𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚗 𝙿𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚘𝚗
@stanpatton.bsky.social
Husband & 'Dada.' Sellout game design director & social product analyst. Philosophy frienemy. stanpatton.substack.com
Reposted by 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚗 𝙿𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚘𝚗
From its description, "1000-Word Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology is a constantly growing collection of over 200 original essays on important philosophical topics. These essays are introductions rather than argumentative articles."
However, Nathan Nobis recently wrote this article:
However, Nathan Nobis recently wrote this article:
“That’s Subjective”: Subjectivism about Truth, Beauty, and Goodness - 1000-Word Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology
People sometimes say that judgments about what’s true, what’s ethical, what others find beautiful or aesthetically pleasing, and more are "subjective." What does “subjective” really mean? Are judgment...
1000wordphilosophy.com
August 6, 2025 at 11:13 PM
From its description, "1000-Word Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology is a constantly growing collection of over 200 original essays on important philosophical topics. These essays are introductions rather than argumentative articles."
However, Nathan Nobis recently wrote this article:
However, Nathan Nobis recently wrote this article:
An indictment of the terms "reliable" and "unreliable" in serious attempts at philosophy, and problems with "-ible/-able" terms generally.
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
Reliable & Unreliable are Unreliable
On the Philosophical Abuse of These and Other "-Ible/-Able" Words
open.substack.com
July 12, 2025 at 7:22 PM
An indictment of the terms "reliable" and "unreliable" in serious attempts at philosophy, and problems with "-ible/-able" terms generally.
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
Latest philosophy post up at the StanStack. I don't post these very often, driving scarcity & value.
#philsky #philosophy
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
#philsky #philosophy
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
Too Weird Thought Experiments Are Too Weird
You Don't Have to Get Too Weird
open.substack.com
July 4, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Latest philosophy post up at the StanStack. I don't post these very often, driving scarcity & value.
#philsky #philosophy
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
#philsky #philosophy
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday."
- Isaiah 58
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday."
- Isaiah 58
April 24, 2025 at 7:28 PM
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday."
- Isaiah 58
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday."
- Isaiah 58
Turns out, you can show that goodness is bad using pure Facts & Logic. No "feelies" here!
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
A Straightforward Argument Against Goodness
(Daisy-Chaining Polysemy's Weird Trick)
open.substack.com
March 20, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Turns out, you can show that goodness is bad using pure Facts & Logic. No "feelies" here!
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
Two years ago a 50-year-old mystery in Conway's Game of Life was solved. A pattern was discovered that cannot be generated by anything except for itself -- there's no way to procedurally build it within the ruleset.
conwaylife.com/forums/viewt...
conwaylife.com/forums/viewt...
March 1, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Two years ago a 50-year-old mystery in Conway's Game of Life was solved. A pattern was discovered that cannot be generated by anything except for itself -- there's no way to procedurally build it within the ruleset.
conwaylife.com/forums/viewt...
conwaylife.com/forums/viewt...
Reposted by 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚗 𝙿𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚘𝚗
Check out my chat with Dr. Lance Bush about how many boxes to take in Newcomb's Paradox.
#philosophy #philsky
www.youtube.com/live/pNwGnxd...
#philosophy #philsky
www.youtube.com/live/pNwGnxd...
Is Newcomb's problem a pseudoproblem?
YouTube video by Lance Independent
www.youtube.com
January 31, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Check out my chat with Dr. Lance Bush about how many boxes to take in Newcomb's Paradox.
#philosophy #philsky
www.youtube.com/live/pNwGnxd...
#philosophy #philsky
www.youtube.com/live/pNwGnxd...
When we see what sorts of human foibles Newcomb's Paradox "trolls," it helps us unravel other thought experiments that continue to haunt philosophers even though they should have been dissolved long ago.
#philosophy #philsky
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
#philosophy #philsky
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
Min/Maxing Newcomb's Paradox
And the Foibles of Philosophers as Puzzle Gamers
open.substack.com
January 28, 2025 at 3:13 PM
When we see what sorts of human foibles Newcomb's Paradox "trolls," it helps us unravel other thought experiments that continue to haunt philosophers even though they should have been dissolved long ago.
#philosophy #philsky
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
#philosophy #philsky
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
After several months, a new article is up at the StanStack. There's a lot here; I hope you get something out of it.
#philosophy #philsky
stanpatton.substack.com/p/minmaxing-...
#philosophy #philsky
stanpatton.substack.com/p/minmaxing-...
Min/Maxing Newcomb's Paradox
And the Foibles of Philosophers as Puzzle Gamers
stanpatton.substack.com
January 23, 2025 at 10:11 PM
After several months, a new article is up at the StanStack. There's a lot here; I hope you get something out of it.
#philosophy #philsky
stanpatton.substack.com/p/minmaxing-...
#philosophy #philsky
stanpatton.substack.com/p/minmaxing-...
We aren't used to talking in the most philosophically safe & coherent framings. This is an issue because "philosophical intuition" probably = "how we're used to framing things."
January 16, 2025 at 5:11 PM
We aren't used to talking in the most philosophically safe & coherent framings. This is an issue because "philosophical intuition" probably = "how we're used to framing things."
It is not important for responsibility that you can *actually* do otherwise, only that you could do otherwise *under a counterfactual*. Whether a "yes" is inculpating depends on the job or jobgiver(s).
Responsibility was never some ontological property. It's just a component of stewarding practice.
Responsibility was never some ontological property. It's just a component of stewarding practice.
January 7, 2025 at 5:20 PM
It is not important for responsibility that you can *actually* do otherwise, only that you could do otherwise *under a counterfactual*. Whether a "yes" is inculpating depends on the job or jobgiver(s).
Responsibility was never some ontological property. It's just a component of stewarding practice.
Responsibility was never some ontological property. It's just a component of stewarding practice.
"This is not a picture of screw X" is how building this bunk bed is going.
January 2, 2025 at 5:41 AM
"This is not a picture of screw X" is how building this bunk bed is going.
If someone is using straight bivalent deduction to persuade you of something, watch out.
There's a weird trick that religious (and anti-religious) apologists and other attention-grabbing folks do all the time:
#philosophy #philsky
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
There's a weird trick that religious (and anti-religious) apologists and other attention-grabbing folks do all the time:
#philosophy #philsky
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
How "Midstream Bivalence" Spawns Reckless Philosophy
At Least It "SEEMS" To, I Humbly Utter
open.substack.com
December 13, 2024 at 7:09 PM
If someone is using straight bivalent deduction to persuade you of something, watch out.
There's a weird trick that religious (and anti-religious) apologists and other attention-grabbing folks do all the time:
#philosophy #philsky
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
There's a weird trick that religious (and anti-religious) apologists and other attention-grabbing folks do all the time:
#philosophy #philsky
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
Out: "Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?"
In: "Is most philosophical chatter variations on ‘Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?’?”
#philsky #philosophy
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
In: "Is most philosophical chatter variations on ‘Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?’?”
#philsky #philosophy
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
What Metaphysics Are
And How Many of Them There Are
open.substack.com
December 11, 2024 at 4:12 PM
Out: "Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?"
In: "Is most philosophical chatter variations on ‘Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?’?”
#philsky #philosophy
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
In: "Is most philosophical chatter variations on ‘Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?’?”
#philsky #philosophy
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
You can ride a bike without a helmet. It takes extra time to find and don the helmet, and it feels awkward. Riding without that bulk is quicker and more comfy, even if it invites big risks.
Framing "potential" as a property of an object is like riding without a helmet.
Framing "potential" as a property of an object is like riding without a helmet.
December 9, 2024 at 5:53 PM
You can ride a bike without a helmet. It takes extra time to find and don the helmet, and it feels awkward. Riding without that bulk is quicker and more comfy, even if it invites big risks.
Framing "potential" as a property of an object is like riding without a helmet.
Framing "potential" as a property of an object is like riding without a helmet.
"Does this person worship the same God as that person?" has a boringly definitive answer, but definitive answers kill conversations, and dead conversations tell no tales.
December 2, 2024 at 3:49 PM
"Does this person worship the same God as that person?" has a boringly definitive answer, but definitive answers kill conversations, and dead conversations tell no tales.
"Evidence" does not have a tight meaning, so people will hop from neutral to arbitrarily laden meanings of it.
All polysemy is an opportunity for rhetoricians.
All polysemy is an opportunity for rhetoricians.
November 29, 2024 at 9:19 PM
"Evidence" does not have a tight meaning, so people will hop from neutral to arbitrarily laden meanings of it.
All polysemy is an opportunity for rhetoricians.
All polysemy is an opportunity for rhetoricians.
A new way to approach Newcomb's Paradox that makes it more intuitive that the only rational choices are "reject the scenario" or "1-box."
#philsky #philosophy
#philsky #philosophy
November 28, 2024 at 2:48 PM
A new way to approach Newcomb's Paradox that makes it more intuitive that the only rational choices are "reject the scenario" or "1-box."
#philsky #philosophy
#philsky #philosophy
In epistemology, raise one eyebrow super high whenever you see a syllogism that treats the word "reliable" as if it is a "yes or no" thing, with a single probabilistic threshold to "count."
November 26, 2024 at 7:31 PM
In epistemology, raise one eyebrow super high whenever you see a syllogism that treats the word "reliable" as if it is a "yes or no" thing, with a single probabilistic threshold to "count."
I wanted the commemorative boot glass but also the stout they limit to 8 oz pours...
November 24, 2024 at 11:02 PM
I wanted the commemorative boot glass but also the stout they limit to 8 oz pours...
Q: "If beauty is not an objective feature of things, and is instead in the 'eye of the beholder,' is a thing not beautiful prior to me discovering it?"
A: This puzzle, driven by the hybrid subjective & objective nature of beauty, value, etc., is solved by hypothetical framing: "If I had seen it..."
A: This puzzle, driven by the hybrid subjective & objective nature of beauty, value, etc., is solved by hypothetical framing: "If I had seen it..."
November 23, 2024 at 5:43 AM
Q: "If beauty is not an objective feature of things, and is instead in the 'eye of the beholder,' is a thing not beautiful prior to me discovering it?"
A: This puzzle, driven by the hybrid subjective & objective nature of beauty, value, etc., is solved by hypothetical framing: "If I had seen it..."
A: This puzzle, driven by the hybrid subjective & objective nature of beauty, value, etc., is solved by hypothetical framing: "If I had seen it..."
Virtue ethics is evocative, and feels purely objective at first glance. But here morality's stance-dependence just manifests as semantic quibbles about what acts qualify under the virtue & vice labels.
November 23, 2024 at 2:48 AM
Virtue ethics is evocative, and feels purely objective at first glance. But here morality's stance-dependence just manifests as semantic quibbles about what acts qualify under the virtue & vice labels.
Some feel that nominalism trades away our meaning in order to be truer to reality. But unless our nominalism holds tight to meaning, we won't be true to ourselves.
#philsky #philosophy
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
#philsky #philosophy
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
Forks in the River
What's Down There is Up to Us
open.substack.com
November 21, 2024 at 4:48 PM
Some feel that nominalism trades away our meaning in order to be truer to reality. But unless our nominalism holds tight to meaning, we won't be true to ourselves.
#philsky #philosophy
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...
#philsky #philosophy
open.substack.com/pub/stanpatt...