Matthew J Brown

"Pulling new signal out of old noise."

Fascinating discussion of the importance of theory and theory change in science, and not just parapsychology... 🧵

I love this classic paper.

Applications are open for the SIU Center for Dewey Studies Visiting Fellows Program. Fellows are in residence for one or two semesters, enjoy the scholarly resources and intellectual community of the Center, and receive...
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Bill Wimsatt and Mark Wilson are each the author of a body of work whose fruitfulness is rivaled only by its forbiddingness. Despite deep sympathies between their approaches and conclusions, their work has not yet been read together. This paper makes the case for doing so. We identify a shared question at the heart of their work: how is it that limited beings such as ourselves come to possess genuine knowledge of a complex world? We then show that Wimsatt and Wilson arrive at similar answers to this question. Over a range of topics (investigative strategies, the uses of models, and theoretical and conceptual structure), both scholars emphasize the functional messiness of science. This is complemented by a pragmatist-leaning philosophical methodology that recognizes that one of the core uses of knowledge is to scaffold the acquisition of more knowledge. The core of the paper traces the mutually supportive interplay between their philosophical doctrines and methods. We end with two brief discussions: one a defense of their winding, playful writing styles, the other a brief consideration of the relationship between their work and Arthur Fine’s natural ontological attitude.

"Knowledge is not merely for describing the world. Nor is knowledge merely for getting around in the world. Knowledge is also for creating more knowledge."

By @consume.red & @philosofir.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1007/s104...

Drumroll, please! The Editors are delighted to announce the BJPS Referee of the Year for 2025...

www.thebsps.org/auxhyp/refer...
#philsci #philsky

Episode 3: What is Contingent in This Class? AI and Higher Education (Part 1) We’re back after too long! But good news, this is a two-parter! You’ll hear from us again NEXT WEEK. This one is a conversation about AI and Higher Education. Yeah, AI again. More about why that is soon. We talk about the following pieces in this episode: Marc Watkins, “Can We Justify College?” Carlo Rotella, “I’m a Professor. AI Has Changed My Classroom, but Not for the Worse.” Patrick Lin, “Why We’re Not Using AI in This Course, Despite Its Obvious Benefits” We also mention one old blog post of mine: “Either the Precarity That Fuels the Banking Model of Education Goes, or We All Do”

Oh Hai! You're probably pretty bored, nothing much going on. A perfect time to catch up on podcasts! In this episode of "Stuff is Contingent with Andy and Matt" me and @thehangedman.com talk about AI and Higher Ed. Available below or at any podcast service.

stuffiscontingent.org/@afamigliett...

Why We Should Be Reading Paul Churchland Right Now The more I get into philosophical and philosophy-adjacent discussions of current-generation "artificial intelligence" (large language models and the like), the more dismayed I am not to see any discus...

Why I think, in the current A.I. moment, we should be reading Paul Churchland. #philsky #philsci

thehangedman.com/philosophy/p...

A photograph of Arto Charpentier with text summarizing his upcoming talk reading: "Metaphysics as Method: A Methodological Reading of Dewey’s Metaphysical Theory? Whether Dewey can—and should—offer a metaphysics has long been a matter of intense interpretive dispute. Focusing on the programmatic formulations of his 1915 essay, “The Subject-Matter of Metaphysical Inquiry,” I defend two interrelated claims. First, by advancing the project of a science-based metaphysics in this early essay, Dewey shows how metaphysics can be pursued in a pragmatist way: not as an absolutist or foundationalist enterprise, but as a hypothetical, fallibilist, and experimental form of inquiry. Second, I argue that the primary value of Dewey’s metaphysical theory lies less in offering a definitive account of the “generic traits” of reality than in the methodological guidance it provides for conducting inquiry—guidance that should be tested and assessed in light of the concrete consequences of its use. My overall aim, then, is to elucidate the possibility of Dewey’s metaphysical theorizing and demonstrate its usefulness within his broader reconstructive project. Arto Charpentier is a postdoctoral fellow in philosophy at Jean Moulin University Lyon 3 (France). He earned his PhD from the École normale supérieure (Paris) in 2023 with a dissertation on John Dewey’s cultural naturalism and its instrumental function for social inquiry. His research lies at the intersection of pragmatism, social philosophy, and philosophy of science. He co-edited Repenser la nature. Dewey, Canguilhem, Plessner (Rethinking Nature: Dewey, Canguilhem, Plessner) (Rue d’Ulm, 2023) with Marco Dal Pozzolo and Matteo Pagan.

Please join us on Thursday at 1:30pm for Arto Charpentier, “Metaphysics as Method: A Methodological Reading of Dewey’s Metaphysical Theory.” Learn more at
deweycenter.siu.edu/center-events/

In case you're interested in the history of the philosophical engagement (or lack thereof) with biological organization, HOPOS has provided me with a link to download my forthcoming paper (limit of 50) at the following link: www.journals.uchicago.edu/eprint/RGWQP...
#hpbio #philbio #philsci

A photograph of the Center for Dewey Studies conference room

Congratulations to the winners of the 2025-2026 Center for Dewey Studies Essay Award: Stephen Houchins, Jessica Soester, and Michael Timm. They have been working since Fall on their essay projects, which cover a wide range of topics in Dewey Studies. See more at
deweycenter.siu.edu/center-infor...

A Turd in the Punchbowl: Initial Thoughts On Christoph Shuringa’s A Social History of Analytic Philosophy Or: An epigone Crashes the Party - 3:16 When I was first hired as a junior professor of philosophy in 1987, I joined a department (at Stony Brook University) that had three “wings” – one in continental philosophy, one in systematic philosop...

"If someone is working on the nature of oppression for some group – women, blacks, Asians, whatever – they are going to have to get approval from a white guy, Christoph Schuringa, teaching somewhere in London." Brutal! www.3-16am.co.uk/articles/a-t...

Actually, it is a pretty easy ~19pp. I'll even give you a hint, the bit where he refutes your criticism is on pp. 5-6.

Anyhow, if you think that anyone owes you a careful, patient explanation of why you're wrong when you randomly post ignorant replies like that, you're incorrect about that, too!

Incorrect! Maybe a good description of vulgar/political "pragmatism," but to see why this is not true of philosophical pragmatism, you can read Dewey's essay, "The Development of American Pragmatism" (1922/1925).

See me talk about a thing. (I'm less critical than it might sound from the abstract.)

If you have been enjoying Mimeographzine AF... And I hope you have, I want to invite you to check out my new Podcast "Stuff is Contingent With Andy and Matt." Every two weeks me and my buddy Matt Brown will share about an hour of conversation digg...

Oh hai. Everything happens so much these days. Need a bit of a breather. A long form conversation about something relevant but not the last 30 seconds of The Discourse? May I humbly suggest "Stuff is Contingent with Andy and Matt" with me and @thehangedman.com mimeographzineaf.net/if-you-have-...

One more day to submit!

Cover image for the book described in this post.

SIU Alums and friends of the Center Bethany Henning and Seth Vannatta have a new book coming out with Routledge: A Metaphysics for the Liberal Arts: Process, Quality, and Continuity. Explores what metaphysics can contribute to discussions of the value of a liberal arts education.

Agreed!

2026 Call for Proposals The Popular Arts Conference (PAC) invites submissions for our 19th Annual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, September 3-7, 2026. PAC is an annual academic conference for the studies of the popular arts,…

Hello #AcademicSky and #PhDSky!! The CFP for our 2026 Conference is live. The Popular Arts Conference is an annual academic conference for the studies of the popular arts that occurs as a part of @dragoncon.org. Come join us in Atlanta September 3-7, 2026.
populararts.org/2026-cfp/

A photograph of John Dewey celebrating his 90th birthday in 1949. In the background is an American Flag hanging from the wall, and in front of Dewey is a large cake with dozens of lit candles.

Happy 166th Birthday to America's Philosopher, John Dewey! 🎉🎂

I notice that Heterodox Academy has vociferously condemned the killing of Charlie Kirk, but has said nothing about the recent firings in Texas over course content or exercise of free speech. Hmmm...

Anyhow, I'm gonna bounce from social media for a while. Reach out if you want to join my Discord.

Report: You To Be Fired For Reading This Headline About Charlie Kirk NEW YORK—Insisting your fate was sealed the moment you clicked the link, a report released Tuesday found that you will be fired for reading this headline about Charlie Kirk. “Shortly after you navigat...

Report: You To Be Fired For Reading This Headline About Charlie Kirk

The working of truths: Stebbing’s debate with Schiller - Synthese Synthese - According to the standard account, early analytic philosophy clashed with Pragmatism when Moore and Russell attacked the James-Schiller theory of truth from 1908 onwards. While recent...

My new paper on Susan Stebbing's early debate with F.C.S. Schiller on the Pragmatist theory of truth has just been published in Synthese. #philsky

(Free access using this link: rdcu.be/eEdDT )

Serendipity and the Unexpected in the History of Philosophy of Science: Reflections on My Editorship of HOPOS (2017–2024) | HOPOS: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science: Vol 15, No 1

Outgoing #HOPOS editor Lydia Patton reflects on seven years at the journal.

Later in the Fall, look out for Editor in Chief Matthew J. Brown's statement of editorial vision as he takes the reins of a journal now in its 15th year of publication.

www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10....

...That stretch constitutes inference.” – John Dewey, Experience and Nature (1929, LW 1: 12-13).

Monday 9/1 is the last day of early bird registration for our Experience and Nature Centennial Conference in October. Find out more at:
deweycenter.siu.edu/center-event...
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...Linked in certain other ways with another natural object–the human organism–they are how things are experienced as well. Experience thus reaches down into nature; it has depth. It also has breadth and to an indefinitely elastic extent. It stretches.... (2/3)

John Dewey chopping wood with a quote from his book, Experience and Nature, which reads “[No] philosopher can get away from experience even if he wants to.” Citation: Experience and Nature, 1929, Late works 1, page 36

“[Experience] is of as well as in nature. It is not experience which is experienced, but nature– stones, plants, animals, diseases, health, temperature, electricity, and so on. Things interacting in certain ways are experience; they are what is experienced.... (1/3)

Fake small-town "Autumn Festival" shirts at the outlet mall.

Unfortunately several graduate students were injured just after this photo, when the book fell over.

The cover of John Dewey's Reconstruction in Philosophy overlaid on an image of the Center for Dewey Studies conference room.

This Fall, the Center for Dewey Studies Reading Group will discuss Reconstruction in Philosophy (1920). Email deweycenter@siu.edu to join and get a 30% off the book from SIU Press at www.siupress.com. (1/3)