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Ralph Stefan Weir

@ralphstefanweir.bsky.social
402 followers 474 following 70 posts

Philosopher interested in metaphysics, mind, AI, language, art, religion etc. Author of The Mind-Body Problem and Metaphysics.

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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
If someone in a metaphysically impossible world says, "this is a metaphysically impossible world" what they say is true (ex hypothesi) and false (because truth entails metaphysical possibility). So, metaphysically impossible worlds must be logically impossible
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Here I am discussing the mind-body problem in microscopic detail with Miles K. Donahue www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAFg...
youtube.com
Why Belief in the Soul Makes Sense
YouTube video by Miles K. Donahue
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
I’m delighted to be heading to New York for the coming academic year as a Leverhulme Research Fellow and a Visiting Scholar at Fordham and NYU. I'd be glad to hear from philosophers and others in NY with shared interests! @nyu.edu @leverhulme.ac.uk
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Fantatic to see humanities subjects at University of Lincoln ranked among the best in the UK. Especially gratifying to see Philosophy ranked at #6, reflecting the great effort we put into making philosophy at Lincoln truly world class.
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Lincoln School of Humanities and Heritage @uolhumanities.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Three of our subjects have been placed among the very best in the country in the latest Unifresher UK subject rankings: 🏛️ Classics — 3rd in the UK 📚 History — 12th in the UK 💭 Philosophy — 6th in the UK Want to find out why? Apply now! unifresher.co.uk/uni-prep/bes...
unifresher.co.uk
Best Universities in the UK for 2027 | Unifresher Official List
See Unifresher’s definitive list of the best universities in the UK for 2026/27 admissions. Ranked by real student priorities and experience.
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
Coming up on Monday in Italian Switzerland!
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Lincoln School of Humanities and Heritage @uolhumanities.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
It's the 2026 Year of Reading, so we asked our students what books they've enjoyed lately. Find our here! history.lincoln.ac.uk/2026/04/19/w...
Some old books on a shelf
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Dr Martin Roberts @robertsmartino.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Re-posting this for those who might want to pursue postgraduate study here @uolhumanities.bsky.social .
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Lincoln School of Humanities and Heritage @uolhumanities.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
Our wonderful student ambassadors welcome prospective students and offer holders to yesterday's offer holder day
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Coming up next week in Oxford, Dean Zimmerman (Rutgers) on divine unity! Free and open to all, Wednesday 11 March, 3pm-4:45pm, the Aula, Blackfriars Hall www.humanephilosophy.com/single-post/...
humanephilosophy.com
11 March, Dean Zimmerman, "Divine Bootstrapping:  Do Abstract Objects Lead to Atheism?"
On 11 March, Professor Dean Zimmerman (Rutgers) will deliver a talk entitled "Divine Bootstrapping: Do Abstract Objects Lead to Atheism?" at Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford. Date: 11 March 2026...
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Lincoln School of Humanities and Heritage @uolhumanities.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Our extremely talented LSHH philosopher, Daniel Came, takes a break from thinking about Nietszche to play some Bach www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6qX...
youtube.com
Dan Came: J.S. Bach's Prelude from Lute Suite No. 4 in E Major, BWV 1006a
YouTube video by Dan Came
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Lincoln School of Humanities and Heritage @uolhumanities.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Announcement! 🎺 🎺 🎺 Our MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN WEEK 2026 will be running from 23 March. Several free online and in-person events will be taking place. For more info and to sign up please visit: sway.cloud.microsoft/JQIO9vGO001e...
sway.cloud.microsoft
MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN WEEK 2026: Books and Archives
To register for this free online event please visit our Eventbrite page.
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Would you like to help one of our @uolhumanities.bsky.social students with a research project into Quantum Models of Cognition Applied to Decision-Making under Uncertainty? Please take this 10-minute survey!https://shorturl.at/ZDnH9
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Are earthworms sentient? What about microscopic nematode worms? Or single-celled organisms? Here is a deep dive I wrote for Asimov Press magazine about what investigations at the scale of neurons tell us about sentience. www.asimov.press/p/sentience
asimov.press
What It's Like To Be A Worm
Finding evidence of “sentience” is fraught, whether in a comatose patient, an animal, or a neural net.
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 30/12/2025
Have you always wanted to write a drama based on the Lives of Plutarch? Then my friend and former student's publishing house has the competition for you! $2000 prize plus a book contract with 10% royalties, and your play performed on the London stage! oldsovereignpublishing.com/pages/compet...
oldsovereignpublishing.com
The Great Panathenaea
Old Sovereign Publishing are delighted to launch The Great Panathenaea.    This is the event of 2026.    A $2000 prize and a book contract with 10% royalties (on the full RRP).  The two finalists will...
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Jack El-Hai @jackelhai.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Today's article pick from Damn History, a free newsletter for readers/writers of #popularhistory. Congrats to writer @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social & @worksinprogress.blogsky.venki.dev! Read/subscribe to Damn History: damn-history-16d93f.beehiiv.com/subscribe www.worksinprogress.news/p/classical-...
worksinprogress.news
Classical statues were not painted horribly
Did the Greeks and Romans have different tastes, paint badly, or have the reconstructors of classical statues been trolling us?
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Online version out today worksinprogress.co/issue/were-c...
worksinprogress.co
Were classical statues painted horribly? - Works in Progress Magazine
Many claim that modern viewers dislike painted reconstructions of Greek and Roman statues because our taste differs from theirs.
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
I had a great time earlier this week speaking to 650+ A Level students about philosophy of religion at Bloomsbury Baptist Church for Academy Learning. Also got in a mention of the amazing philosophy programmes we have here at @uolhumanities.bsky.social.
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
I am delighted to have received my copy of the inaugural print edition of Works in Progress, featuring my article on whether classical statues really looked like the garish reconstructions one sometimes encounters Works n Progress is an amazing magazine, and I'm extremely proud to be involved
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Recent piece in Psychology Today www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-...
psychologytoday.com
When the Dying Wake: What Terminal Lucidity Reveals
A phenomenon that may be beyond neuroscientific explanation.
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
New version of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Dualism is now live! This update was a huge job, and there’s still plenty I’d like to improve in the next version, but this will have to do until 2030. plato.stanford.edu/entries/dual...
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
@jamesinbrooklyn.bsky.social makes a great observation
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Works in Progress is an amazing magazine of new ideas. Defying wider trends in publishing, it is moving from online only to print as well. This will be the most beautiful and intelligent magazine in existence and you should really consider subscribing. worksinprogress.co/print/
worksinprogress.co
Print - Works in Progress Magazine
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
Departing Split to end the summer conference season in Rome
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Lincoln School of Humanities and Heritage @uolhumanities.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
Massive congratulations to our brilliant University Challenge team, including two LSHH team members, for winning in Lincoln's first appearance on the show! Looking forward to round 2!! www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news/lincoln...
lincolnshirelive.co.uk
University of Lincoln students victorious after win on iconic quiz show
It's the first time the university has had a team compete on the popular show
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Lincoln School of Humanities and Heritage @uolhumanities.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
Does studying philosophy make you a better thinker? Yes! When controlling for baseline differences, philosophy students outperform all other disciplines on tests of verbal and logical reasoning and on a measure of valuable habits of mind
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Lincoln School of Humanities and Heritage @uolhumanities.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
Upcoming conference in beautiful Lisbon this October on "Artistic Networks of Trust: Collecting and Dealing in Times of War and Diplomacy”, organised by LSHH's Alyson Wharton-Durgaryan gulbenkian.pt/museu/en/age...
gulbenkian.pt
Artistic Networks of Trust
The Calouste Gulbenkian Conference in Art History, in its second edition, offers a reflection on networks of trust in the art world, through the lens of Calouste Gulbenkian’s life and transnational ac...
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
I will be debating the interaction problem for mind-body dualism with the great philosophy podcaster Ben Watkins at 6pm this evening UK time (1pm EST), hosted by Emerson Green. Please join us! www.youtube.com/live/-P2k1pG...
youtube.com
DEBATE: Is mind-body interaction a problem for dualism? Ralph Stefan Weir vs. Ben Watkins
Ralph Stefan Weir and Ben Watkins debate whether there is a sound argument from mental causation to materialism. The argument goes roughly as follows: Our minds cause bodily movements. Bodily movement...
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 01/06/2025
What Heraclitus a Hindu?? You probably thought no, but I'm going to tell you... maybe! afternature.substack.com/p/was-heracl...
afternature.substack.com
Was Heraclitus a Hindu?
An evaluation of Thomas McEvilley's "scholarly proof" of the influence of the Upanishads on the great pre-Socratic.
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
People often suggest that to qualify as *science* a theory must be based on publicly observable evidence. But in fact, neuroscience relies heavily on private experience. Investigators ask people what they can see, how much pain they feel, etc.
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Lincoln School of Humanities and Heritage @uolhumanities.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
LSHH researcher Alyson Wharton-Durgaryan's new book on Armenian architecture, supported by the Barakat Trust, comes out later this year. Read about it here! shorturl.at/729mX
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Lincoln School of Humanities and Heritage @uolhumanities.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Almost time for the 2025 student edition of the Lincoln Philosophy Salon! Looking forward to public talks on art and morality, personhood, and the quantum measurement problem by three of our brilliant current students
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Here I am explaining what the deal is with functionalist architecture at Works in Progress substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com
The purpose of a building is how it looks
True functionalism combines utility and beauty
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Lincoln School of Humanities and Heritage @uolhumanities.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Congratulations to everyone celebrating their graduation in Uphill Lincoln this lovely evening!
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
Honoured to feature in Emerson Green's latest episode, in which he gives a great intro to the problem of personal identity over time m.youtube.com/watch?v=NtKg...
m.youtube.com
Could you have been an alligator? | Philosophy of Personal Identity
YouTube video by Emerson Green
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Dan Weir @danweir.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
I'm a hereditary Crystal Palace fan. Today is a good day.
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Lincoln School of Humanities and Heritage @uolhumanities.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
On 5 May, Jim Cheshire, LSHH cultural historian and Associate Professor will give a lecture on Alfred Tennyson’s fluctuating relationship with the Pre-Raphaelites as part of this year's Festival of History. Reserve seats here! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tennyson-a... @jimchesh.bsky.social
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Apollo @apollo-magazine.com · 08/04/2025
‘If the subjects are no one, they can be us’ – Lauren Kane on the figures in the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich who have their backs turned to us
buff.ly
To infinity and beyond with Caspar David Friedrich | Apollo Magazine
The high priest of German Romanticism is at his best when practising a minimalism that requires maximum imaginative effort from the viewer, writes Lauren Kane
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
There's a new video clip in which I explain why I think there's no problem of mind-body interaction, ahead of a future debate on the topic with the same channel www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ziov...
youtube.com
The Myth of the Interaction Problem
YouTube video by Emerson Green
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Lincoln School of Humanities and Heritage @uolhumanities.bsky.social · 30/03/2025
A new special issue of Theologica on death and the afterlife co-edited by Lincoln philosopher Dr Daniel Came and Dr Mikolaj Slawkowski-Rode is now available online! ojs.uclouvain.be/index.php/th...
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Lincoln School of Humanities and Heritage @uolhumanities.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
From exploring metaphysics and the nature of reality to joining the Guides and Scouts Society, hear Thomas share his experience of studying BA (Hons) Philosophy at the University of Lincoln. 📚 Discover more: lncn.ac/Philosophy fb.watch/yzHZtKo3IQ/
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
I am writing a new version of the Stanford article on Dualism. If anyone has thoughts on what needs adding I'd be delighted to hear them
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
New piece just out: Have AIs Already Reached Consciousness? | Psychology Today www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/the-...
psychologytoday.com
Have AIs Already Reached Consciousness?
The Nobel-winning AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton says that current AIs are conscious. Could he be right? And what should we make of a world where experts cannot agree on this question?
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
Had an enjoyable FOUR HOUR discussion on mind and metaphysics with Emerson Green on Walden Pod last week. You can watch it here, or on Spotify/Apple etc. mercifully edited down to just 3.5 hours. www.youtube.com/watch?si=Mn_...
youtube.com
You Are A Soul — w/ Ralph Stefan Weir
YouTube video by Emerson Green
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
I am looking forward to giving a Royal Institute of Philosophy lecture on "Neuroscience and the Soul" at Keele University Tuesday. Please come if you're in the area www.keele.ac.uk/research/our...
keele.ac.uk
Royal Institute of Philosophy lectures
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
In honour of the new film, here are some completely new thoughts on Bob Dylan afternature.substack.com/p/bob-dylans...
afternature.substack.com
Bob Dylan's Philosophy of Modern Song
Thoughts on the preeminent modern songwriter's venture into philosophical aesthetics
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 18/01/2025
Europe's most exciting philosophers convene in Zagreb
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Ralph Stefan Weir @ralphstefanweir.bsky.social · 18/01/2025
A new post at my fledgling Substack page, please check it out! afternature.substack.com/p/why-dont-w...
afternature.substack.com
Why Don't We Study More Indian Philosophy?
The place of Indian thought in the Western world and why we cover so little of it in our philosophy departments
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