Evan Westra
Philosopher writing about theory of mind, moral psychology, character judgment, social norms. I bore undergraduates for a living. All opinions are my own. #philosophy #philsky
he/him
sites.google.com/site/ewestraphilosophy/
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- Seriously! You could write a whole Moral Psychology syllabus using only people whose names appear in the Epstein files.
- It's disturbing to see many of the the major figures in moral cognition all over the Epstein files He was friendly with a huge number of the leading figures in the field, including giving millions to their labs, long after he pled guilty to sexually abusing young girls www.justice.gov/epstein
- Reposted by Evan WestraGreat discussion on this Volts podcast with @volts.wtf and @michaelhobbes.bsky.social Among the many excellent points they make is one that @evanwestra.bsky.social and I have thought a lot about: moral progress is going to be annoying! aeon.co/essays/why-d...
- Today on Volts: I'm joined by the great @michaelhobbes.bsky.social to discuss "reactionary centrism," an intellectual tendency that's come to dominate US public life. You know the type: would never view themselves as conservative, yet finds voluntary pronoun use vastly more aggravating than fascism.
- Reposted by Evan WestraHighlights from today’s Coffee & CAIC with @dryan149.bsky.social and @evanwestra.bsky.social
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- Reposted by Evan Westra"Every social theory undergirding Trumpism has been broken on the steel of Minnesotan resolve...The secret fear of the morally depraved is that virtue is actually common, and that they’re the ones who are alone. In MN, all of the ideological cornerstones of MAGA have been proved false at once."
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- Reposted by Evan WestraThis coming Friday @dryan149.bsky.social and @evanwestra.bsky.social will be presenting their work 'Norms, Articulated and Un--' at Coffee & CAIC! Join us at 10am in BRNG 7119 🥳
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- Reposted by Evan WestraSo glad this study is getting so much media attention! www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
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- Reposted by Evan WestraThe Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy just published a revised entry on Animal Consciousness! By Michael Trestman, Jonathan Birch, Colin Allen @wileyprof.bsky.social @birchlse.bsky.social plato.stanford.edu/entries/cons...
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- Reposted by Evan WestraNew piece w/ James Evans in Science explores what we call 'science after science', an era where our ability to control nature may exceed our ability to understand it; a new struggle to sustain curiosity & understanding under AI's predictive dominance. #ai #science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
- Reposted by Evan WestraGreat review of @thebusyowl.bsky.social's book! Reclaiming the Self in Psychiatry is an extremely well written and empowering book that can appeal to an interdisciplinary audience ... it brings lived experience back into the heart of psychiatry www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
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- Reposted by Evan Westrai hope this email finds whewell
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- Reposted by Evan WestraCheck out our new paper on the #development of #gaze-following in wild #chimpanzees, led by @kris-sabbi.bsky.social, @zeppypearl.bsky.social, & Isabelle Monroe! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
- Reposted by Evan WestraA fascinating new paper by Amanda Royka and colleagues explores why monkeys fail false belief tasks. A natural explanation would be that monkeys wrongly assume that other agents share their own knowledge. Royka et al. find that this is NOT the case... www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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- Reposted by Evan WestraInvited speaker lineup is out for SPP 2026! More information on the meeting here: www.socphilpsych.org/meetings.html Submissions accepted until Jan 16! Come hang in Baltimore; conference is at Johns Hopkins from June 17-20, 2026! @socphilpsych.bsky.social @joshrottman.bsky.social #SPP2026
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- Pretty excited for me and @dryan149.bsky.social 's grad seminar on (our book project about) the cognitive science of norms next term:
- Reposted by Evan WestraChallenges to Narrating a Multitudinous Self: Towards a Better Ethics of Code-switching ⭐️Work from Leda Berio & Daniel Kelly
- Titanic 😬
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- Reposted by Evan WestraA common problem w/ studies testing non-WEIRD groups is they compare multiple groups using the same WEIRD measure. How can we compare groups w/ apples-apples measures w/o distorting cross-cultural differences? We explore this in this new paper! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
- Reposted by Evan Westra🔥 New Publication 🔥 @gibbonitathought.bsky.social and @evanwestra.bsky.social have a forthcoming book review in MIND 🥳 Read it here: philpapers.org/rec/FOSROA
- 🚨 @gibbonitathought.bsky.social have a new review of Emma Borg's Acting for Reasons: In Defence of Common-sense Psychology. TLDR we're big fans. We also use the review as a chance to riff on the relation between reasoning and mindreading. Check it out!
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- Reposted by Evan Westradon't forget about this one either! 👀
- 🗣️ With the support of the @danafoundation.bsky.social, we are excited to announce our 2nd research opportunity: The Interdisciplinarity Through Research Collaboration Program! 🧠 For more details & submission requirements, visit: philandneuro.com/itrc (This is 2/2 announcements we will make)
- Reposted by Evan WestraPredicting that some universities will soon pledge to provide AI-free instruction, and that this will be an advantage in recruiting and training top students
- "You will be haunted by three spirits."
- Stop! That's my emotional support complete Mad Men rewatch!
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- The only job outcome we should be preparing students for is the only job worth having: Wykeham Professor of Logic
- Reposted by Evan WestraI'm trying to make a list of all the PhD programs in philosophy with (TT/tenured) faculty seriously working in AI ethics. (Think about prospective graduate students looking for supervisors in AI ethics.) What's missing? Oxford, Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Florida, Georgia, Purdue? (plz share)
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