Evan Westra

Retiring from academia to devote myself to my true passion: watching videos of sheepdogs on TikTok

Michael Jacovides, Hume on the Prospects for a Scientific Psychology - PhilPapers In Section One of an Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Hume distinguishes between two sorts of writing on human nature: first, one that appeals to common sense to make virtue seem ...

My paper, "Hume on the Prospects for a Scientific Psychology," was accepted by the Journal for the History of the Behavioral Sciences, which is nice. It's on section 1 of the first Enquiry, both as a manifesto for a future science and as a guide to the rest of the Enquiry philpapers.org/rec/JACHOT-4

@caic-at-purdue.bsky.social is hosting their center launch event on April 2-3, 2026 at Purdue University! The event is free to attend with RSVP. Visit their website for more info + the RSVP link!

Excuse me, that should be “Ted Carter resigns over The inappropriate relationship”

Support a woman today. Do her grading for her.

Two senses of medium independence The term “medium independence” has different meanings. One sense maps onto “abstract-as-abstracta” descriptions, while the other maps onto “abstract-as-omission” descriptions. Both senses have been d...

i wrote a paper on two senses of medium independence: the haugeland sense & the garson sense. the haugeland sense is like putnam's multiple realizability & the garson sense is like piccinini's medium independence. they are different and the difference matters onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Join the @aaup.org

With Texas and Florida taking up the lion's share of attention, I think people might be sleeping on just how oppressive the situation for public higher education is in Indiana right now

AI: *bombs a hospital*
AI ETHICS: It's also more likely to assume a doctor must be a man and a nurse must be a woman :((

Hi Bluesky! 👋 We’re the Philosophical Moral Psychology Lab, based at the Uehiro Oxford Institute. We use experimental philosophy and moral psychology methods to study morality, with the aim of contributing to normative and philosophical debates in ethics. Follow us to keep up with our work!

At Purdue philosophy, counterexamples are forbidden. We couldn't care less what is metaphysically necessary. Show us a study that says we're wrong, or get out

Probably too graphic: "plundering conceptual booty"

Conceptual Booty

Chimpanzees have culture. Do they also have cultural heritage worthy of protection? @simonfitzpatrick.bsky.social and I argue they do in our new paper, because their cultural practices create value.
link.springer.com/epdf/10.3758...

We squat, but we do not kneel.

I do not regret to inform you that we are going to lift

As a member of the jacked meat-head community, I must speak out:

Most food products with added protein are chalky and gross. This horrible trend must be stopped.

"Don't become like Colin McGinn" seems like a very solid career aspiration!

A propos of nothing, here is @eschwitz.bsky.social 's lovely @aeon.co essay about jerks: aeon.co/essays/so-yo...

Amid Trump crackdown on Chinese students, one US university appears to block them altogether Purdue says no ban on Chinese students exists, but reportedly rescinded dozens of offers after warnings from legislators

Oh hey a bunch of people are talking about my university! Let's see if it's for good reasons *touches earpiece* oh god um never mind

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

I think they're pointing out that certain folk who condemned one thing as bad have failed to do condemn another (far worse) thing as similarly bad. And also that those earlier condemnations served as a pretext for far worse actions down the line.

Loretta wants you to know that we'll be heading to The Ohio State University soon where I'll be an Assistant Professor of Philosophy 🥹 The OSU phil department is absolutely fantastic and I can't wait to go do philosophy with them!
🐎 🐻 🚂 🌰

why would the Mellon Foundation do this?

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen-maxxing

Noamie no

So happy to see this paper published! It represents by far the most fun and enriching experience I've had as a grad student. Reading philosophy is fun, but spending most of my week in a lab with dogs of all breeds and personalities? Nothing beats that.

Couldn't have asked for better mentors!!!

That feeling when you learned all your ancient history from Zack Snyder.

When something doesn't work properly, can your dog tell if the object is broken or if you just don't know how to use it?

I'm pleased to share my group @jhu.edu's first study with pet dogs (!!), now out in @plosone.org

Led by Amalia Bastos: Do dog rationally infer the causes of failed actions? 1/4

Maybe it’s just because I’m in PPE circles where these are prominent, but the basic premise doesn’t even make sense. There are loads of right wing (be it libertarian or conservative) funding bodies for the humanities and social sciences already. Things like IHS and Mercatus on the libertarian side

Telling my department chair that I can't attend today's faculty meeting because I'm being held hostage by the Andrew W. Mellon foundation.