus Professor at the Australian National University. He is best known for the knowledge argument and Mary’s Room—its accompanying thought experiment—but has published widely in the philosophy of mind, epistemology, metaphysics, and the philosophy of language. Frank and Robinson discuss conceptual analysis—or the philosophical technique of examining the meaning, content, or definition of a concept to resolve questions about it—as well as physicalism, reference in the philosophy of language, the knowledge argument, and more. Much of the material discussed in this episode can be found in greater depth in Frank’s 1998 book, From Metaphysics to Ethics: A Defence of Conceptual Analysis. OUTLINE: 00:00 Introduction 5:42 Growing Up in a Household of Philosophers  11:06 What Is Conceptual Analysis? 16:01 Physicalism, the Location Problem, and Conceptual Analysis 21:00 Conceptual Analysis and the Sorites Paradox 25:48 A Priori Physicalism 38:13 Physicalism in Math and Elsewhere 43:31 Color and the Location Problem 54:10 Ethics and the Location Problem 1:06:49 Metaphilosophy 1:13:13 Naming, Language, and Mind 1:30:05 One-Spaceism and Two-Spaceism 1:39:12 Mary’s Room and the Knowledge Argument 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. 

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.