http://david.brax.nu David Brax, philosopher Fri, 16 Jul 2010 09:35:37 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Being caught at something involves more than just surprising someone with the unexpectedness of what occurs. Being caught involves doing something that means something: the act in question is taken as symptomatic of a general tendency, or as part of some larger activity, and this is what somehow rushes into ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/in-flagrante/ How do we know that the Amygdala is important for emotions, like fear? Well, how do I know that Lisa got ticklish feet? When I tickle them, she reacts in a certain manner, characteristic of people being tickled. And when she reacts in that way, it's a safe bet that ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/welcome-to-amygdale/ One of the topics that interests me concerning psychopathy is the relationship between the near absence of moral values and the possibility of presence of other values, like aestethic ones. One of the main charachteristics of psychopaths is "shallow emotions", but shallow emotions is clearly emotions to, and might be ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/you-dont-really-care-for-music-do-you/ While waiting for the next substantial blogpost to appear, here is a picture of a fairly huge window at the Royal Library. With a little luck, this afternoon will bring pictures from the academic celebrity spotting circuit. Sightings of Damasio, Zeki and Rizzolatti have been reported. http://david.brax.nu/blog/patience-pets/ no 5, Washington Place. The Philosophy Department http://david.brax.nu/blog/my-favorite-building/ Tomorrow, I'm giving a short presentation at a lab meeting with the sinisterly named MERG (Metro Experimental Research Group) at NYU. The title is "Value-theory meets the affective sciences - and then what happens?". For once, the question tucked on for effect at the end will be a proper one ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/bright-ideas-big-city/ The last few years have seen a number of different approaches to morality become trendy and arouse media interest. Evolutionary approaches, primatological, cognitive science, neuroscience. Next in line are developmental approaches. How, and when, does morality develop? From what origins can something like morality be construed? Alison Gopnik devoted a chapter ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/moral-babies/ What is wrong with psychopaths? Seriously? I’m not asking it in a semi-mocking, Seinfield-esque ”what is the deal with X” kind of way. I’m seriously interested in finding out. Is there something they’re not getting, or something they don’t care about? And is caring about something really that different from ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/psychopath-college/ (Not friends of mine) Terracotta, the material, makes me nauseous. Looking at it, or just hearing the word, makes me cringe. Touching it is out of the question. One may say that my reaction to Terracotta is quite irrational: I have no discernable reason for it. But rationality seems to have ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/reasons-and-terracotta/ ”The spirit level” made a big (and persuasive, though debatable) point of some well known effects: people tend to care about how they turn out in comparison with others. People tend to compare themselves to people who are better off than themselves. In some interesting cases, people tend to ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/opting-out/