Paul Gooch’s Workbench: Scratching Itches, Giving Over, & Getting There

Canada is an experiment that has worked out well for some but certainly not for all. Paul Gooch is a philosopher committed to trying to improve that experiment.

Penelope Maddy’s Workbench

Philosophical Screenwriting, ‘Pity the Poor Reader’, & Bedtime Stories

A writer’s world is often invisible from the outside unless they let you in. Sometimes when a sentence, paragraph, or essay strikes you as forceful or elegant, you might try to reverse engineer the author’s process. You try to articulate rules or ideas that shaped the author’s choices. Later on, if you speak with the writer, you might be humbled upon finding out you had no real clue how they do their thing.

Stakhanovite Philosophers’ Workbench: Atkins and Lassiter

Relentless Adjuncting, Existential Graphs, and Non-Rejection

Try to envision a philosopher writing a paper while climbing a mountain. Or imagine that mountain-climbing philosopher writing while wearing a backpack loaded with rocks.

Daniel Stoljar’s Workbench

Font-Switching, Imagining Voices, & Embarrassment

Can you think differently about a paper you are drafting just by switching fonts?

Roy Sorensen’s Workbench

Paradoxes, Magic, & Stealth Philosophy

Some years ago I presented a paper at a workshop where Roy Sorensen was in the audience. After my talk, Sorensen surprised me with a thoughtful gift: an unsharpened pencil. The pencil had inscribed on it a warning: “TOO COOL TO DO DRUGS”. He explained that when the pencil is sharpened down, the “TOO” disappears, thwarting the intended drug-free message.

Cheshire Calhoun’s Workbench

Origins, Brickmaking, & Thinking-Beyond

The first time I met my colleague Cheshire Calhoun, she offered to paint my office. In our building on campus, the walls are all painted the same, sterile off-white tone. But not Cheshire’s. Her walls are a relaxing green.