Often in language we are faced with cases of indeterminacy: how many miles per hour is “fast”? How many feet, from head to toe, is “tall”? How much money does it take to be “wealthy”? Professor David Taylor asserts that there’s something philosophically significant going on here, and it's about much more than just our language.

Philosophy Professor Sarah Holtman seeks to answer moral questions on Kant’s theory of justice. “I’m not a historian,” she remarks, “but rather a moral and political philosopher, approaching Kant’s writings from that angle.”

Scientific research is commonly thought to be all about the numbers: concrete evidence, data, and carefully drawn conclusions. However, Max Dresow’s background in both biological science and philosophy allows him to see the benefit of philosophy’s wider lens when dealing with scientific practices.

Philosopher Immanuel Kant’s work delves deep into the concept of freedom in both his moral and political philosophies—so what does a Kant scholar do when these treatments of freedom don’t quite seem to line up? Professor Matthias Rothe explains how inconsistencies in Kant’s work must be understood in a broader historical, social, and political context.

Valerie Tiberius, chair of the Department of Philosophy, discusses the dangers of excessive introspection, getting lost in experience, positive illusion, and more in the "On Wisdom" podcast.

Valerie Tiberius, a professor of philosophy, collaborates with psychologists while studying the meaning of happiness. 

What is mathematics? Are the lines, planes, and intervals of mathematics composed of points, or are there other ways of thinking about these objects? According to Professor Geoffrey Hellman, questions like these have always posed problems for the discipline of mathematics. In two new books, co-authored with Stewart Shapiro of The Ohio State University, Hellman takes on these and other questions, seeking to clarify what is at stake in the various answers one might offer to them.

Do scientific theories fully describe the world? Do electrons and electromagnetic fields really exist? What sets science apart from other kinds of inquiry? Philosophers of science like Professor Samuel C. Fletcher grapple with these complicated questions daily. Fletcher recently introduced this way of thinking to a group of bright high school students in the Honors Mentor Connection class at Wayzata High School.

Sara Parhizgari is a recipient for the award of a 2018–2019 Pre-Doctoral Fellowship through the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS).