Suggested readings, 13 September 2020

Here are some interesting articles I have read over the past week that I think are worth checking out.

Colin Murphy, “Remote working revolution is now in our hands.” 6 Sep, Business Post.

Covid-19 has given us a chance to get ahead by embracing remote working: "A crucial benefit in Ireland would be reduced pressure on urban housing, and an accompanying boon to the country’s struggling small towns. Perhaps most obvious, but most difficult to measure, would be the increase in health and happiness resulting from more people structuring their working lives around their home and family lives, rather than the other way round."

Maarten Boudry, “The Warped Epistemology of Conspiracy Theories.” 8 Sep, APA Blog.

Maarten Boudry, a philosopher of science, asks why conspiracy theories are so timeless and pervasive.

Kent A. Peacock and John R. Vokey, “Placebo arms aren’t needed for challenge trials of Covid-19 vaccines.” 3 Sep, Stat News.

This piece argues that it does not make sense to give placebos to some of those who volunteer for challenge trials -- that is, where participants are deliberately exposed to the virus -- of Covid-19 vaccines.

Daniel Dennett, “Why Are We in the West So Weird? A Theory.” 12 Sep, New York Times.

Philosopher Daniel Dennett reviews Joseph Henrich's new book entitled The WEIRDest People in the World. "According to Joseph Henrich [an anthropologist at Harvard], some unknown early church fathers about a thousand years later promulgated the edict: Don’t marry your cousin! Why they did this is also unclear, but if Henrich is right...this prohibition changed the face of the world, by eventually creating societies and people that were WEIRD: Western, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic."

Nathan Nobis, “Is the "bodily autonomy" argument for abortion *that* simple?” 11 Sep, Abortion Arguments (Blog).

It is sometimes assumed that "the right to bodily autonomy" claim, often used to justify abortion, is self-evidently true. Philosopher Nathan Nobis, however, points out that, on closer examination, things are not so straight forward. Proponents of bodily autonomy may have to come up with sophisticated arguments to ground their position and, of course, to convince their opponents -- chants and assertions will not suffice.

Kenan Malik, “When Monuments Fall.” 9 Sep, New York Review of Books.

British writer and journalist Kenan Malik has a pretty nuanced take here on why we war over statues.

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