mit philosophy

Last summer we dropped the sixteenth and final episode in our "Wise Women" series, so #WomensHistoryMonth feels like the perfect time to celebrate it. Check out all the episodes, from Hypatia of Alexandria to Judith Jarvis Thomson of @MITphilosophy, at philosophytalk.org/playlist/the-c….

Here's a great episode of The Last Best Hope, about the Declaration of Independence; featuring me reading my poetry in my best General Washington voice rai.ox.ac.uk/article/why-th…

In this week's newsletter, learn how an ethnomusicologist studies music, investigate how consciousness works, enter an AI-fueled school, and more. mailchi.mp/mit/shass-week… @mit_cmsw @MITPoliSci @MIT_MTA @MITphilosophy @bjfr

Thanks to @JamesCantorPhD and Amy Tishelman for a very civil and interesting discussion. Also thanks to the @MIT students, especially those who initially thought this event should not take place, but who came anyway.

“This year’s projects demonstrate the power of embedding human-centered thinking into MIT’s research and education,” says @MITphilosophy professor and SHASS dean Agustín Rayo. shass.mit.edu/mit-human-insi…

In this week's newsletter, meet this year's Burchard Scholars, meet MISTI-Japan's managing director, explore the American Revolution (in verse), and more. mailchi.mp/mit/shass-week… @MISTIatMIT @MIT_CIS @MITphilosophy

"Like so much in human nature, a source of trouble is also a source of good." share.transistor.fm/s/fa9c2fb0

New this summer: A middle-school version of Reason & Rationality, hosted at Pingry in NJ. One week on ethics, incentives, norms, markets, laws, and theory of knowledge. Convivial inquiry! Ideas get tested, not just aired. Main HS program also running. reasonandrationality.com/pingrymiddlesc…

.@MITphilosophy professor Brian Hedden PhD `12 named co-associate dean of SERC. news.mit.edu/2026/brian-hed… @MIT_alumni @MIT_SCC

“I see the course as building their foundations,” says @MITphilosophy and @MITEECS professor Brian Hedden about a new course, 6.S044/24.S00 (AI and Rationality). news.mit.edu/2026/philosoph…

A new cross-disciplinary course, 6.S044/24.S00 (AI and Rationality), challenges students to explore an artificial system's potential to be rational. Watch senior Amanda Paredes Rioboo discuss the course. @MITEECS @MIT_SCC @MITphilosophy

Read it now, before it’s made mandatory reading in every high school across the country and all the kids are quoting it on the playground.

Our next event is on February 12, with @JamesCantorPhD and Amy Tishelman.

2026 Levitan Prize in the Humanities award winner and @MITphilosophy professor Kevin Dorst is answering questions about rationality and how people reason. shass.mit.edu/investigating-…

MIT philosopher Matthias Michel co-authored research that proposes a roadmap for using transcranial focused ultrasound, a noninvasive way to stimulate the brain and see how it functions. news.mit.edu/2026/new-tool-… @MITLL @MITphilosophy

I’m excited to have a poem in @AlexRettie ’s December issue of Poems for Persons of Interest. “The gnawing absence grinds its teeth.” pfpoi.blogspot.com/2025/12/when-h…

“I wanted to take just the great bits of these speeches and writings, while maintaining their intent and integrity,” says @MITphilosophy professor @bradford_skow about his new book American Independence in verse. news.mit.edu/2025/revisitin…

It's not just science, it's a club. @MatthiasMichel_ in MIT News. news.mit.edu/2025/science-o…

“‘Midlife’ is a self-help book — part of a larger effort by some contemporary philosophers to make philosophy less esoteric and more, well, helpful,” Jonathan Fitzgerald says about @MITphilosophy head Kieran Setiya's self-help book. wbur.org/cognoscenti/20… @WBUR

Do universities need radical reform? October 14, with @dsallentess and @BrandonWarmke.