Kenneth Black
@kennethblack.bsky.social
PhD candidate at MIT philosophy, doing philosophy of: mind/cog sci, language/linguistics, science. Intentionality with a few interlopers, basically. (he/him)
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Kenneth Black
@kennethblack.bsky.social
· Jul 17
Kenneth Black, Common Ground, Conditionals, and _Ceteris Paribus_ Pragmatics - PhilArchive
In conversation, we make use of shared information in order to communicate. But what shared information? In theorising about conversation, it’s popular to allot a privileged position to a single body ...
philarchive.org
Pleased to announce that my paper, “Common Ground, Conditionals, and Ceteris Paribus Pragmatics,” is forthcoming in the Australasian Journal of Philosophy! 🧵
Anyone have a sense of why some people use “belief fixation” and others use “belief formation” to refer to what is apparently the same thing?
November 10, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Anyone have a sense of why some people use “belief fixation” and others use “belief formation” to refer to what is apparently the same thing?
I bet Leibniz would have eaten up that sponsorship
I wonder how extreme a philosophical position would have to be for you to get a Red Bull sponsorship to defend it.
November 9, 2025 at 10:29 PM
I bet Leibniz would have eaten up that sponsorship
Question for representational format people:
Greenberg’s (2023) way of making the iconic/symbolic distinction, as consisting in the different rules which state the semantic contents of signs, seems pretty popular. And it’s pretty neat.
(1/8)
Greenberg’s (2023) way of making the iconic/symbolic distinction, as consisting in the different rules which state the semantic contents of signs, seems pretty popular. And it’s pretty neat.
(1/8)
November 5, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Question for representational format people:
Greenberg’s (2023) way of making the iconic/symbolic distinction, as consisting in the different rules which state the semantic contents of signs, seems pretty popular. And it’s pretty neat.
(1/8)
Greenberg’s (2023) way of making the iconic/symbolic distinction, as consisting in the different rules which state the semantic contents of signs, seems pretty popular. And it’s pretty neat.
(1/8)
Famously we’re all just reply guys to Plato, so it works out okay
I’m a reply guy. In the social media sense, sure, but much more in the sense that all of my papers are just responses to other, smarter, more famous people.
November 3, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Famously we’re all just reply guys to Plato, so it works out okay
“Problem papers” in analytic philosophy
I've seen your solutions, and I think I'll stick with the problems thank you
November 1, 2025 at 11:00 AM
“Problem papers” in analytic philosophy
Conversation between students in my class today (we were discussing Nagel/Anscombe on the self)
“Do you think you’re [name]?”
- “No, I don’t even think I exist!”
“That’s rough, buddy”
“Do you think you’re [name]?”
- “No, I don’t even think I exist!”
“That’s rough, buddy”
October 31, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Conversation between students in my class today (we were discussing Nagel/Anscombe on the self)
“Do you think you’re [name]?”
- “No, I don’t even think I exist!”
“That’s rough, buddy”
“Do you think you’re [name]?”
- “No, I don’t even think I exist!”
“That’s rough, buddy”
One of my favorite papers from the past few years
Just published:
Devin Sanchez Curry, (2025) “On IQ and other Sciencey Descriptions of Minds”, Philosophers' Imprint 25: 28. doi: doi.org/10.3998/phim...
Devin Sanchez Curry, (2025) “On IQ and other Sciencey Descriptions of Minds”, Philosophers' Imprint 25: 28. doi: doi.org/10.3998/phim...
On IQ and other Sciencey Descriptions of Minds
Philosophers of mind (from eliminative materialists to psychofunctionalists to interpretivists) generally assume that a normative ideal delimits which mental phenomena exist (though they disagree abou...
doi.org
October 29, 2025 at 11:35 AM
One of my favorite papers from the past few years
Trying to convince students that Moore’s proof of the external world is brilliant
"I am sitting with a philosopher in the garden: he says again and again ‘I know that that’s a tree’, pointing to a tree that is near us. Someone else arrives and hears this, and I tell him: ‘This fellow isn’t insane. We are only doing philosophy’." (OC §467)
October 29, 2025 at 12:27 AM
Trying to convince students that Moore’s proof of the external world is brilliant
Reposted by Kenneth Black
Philosophy blog idea: Guest posts discussing why a "real world" example from some corner of philosophy is actually false or misleading and why it matters to the respective debates.
October 28, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Philosophy blog idea: Guest posts discussing why a "real world" example from some corner of philosophy is actually false or misleading and why it matters to the respective debates.
Reposted by Kenneth Black
My phenomenal self might be subject to the rule according to which everything that happens in it proceeds from a cause but my noumenal self is just built different.
October 25, 2025 at 10:39 PM
My phenomenal self might be subject to the rule according to which everything that happens in it proceeds from a cause but my noumenal self is just built different.
Philosopherz Bop - by philosophers, for philosophers
October 25, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Philosopherz Bop - by philosophers, for philosophers
Reminder to check in on the bibliography addicts in your life and see if they’re okay
chain-smoking but it's pdfs
October 24, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Reminder to check in on the bibliography addicts in your life and see if they’re okay
Any linguists/philosophers of language on here thought about this?
(1) I’m imagining that it’s raining, but I don’t think it is
(2) ?? I imagine that it’s raining, but I don’t think it is
(3) I often imagine that it’s raining, but I never think it is
(1) I’m imagining that it’s raining, but I don’t think it is
(2) ?? I imagine that it’s raining, but I don’t think it is
(3) I often imagine that it’s raining, but I never think it is
October 18, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Any linguists/philosophers of language on here thought about this?
(1) I’m imagining that it’s raining, but I don’t think it is
(2) ?? I imagine that it’s raining, but I don’t think it is
(3) I often imagine that it’s raining, but I never think it is
(1) I’m imagining that it’s raining, but I don’t think it is
(2) ?? I imagine that it’s raining, but I don’t think it is
(3) I often imagine that it’s raining, but I never think it is
Reminder that if someone on the plane (etc) asks your favorite philosopher you can just lie
October 9, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Reminder that if someone on the plane (etc) asks your favorite philosopher you can just lie
Reposted by Kenneth Black
FARM is happening next Friday and Saturday at UMD!
We have a great roster of speakers and commentators, and I'm beyond excited for it.
If you want to join us, the conference is open to all and free. Please just register following the link from the website:
sites.google.com/view/farm202...
We have a great roster of speakers and commentators, and I'm beyond excited for it.
If you want to join us, the conference is open to all and free. Please just register following the link from the website:
sites.google.com/view/farm202...
FARM 2025
FARM is a new conference that aims at bringing together researchers working on meaning (including, but not limited to, semantics of natural language) and researchers working on reasoning and rational ...
sites.google.com
October 5, 2025 at 9:58 PM
FARM is happening next Friday and Saturday at UMD!
We have a great roster of speakers and commentators, and I'm beyond excited for it.
If you want to join us, the conference is open to all and free. Please just register following the link from the website:
sites.google.com/view/farm202...
We have a great roster of speakers and commentators, and I'm beyond excited for it.
If you want to join us, the conference is open to all and free. Please just register following the link from the website:
sites.google.com/view/farm202...
Learned today that I’m a “comfortable muddlehead.” Thanks, Jerry
October 6, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Learned today that I’m a “comfortable muddlehead.” Thanks, Jerry
What David Lewis was really worried about
October 5, 2025 at 12:33 PM
What David Lewis was really worried about
gonna change how people view contemporary philosophy by putting out an anthology called The Metalinguistic Turn
September 29, 2025 at 7:50 PM
gonna change how people view contemporary philosophy by putting out an anthology called The Metalinguistic Turn
Man the preface to Dummett’s Truth and Other Enigmas is chock full of tea about other philosophers at the time, people don’t write like this anymore
September 18, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Man the preface to Dummett’s Truth and Other Enigmas is chock full of tea about other philosophers at the time, people don’t write like this anymore
Reposted by Kenneth Black
I’m tired of hearing about “the Left” as if that term has a meaningful referent.
September 13, 2025 at 2:16 PM
I’m tired of hearing about “the Left” as if that term has a meaningful referent.
Reposted by Kenneth Black
Really excited to share my first ever published paper, forthcoming in Philosophical Psychology: "From Monkeys to Infants: The Empirical Challenges Facing Mental Fictionalism"
It's open-access, which I'm really happy about.
Brief 🧵 on what it's all about!
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
It's open-access, which I'm really happy about.
Brief 🧵 on what it's all about!
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
September 10, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Really excited to share my first ever published paper, forthcoming in Philosophical Psychology: "From Monkeys to Infants: The Empirical Challenges Facing Mental Fictionalism"
It's open-access, which I'm really happy about.
Brief 🧵 on what it's all about!
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
It's open-access, which I'm really happy about.
Brief 🧵 on what it's all about!
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
There’s always a class cartesian
September 4, 2025 at 10:51 PM
There’s always a class cartesian
And on top of everything, it believes in impossible worlds. Shame.
Google Gemini doesn’t appear to be doing too well:
‘"I am a disgrace to this planet. I am a disgrace to this universe. I am a disgrace to all universes . . . I am a disgrace to all possible and impossible universes and all that is not a universe," the bot continued.’
‘"I am a disgrace to this planet. I am a disgrace to this universe. I am a disgrace to all universes . . . I am a disgrace to all possible and impossible universes and all that is not a universe," the bot continued.’
Google says it's working on a fix for Gemini's self-loathing 'I am a failure' comments
Google Gemini users said the bot is sharing self-loathing messages while attempting to solve tasks, including "I am a disgrace to this universe."
www.businessinsider.com
August 8, 2025 at 12:03 AM
And on top of everything, it believes in impossible worlds. Shame.
Reposted by Kenneth Black
"GPT-5 is the first time that it really feels like talking to an expert in any topic, like a PhD-level expert."
August 7, 2025 at 10:24 PM
"GPT-5 is the first time that it really feels like talking to an expert in any topic, like a PhD-level expert."