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Philosophics

@microglyphics.bsky.social
91 followers 26 following 608 posts

Language philosopher and dribs and drabs. philosophics.blog I write speculative fiction under the name Ridley Park and dabble in generative AI with tools like ChatGPT, Claude, ElevenLabs, and Midjourney.

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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
On Substack, I write why an IAI panel, Gender Equality and the Freedom Trap, has a fatal flaw due to incommensurate ontological grammars. brywillis634737.substack.com/p/100-subs-a... #pluralism #philosophy #language #psychology #encounter #ontology #morality #gender #iai #substack #blog #podcast
brywillis634737.substack.com
100 Subs & Feminist Monoculture
Where’s my medal?
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
In the Substack piece, I discuss how photos lie and captions exacerbate the fiction. brywillis634737.substack.com/p/an-instant... #philosophy #facts #truth #lies #outrage #ragebait #photography #news #context #france #protest #unrest #ethics #fiction #news #immigration #policy #blog #substack
brywillis634737.substack.com
An Instant for Rage-Bait
How to lie with the facts
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
On Substack, I share my perspective on composite characters in fiction writing, using my own work in progress. brywillis634737.substack.com/p/composite-... #books #novels #fiction #writing #reading #author #substack #blog #biography #sexwork #work #addiction #drugs #characters #RidleyPark
brywillis634737.substack.com
Composite Characters in Fiction
Needle’s Edge as case study
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I've resumed writing the manuscript for an (obviously) unfinished piece of what might be categorised as literary fiction or a biographical novel, transgressive realism. brywillis634737.substack.com/p/needles-ed... #writing #reading #books #fictionbooks #biography #novels #realism #literature
brywillis634737.substack.com
Needle’s Edge
First post in the new Fiction section
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I commenced reading another book recommendation: Piranesi. 📚 brywillis634737.substack.com/p/piranesi-s... I read the first two chapters and commented on my Substack. #philosophy #psychology #reading #books #substack #blog #review #commentary #opinion #mystery #knowledge #enquity #epistemology
brywillis634737.substack.com
Piranesi, so far…
Another LLM reading recommendation
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I Who Have Never Known Men by Harpman is neither a self-defence of heteronormativity nor a salacious lesbian romp. brywillis634737.substack.com/p/i-who-have... #philosophy #literature #writing #reading #critique #harpman #humancondition #fiction #sciencefiction #scifi #psychology #sociology
brywillis634737.substack.com
I Who Have Never Known Men
Moi qui n'ai pas connu les hommes
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I’m no fan of colonialism, empire, or hegemony, but the distinction between colonisation and ordinary acculturation may be rather thinner than we like to admit substack.com/profile/4348... #colonialism #empirialism #blog #Substack #Heidegger #Schopenhaur #power #Bourdieu #power #philosophy #politics
substack.com
Bry Willis (@brywillis634737)
In reaction to the visual meme: I’m no fan of colonialism, empire, or hegemony, but the distinction between colonisation and ordinary acculturation may be rather thinner than we like to admit. Heideg...
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
You know what you mean, right? Of course you do? Or do you? Also, a take on instrumentality brywillis634737.substack.com/p/i-know-wha... #philosophy #language #meaning #instrumentality #blog #substack #nature #reading #communication #understanding #podcast
brywillis634737.substack.com
I Know What I Mean
Whitehead, instrumental reading, and the package before it reaches the post office
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
📚 I assembled 10 fiction novel recommendations and decided to make a post on Substack. brywillis634737.substack.com/p/fiction-re... #reading #books #recommendations #nobokov #ishiguro #sylviaplath #fictionbooks #blog #substack #podcast #novels
brywillis634737.substack.com
Fiction Recommendations
10 books I suggest, but not necessarily my favourites nor exhaustive
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Put Whitehead's Science and the Modern World to bed. It has some good ideas. open.spotify.com/episode/3Hl3... #philosophy #language #reading #writing #blog #substack #whitehouse #benatar #ligotti #zapffe #teleology #optimism #pessimism #metaphysics #cats #existentialism #nihilism #science #podcast
open.spotify.com
The Absent Cat: Declining the Search for Cosmic Meaning
Philosophics — Philosophical and Political Ramblings · Episode
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
What if the universe had 11 dimensions, and the limitations of our sensory perception faculties can't process the others? brywillis634737.substack.com/p/whitehead-... #philosophy #psychology #physics #truth #whitehead#coherence #blog #podcast #substack #perception #dimensions #reality #science
brywillis634737.substack.com
Whitehead, Abstraction, and the Ladle We Call Reality
Some stray thoughts about eternal objects, colour, dimensionality, and what happens when the apparatus doing the encountering is itself the limitation
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I share assets related to my post on the Quantum Theory chapter of Alfred North Whitehead's book, Science and the Modern World. philosophics.blog/2026/09/14/w... #blog #Philosophy #science #video #podcast #science #physics #identity #emergence #objecthood #patterns #quantum #theory #ontology
philosophics.blog
Whitehead, the Electron, and the Persistence of Pattern
These are additional assets related to this Substack post on Alfred North Whitehead’s Science and the Modern World, the chapter on Quantum Theory. It starts like this… I’ve just finished Whit…
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Been reading Whitehead on Quantum Theory. It's over 100 years old, and it shows. Still, it provided food for thought regarding the fundamental behaviour of electrons. brywillis634737.substack.com/p/whitehead-... #physics #reading #philosophy #mediation #Whitehead #reality #history #science
brywillis634737.substack.com
Whitehead, the Electron, and the Persistence of Pattern
Disclaimer: I'm a passenger travelling in Maine, composing this with some difficulties given the state of connectivity.
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Sure, but you'd need to define faith. I sort of touch on this in my follow-up post on the nature of knowledge and its loose relationship to belief. brywillis634737.substack.com/p/epistemolo...
brywillis634737.substack.com
Epistemological Knowledge
I engaged with Mañana ayer – iykyk – on the topic of Popper’s falsifiability, being directed to Kuhn, Feyerabend, and Lakatos.
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Consider the epistemological problem with knowledge itself. I consider Lakatos and Gettier, and problems of belief. brywillis634737.substack.com/p/epistemolo... #Philosophy #Epistemology #Language #Knowledge #blog #podcast #Belief #Truth #Gettier #Semantics #CriticalThinking #science
brywillis634737.substack.com
Epistemological Knowledge
I engaged with Mañana ayer – iykyk – on the topic of Popper’s falsifiability, being directed to Kuhn, Feyerabend, and Lakatos.
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
This segment discusses Popper's Falsifiability and the Gateway to Science brywillis634737.substack.com/p/lay-philos... #philosophy #science #falsifiability #popper #modernity #psychology #socialsciences #progress #scientificmethod #blog #podcast #Substack
brywillis634737.substack.com
Lay Philosophy
An Example of Popper’s Falsifiability
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Having just finished Helgoland by Carlo Rovelli, I asked Claude to compare his positions with mine. brywillis634737.substack.com/p/an-archite... #physics #philosophy #reality #relationships #encounter #architecture #relata #Claude #blog #podcast #substack #quantumtheory #rqm #nature
brywillis634737.substack.com
An Architecture of Encounter with Helgoland
An inquiry of Carlo Rovelli by Claude Opus
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Would Alexandre Dumas have used an LLM? I asked an LLM. It said yes brywillis634737.substack.com/p/would-alex... Dumas is famous for having authored many books, including The Three Musketeers #writing #books #classics #literature #author #Dumas #llms #blog #substack #authorship #ai #creativity
brywillis634737.substack.com
Would Alexandre Dumas Have Used an LLM?
Maquet, Ghostwriting, and the Myth of the Solitary Author
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
A list of videos and books that capture a chronology of the history of France from the 770s through the 1940s. philosophics.blog/2026/09/05/f... #french #france #history #books #film #videos #recommendations #blog #lists #classics
philosophics.blog
French History through Novels
I was chatting with a French woman, but I only know bits of French history. I’ve read French, English, American, and European history books – and a few others on World History – but what I re…
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Un philosophe du langage soutient que la couleur n’est ni une propriété intrinsèque des objets ni une fabrication purement mentale, mais le produit singulier de la rencontre entre un percevant et le monde open.spotify.com/episode/7lfT... #philosophie #perception #podcast #français #substack
open.spotify.com
La couleur est une rencontre physique
Philosophics — Philosophical and Political Ramblings · Episode
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Seeing red? Colour exists – sort of. What's the catch? brywillis634737.substack.com/p/what-is-re... #philosophy #perspective #perception #colour #cognition #ontology #disintegrationism #blog #substack #encounter #red #vision #eyes
brywillis634737.substack.com
What Is Red?
An extension to The Architecture of Encounter, in which the eye is asked to produce its credentials
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
A colleague argues that 'Democracy is a system based on delegation rather than alienation'. I disagree. brywillis634737.substack.com/p/diseconomi... #philosophy #politics #democracy #voting #culture #conformity #alienation #illusionofcontol #blog #substack #opinion #popularity
brywillis634737.substack.com
Diseconomies of Democracy
On the dimension the wheel leaves out
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
I was inspired to write about affordances this afternoon. 🐵 brywillis634737.substack.com/p/what-gibso... #philosophy #psychology #cognition #science #affordance #Gibson #environment #salience #attention #blog #substack #podcast
brywillis634737.substack.com
What Gibson meant by an affordance
And The problem he was solving
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
What is time exactly? I've been mired in time these past few days – and space, truth be known – and I've seen a few notifications by IAI about the same. ⏱️ brywillis634737.substack.com/p/is-time-on... #time #physics #metaphysics #philosophy #language #maths #iai #measurement #blog #substack #podcast
brywillis634737.substack.com
Is Time on My Side?
This piece is about the nature of time, but I spent hours pondering the nature of maths, and whether the acceptance of maths as a fundamental, per Plato et al., rather than a derived one, is the root ...
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I can't say introspection is unavailable. I question its reliability or efficiency. This is further affected by salience, attention, and valence – a lot of filters to derange. Then we have the interpretation on the return trip. This is a communication theory nightmare, so many points for failure.
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Companies are literally abysmal at strategy or even knowing what it is. This was one of the biggest complaints in my years as a management consultant. ⚾ brywillis634737.substack.com/p/the-strate... #philosophy #strategy #management #leadership #baseball #winning #blog #Substack #goals #RedSox
brywillis634737.substack.com
The Strategy of Strategy
On mistaking the scoreboard for the swing
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Capitalism Is Theft: Anyone participating in it is either a thief or a victim – channelling Proudhon in the moment. philosophics.blog/2026/08/25/c... #philosophy #capitalism #economics #politics #history #poster #blog #resources #society #fairness #labour #labor #wages #workers #gemini #aiart
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Some claim we can be aware of our own outrage and biases through careful introspection. I disagree that this introspection option is even available. 👉 brywillis634737.substack.com/p/whose-outr... #philosophy #morality #psychology #sociology #anthropology #awareness #introspection
brywillis634737.substack.com
Whose Outrage Is It Anyway?
Culture, moral tribes, and the suspiciously sovereign introspector
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
If you ask the grass, the zebra is the monster and the lion is the protector. #perspective #philosophy #value #life #analogy #metaphor
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
People get uncomfortable when they hear someone say that human life has no inherent value. All value is extrinsically assigned but is ostensibly unearned brywillis634737.substack.com/p/moral-math... #philosophy #morals #ethics #nihilism #parfit #morality #maths #language #value #economics #identity
brywillis634737.substack.com
Moral Mathematics and Its Stowaways
On Parfit, Benatar, and what has to be granted before the non-identity problem can be a problem
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
« An officer may enter a home without a warrant if he has “an objectively reasonable basis for believing… » brywillis634737.substack.com/p/order-in-t... #Philosophy #law #scotus #language #objectivity #law #justice #harm #injury #threat #jurisprudence #reason #blog #substack
brywillis634737.substack.com
Order in the court
A side of fries with my weasels, please
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
I discuss a podcast by Kristen Lindquist, who does a fantastic job dismantling some misunderstandings of the relationship between emotions and the brain. brywillis634737.substack.com/p/the-net-an... #philosophy #psychology #language #constructivism #substack #blog #podcast #emotions #cognition
brywillis634737.substack.com
The Net and the Sea
Kristen Lindquist dissolves the emotion-thing, then quietly lets it back in through the kitchen
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Why do so many support such a poor form of governance? brywillis634737.substack.com/p/democracy-... #philosophy #politics #language #tea #democracy #evidence #measurement #metrics #blog #substack #essay #reading
brywillis634737.substack.com
Democracy Is Weak Tea
Why I don’t support democracy as a viable political construct
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
I chat about chapters 1 & 2 of Stoner by John Williams www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIez... #philosophy #books #author #reading #existentialism #camus #video #youtube #shorts #RidleyPark
youtube.com
John Williams' Stoner, Chapters 1 & 2
YouTube video by Philosophics
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
The Sorcerer's Apprentice prefigures the perils of Modernity. brywillis634737.substack.com/p/sourcery-o... #philosophy #modernity #history #literature #writing #reading #blog #podcast #magic #disney #fantasia #competence
brywillis634737.substack.com
Sorcery of Modernity?
Flooding the workshop since 150 CE
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Don't read Cioran to fall asleep. Most who know me know that I don't support Democracy (or Republics for the pedants out there) as a political system. brywillis634737.substack.com/p/put-a-face... #philosophy #politics #language #democracy #tyranny #enlightenment #Cioran #blog #substack #podcast
brywillis634737.substack.com
Put a Face on It
Cioran, Plato, and democracy’s fondest fantasy: a ruler who would rule exactly as I would
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
There is a recurring moment in ambitious philosophy when diagnosis gives way to consolation. brywillis634737.substack.com/p/civilisati... #philosophy #future #diagnosis #stats
brywillis634737.substack.com
Civilisation after Actuality: A Critique
As I express almost daily by now, I need to quarantine myself from all forms of social media.
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Full disclosure: I've long been suspicious of psychology and its claims. Sabine points out how psychology corrupts neuroscience and cognitive science. brywillis634737.substack.com/p/where-agen... #philosophy #psychology #cognitivescience #neuroscience #agency #substack #blog #scepticism
brywillis634737.substack.com
Where Agency Lives
Psychology lends neuroscience its nouns. Neuroscience hands them back with a postcode.
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
I came to Norman Fairclough late, and by accident. A Language Insufficiency Hypothesis was printed without a single reference to critical discourse analysis. brywillis634737.substack.com/p/exposure-i... #philosophy #language #linguistics #analysis #discourse #critique #substack #blog #podcast
brywillis634737.substack.com
Exposure Is Not Indictment
Fairclough, critical discourse analysis, and what the corpus can and cannot borrow
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Is truth the most dangerous fantasy ever invented? I find myself on Manuel Delaflor’s side of the argument. brywillis634737.substack.com/p/the-certif... #philosophy #language #truth #reality #buddhism #deflationism #epistemology #metaphysics #blog #podcast #substack
brywillis634737.substack.com
The Truth and Open Doors
On Delaflor, Leong, and what the word truth is actually doing
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
I'm still unsurprised at how many misunderstand the notion of evolution and the problem of natural selection. 👉 brywillis634737.substack.com/p/the-bacter... #philosophy #language #biology #science #evolution #grammar #bacteria #agency #life #purpose #survival #naturalselection #darwin
brywillis634737.substack.com
The Bacterium Does Not Want to Live
How the Language of Evolution Manufactures Agency
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
The Enlightenment has driven the West down a dead-end alley, but they haven't quite yet sussed this out. brywillis634737.substack.com/p/post-survi... #enlightenment #psychology #philosophy #history #society #artificialintelligence #economics #ecomomy #society #culture #humanity #technology #survival
brywillis634737.substack.com
Post-Survival, Same Road
AI, the Enlightenment, and a floor that biology never drew
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Companies are hiring philosophers, and that's a good thing, right? brywillis634737.substack.com/p/the-philos... #ai #ethics #philosophy #aiethics #governance #utilitarianism #selectionbias #technology #criticism #moralphilosophy #power #institutions #hiring #perspectives #blog #substack #podcast
brywillis634737.substack.com
The Philosophers Are Here. Which Philosophers?
AI companies are hiring ethicists. This is apparently meant to make us feel better.
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
This is less what I am reading than what I've just finished, but you can check out what I'm up to by following the link to Goodreads. philosophics.blog/2026/08/10/w... That I am reading a book is neither a recommendation nor an endorsement. #reading #writing #blog #books #goodreads #diversity
philosophics.blog
What am I reading?
I discovered a WordPress widget and decided to share my reading progress, but it appears to show the last few books I’ve finished rather than my active list. Click on My Bookshelf to view mor…
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
The Pathology of Happiness: Job, Finland, and the Invention of the Good Life My latest #Substack brywillis634737.substack.com/p/the-pathol... #philosophy #happiness #ethics #buddhism #religion #goals #attachment #metrics #experience #blog #video #podcast #culture #welbeing #psychology
brywillis634737.substack.com
The Pathology of Happiness
Job, Finland, and the Invention of the Good Life
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Language is overrated. In this Substack piece, I scrutinise language and the fact that much of language is extraneous. brywillis634737.substack.com/p/pass-the-s... #philosophy #language #languageinsufficiency #salt #justice #blog #podcast #artificialintelligence #robots #parsing
brywillis634737.substack.com
Pass the Salt
Language as a Pragmatic Alias
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
When is a nursing shortage not a nursing shortage? I talk about this on Substack. brywillis634737.substack.com/p/the-nursin... #philosophy #substack #economics #healthcare #nursing #employment #hiring #management #labour #ethics #morality #safety #workplace #perspective
brywillis634737.substack.com
The Nursing Shortage That Isn’t Quite a Shortage
When is a shortage not a shortage? A perspective viewed through the lens of philosophy and labour economics, with a critique of capitalism on the side.
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Oops, I meant to type homonymy, not polysemy. My bad. Of course, 'bank' is also a homograph and homophone.
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Yes. This is polysemy. The challenge with 'reason' transcends simple polysemy. It's a Contestable term. That said, you were using it as a synonym for an excuse. I used the term as an abstract concept: the ability to reason that walking in front of a speeding train isn't a good survival strategy.
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Philosophics @microglyphics.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
How does salience affect attention and foster pessimism and anxiety before confirmation bias can even happen? philosophics.blog/2026/07/31/s... #philosphy #psychology #cognition #attention #memory #depression #anxiety #perspective #mentalhealth #focus #blog #podcast #video
philosophics.blog
Salience and the Miles That Count
Salience, attention, valence and the construction of disposition Today I live about 90 minutes out of Boston by car on a good day – and 2 hours on a return trip because I live in Cape Cod, a touris…
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