iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Waiting for the bus to take the fifth and final leg of the journey to Dagstuhl for a week-long seminar on philosophy and AI. Three towers from the stops in London, Cologne, and St Wendel. Bristol 🚂 London 🚂 Brussels 🚂 Cologne 🚂 St Wendel 🚌 Dagstuhl.

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

I always like the end of the famous passage from William James’s Will to Believe on this…

Believe truth! Shun error!—these, we see, are two materially different laws; and by choosing between them we may end by coloring differently our whole intellectual life. We may regard the chase for truth as paramount, and the avoidance of error as secondary; or we may, on the other hand, treat the avoidance of error as more imperative, and let truth take its chance. Clifford, in the instructive passage which I have quoted, exhorts us to the latter course. Believe nothing, he tells us, keep your mind in suspense forever, rather than by closing it on insufficient evidence incur the awful risk of believing lies. You, on the other hand, may think that the risk of being in error is a very small matter when compared with the blessings of real knowledge, and be ready to be duped many times in your investigation rather than postpone indefinitely the chance of guessing true.
I myself find it impossible to go with Clifford. We must remember that these feelings of our duty about either truth or error are in any case only expressions of our passional life. Biologically considered, our minds are as ready to grind out falsehood as veracity, and he who says, "Better go without belief forever than believe a lie!" merely shows his own preponderant private horror of becoming a dupe. He may be critical of many of his desires and fears, but this fear he slavishly obeys. He cannot imagine any one questioning its binding force. For my own part, I have also a horror of being duped; but I can believe that worse things than being duped may happen to a man in this world: so Clifford's exhortation has to my ears a thoroughly fantastic sound. It is like a general informing his soldiers that it is better to keep out of battle forever than to risk a single wound. Not so are victories either over enemies or over nature gained. Our errors are surely not such awfully solemn things. In a world where we are so certain to incur them in spite of all our caution, a certain lightness of heart seems healt…

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

KLM screwed up my flight booking and stopped me from going to a conference I’d been looking forward to for months, but on the plus side I met one of my favourite neighbourhood cats for the first time since they were a kitten, so I guess it’s swings and roundabouts.

A black cat approaches the camera with a look of eager curiosity

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

I’m very much looking forward to this conference in Frankfurt next week with @manongarcia.bsky.social, @quillkukla.bsky.social, and others.

SEXUAL
A THREE-DAY CONFERENCE AGENCY
1 - 3 July 2026
9am - 6pm
Goethe Universität Frankfurt
Normative Orders Building
Organised by Manon Garcia and Milena Bartholain.
For participation, please register with: Bartholain@em.uni-frankfurt.de
GOETHE
UNIVERSITAT FRANKFURT AM MAIN
DFG
Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft
NORMATIVE ORDERS
Forschungsrestrum der Goethe-Universitat

09:00-09:15 Welcome coffee
Thursday, ≥ July
09:00-10:15 Lizzy Holt (UCL) - The Unpredictable and the Permissible
10:30-11:45 Victor Tadros (Warwick) - Sexual Misconduct on Campus
16:00-17:15 Jonathan Ichikawa (UBC) - Consent, Agency, and the Mental
17:30-18:45 Veerle van Wijngaarden (Amsterdam) - Erotic Desire cind the Limits of Sexual Agency
Friday, 3 July
Richard Pettigrew (Bristol) - Having the Sex We Want
Manon Garcia (Frankfurt) - Sexual agency, the patriarchy, and akrasia
Quill Kukla (Georgetown) - The Architecture of Sexual Agency
Katherine Baker (lowa) - Gender, Consent and Sexual Agency
Milena Bartholain (Frankfurt) - The Future of Sexual Autonomy

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

My hometown actually lost its ominous megastructure recently when this power station was demolished. Now I think it’s probably these concrete blocks arrayed along the beach against a Nazi invasion.

Cockenzie coal power station pictured with two tall chimneys and a turbine hall with the firth of forth in the background

Square concrete blocks arranged higgledy piggledy on a beach with the Firth of Forth in the background

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

risky choice of name for a construction firm

A portacabin belonging to the construction firm ‘SureFire’

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Second instalment of ‘Epistemology: Normal meets Formal’ happening in Oxford tomorrow!! www.philosophy.ox.ac.uk/event/episte...

Poster for workshop:

EPISTEMOLOGY:
NORMAL MEETS FORMAL
WITH BOOK SYMPOSIUM ON RICHARD PETTIGREW'S
•THE VALUE OF INFORMATION AND THE EPISTEMOLOGY OF INQUIRY'
June 22-23 2026, University of Oxford
SPEAKERS
SAM CARTER (UCL)
CHRISTOPH KELP (GLASGOW)
MARIA LASONEN
(HELSINKI)
JESSIE MUNTON
(CAMBRIDGE)
RICHARD PETTIGREW
(BRISTOL)
BERNHARD SALOW
(OXFORD)
MONA SIMION
(OXFORD)

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Some flowers from the garden by the philosophy dept in Bristol

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Huge win for Graham Priest on the Birmingham New Street departure board

Departure board reads

12:12 Penzance - Cancelled
12:12 Penzance - On time

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

I’m really pleased this paper is now coming out in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. Consent and the formation of preferences philarchive.org/rec/PETEOA-7 (Pictured with a cat I met just before hearing the paper has been accepted.)

Very sweet tortoiseshell cat with startling white paws and exceptional whiskers

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Heading to Bochum for @lapaul.bsky.social’s Carnap lectures…providing the British, Eurostar, and German rail networks don’t succeed in preventing me through their determined conspiracy of cancellations and delays.

Poster for L. A. Paul’s Rudolf Carnap lectures for 2026.

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Met a cat with a taste for Lanarkshire’s best biscuits

Black and white cat eyes a box of borders butterscotch biscuits

Black and white cat scratches herself on a box of borders butterscotch biscuits

Black and white cat rests her chin a box of borders butterscotch biscuits with a blissed out look on her face

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

I wrote up some notes about divergences and the work they might do for us in philosophy. philarchive.org/rec/PETDFP

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Went to help a friend with some DIY. For reasons illustrated below, I didn’t help one bit.

Orange cat closes his eyes, enjoys the head scritchies, and displays his exceptionally splendid whiskers for the camera

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Walking home in the gloaming last night, I felt a dull thud against my shoulder. I assumed something had fallen on me from a tree. But no, when I looked round, it turned out I was the recipient of a defensive swipe by this fellow, who’d clearly taken me to have trespassed too close to his territory.

Entirely unrepentant vigilante defender of private property rights, a white and orange cat sits on a wall looking combative

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

every time I want to use ‘comprise’ in a piece of writing, I think ‘oh, I should look up whether that means *to be composed of* or *to compose*’ and every time I see this and never do I learn

comprise
verb [T, L only + noun, not continuous ] • formal
UK 4) /kam'praız/ US 4) /kam'praız/
Add to word list =
C1
to have things or people as parts or members; to consist of:
• The course comprises a class book, a practice book, and a CD.
+注
to be the parts or members of something; to make up something:
• Italian students comprise 60 percent of the class.
• The class is comprised

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

A new neighbourhood cat possessed of the virtues of friendliness and fluffiness

A black and white cat facing the camera and posing like they’re at the met gala

Black and white cat approaches with due suspicion

Black and white cat with head to the side looking cheerful

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

met this lovely stray soul outside the philosophy dept today

Black cat licking their lips with Victorian houses behind

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

I’ve updated this draft survey chapter on accuracy-first epistemology to include a technical appendix that tries to provide a way into some of the maths used in this area. philpapers.org/archive/PETT...

St Abb’s head, east coast of Scotland. Looking down from a cliff top trail into a little cove with the firth of forth behind.

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

The gardens by the philosophy dept looking particularly nice today

Tulips and bluebells in the foreground, a Victorian church tower and blue sky in the background

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Mehrangarh, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India

The intricately carved red sandstone of the fort against blue sky with some light white clouds

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Tach Khaouli Palace, Khiva, Uzbekistan

Looking up from the floor to the painted wooden ceiling of a colonnade that borders an inner courtyard in the palace. The walls are tiled in geometric blue and white patterns.

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

New academic website! richardpettigrew.github.io A bit more minimal, but still heavy on links to cat photos.

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

the american mind cannot comprehend this

it’s a kettle. Just an ordinary kitchen kettle. For making tea. Not a ridiculous machine for using ridiculous ‘pods’. Is it too much to ask?

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

This isn’t actually my favourite, but I’ve never been able to find my favourite again and I can’t remember enough about it to search. It was comparing the daily lives of horses and pigs, I think, and written in high-flown Victorian English. Any help appreciated.

A tweet from an account called mtobey.

"Anybody here named Jeff?"
Jeff: "Yes"
Geoff: "Yeos"

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Princeton in the spring (and a sweetly curious fellow resident at the Nassau Inn)

Pink trees in front of a Princeton building

A magnolia in front of the Princeton seminary

A very sweet dog peeks out of the back window of a parked car

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

very specific prohibitions on what you can chuck in the water here

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Looking forward to these three events in Hong Kong this week!

Prof. Richard Pettigrew
University of Bristol, UK

What is epistemic normativity, and why?
Date: 23 March 2026 (Monday)
Time : 16:45 - 18:15

Venue: LKK303 & Zoom Seminar

Scan the QR code or
click HERE to join the zoom meeting room.

What is the distinction between what we ought to believe simpliciter and what we ought to believe epistemically speaking, and why do we draw that distinction? I motivate this question through a series of examples, consider various existing answers, and find them wanting.
Then I propose and explore an alternative based on a version of rule consequentialism transposed to the epistemic realm: the norms that determine what we ought to do epistemically speaking are those such that broad adherence to them across your epistemic community would give the best results from an epistemic point of view. I argue that norms that exhort us to believe only what we ought to believe epistemically speaking follow from this epistemic version of rule consequentialism. In a coda, I offer an alternative account of the function of knowledge ascriptions that improves on Edward Craig's.

Me pictured on a bad hair day on Blackpool beach with the text:

THE VALUE OF INFORMATION AND THE EPISTEMOLOGY OF INQUIRY
Date;
March 27 (Fri) 2026
Time:
3:30pm-5:00pm
Room 10.13, 10/E,Run Run Shaw Tower,
Centennia Campus, HKU
Register HERE
Professor Richard Pettigrew
University of Bristol
Abstract: In the analytic tradition, epistemology has typically begun at the point at which we have our evidence; it has then asked which beliefs or credences are justified or warranted by that evidence, which are rational and which count as knowledge for someone with that evidence. And yet we are not mere passive recipients of our evidence; we often actively collect it, and collect it in one way rather than another, or act in ways we know will bring us certain pieces of evidence and not others, even when acquiring that evidence is not the primary aim of that act. In this paper, I present a Bayesian theory of how and when we should inquire, extend it to cover reasoning and other components of our cognitive lives, and apply it to central questions in the recent literature on inquiry concerning the way in which the inquiries that lead to our beliefs and credences affect the epistemic standing of those cognitive states.

Same bad hair, but mercifully smaller picture, and surrounded by others. Naked people are pictured looking more professional.

Co-Organized by:
HKU Master of Arts-Al, Philosophy, Politics and Economics (MAPPE) and HKU Ethics Lab

HKUPPE WORKSHOP 2026
This two day workshop brings together researchers to discuss work-in-progress on the philosophy of work and labor markets, and political economy.

MAR 26CTHU), 2026
1:00PM - 6:15PM
James Stacey Taylor
The College of New Jersey
Richard Pettigrew
University of Bristol
Shang Long Yeo
National Univerity of Singapore
MAR 27CFRD), 2026
10:00AM - 4:30PM
Daniel J. Singer
Untversity of Pennsylvanta
Pascal Brixel
Northwestern University
Winnie Jiang
INSEAD
Room 4.36, 4/F, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus, HKU
Register

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Do you know smooth infinitesimal analysis, Rafe? Feel it might appeal to you… en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smooth_...

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

I’m sorry, but I find it deeply depressing if you don’t find this perfectly round specimen a national hero

A long-tailed tit stares at the camera, challenging the viewer to question its elevated status in the hierarchy of great Britons

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Richard Pettigrew @wiglet1981.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

I’ll be teaching at the Urbino summer school with Jennifer Lackey, Anne Meylan, and Marco Nathan this year. Do please circulate the call (in comments), if you know anyone who might be interested.