Luke Roelofs
@lukeroelofs.bsky.social
Philosopher working at the University of Texas at Arlington
Exploring the metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics of consciousness 🧠🐙🐜🌈
🇵🇸🇺🇦
Pronouns they/them or he/him💛💜🖤
Exploring the metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics of consciousness 🧠🐙🐜🌈
🇵🇸🇺🇦
Pronouns they/them or he/him💛💜🖤
I’ve had some papers published recently so I’m gonna post brief summaries and links here. They’re all dealing with the metaphysics of consciousness, though in one case with an overlap into, uh, philosophical entomology?
November 16, 2025 at 11:51 PM
I’ve had some papers published recently so I’m gonna post brief summaries and links here. They’re all dealing with the metaphysics of consciousness, though in one case with an overlap into, uh, philosophical entomology?
Reposted by Luke Roelofs
Texas censorship news.
The Texas A&M University System will vote on Thursday on whether to prohibit faculty at its 11 universities from teaching “race or gender ideology” unless those lessons are pre-approved by each campus president or a delegate.
Texas A&M to vote on banning “race and gender ideology”
The proposal appears to mark the first time a Texas university system offers definitions of what kind of instruction related to race and gender should not be permitted.
www.texastribune.org
November 10, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Texas censorship news.
Reposted by Luke Roelofs
Sometimes I defend high-minded principles of peace and goodwill that I think consonant with leftist values, but my opponents are always able to cite all the worker led socialist paradises that ruthless willingness to deploy violence have wrought so I'm forced to bow before their superior pragmatism.
November 8, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Sometimes I defend high-minded principles of peace and goodwill that I think consonant with leftist values, but my opponents are always able to cite all the worker led socialist paradises that ruthless willingness to deploy violence have wrought so I'm forced to bow before their superior pragmatism.
Reposted by Luke Roelofs
Our November 7 day of action to defend higher education has taken the country by storm! ✊
“There is only one way forward in saving higher education and democracy writ large and that is students, faculty, staff united...We have to become a new political force.”
— Todd Wolfson, AAUP President
“There is only one way forward in saving higher education and democracy writ large and that is students, faculty, staff united...We have to become a new political force.”
— Todd Wolfson, AAUP President
Students and faculty at over 100 US universities protest against Trump’s attacks
Student, national and local groups across US organized day of action to condemn Trump’s assault on academic freedom
www.theguardian.com
November 7, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Our November 7 day of action to defend higher education has taken the country by storm! ✊
“There is only one way forward in saving higher education and democracy writ large and that is students, faculty, staff united...We have to become a new political force.”
— Todd Wolfson, AAUP President
“There is only one way forward in saving higher education and democracy writ large and that is students, faculty, staff united...We have to become a new political force.”
— Todd Wolfson, AAUP President
Reposted by Luke Roelofs
Hear @proftwolf.bsky.social: “OUR compact is: higher education as a public good—that means free college for all; that means an end to student debt; that means work with dignity for everyone on our campuses; it means freedom to teach and freedom to learn without Big Brother on our back!”
November 7, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Hear @proftwolf.bsky.social: “OUR compact is: higher education as a public good—that means free college for all; that means an end to student debt; that means work with dignity for everyone on our campuses; it means freedom to teach and freedom to learn without Big Brother on our back!”
Reposted by Luke Roelofs
Trump: "Hear me, President Trump, when I say this: to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us."
November 5, 2025 at 4:41 AM
Trump: "Hear me, President Trump, when I say this: to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us."
Reposted by Luke Roelofs
At this point, anyone—a university, a law firm, a corporation, a Democrat—bending the knee to Trump is doing it because they want to, not because of any political reality.
November 5, 2025 at 2:23 AM
At this point, anyone—a university, a law firm, a corporation, a Democrat—bending the knee to Trump is doing it because they want to, not because of any political reality.
Reposted by Luke Roelofs
“Individuals on the ground sent a message that reached us Monday morning that 1,200 were dead,” Nathaniel Raymond, the lab’s executive director, said. “By that evening, they said 10,000. By Tuesday, we couldn’t reach them anymore. We assume our ground contacts are dead.”
Yale lab reports mass killings in Sudan, calls for student activism
The Humanitarian Research Lab was told this week that over 10,000 people in Sudan were killed within three days.
yaledailynews.com
October 31, 2025 at 8:02 PM
“Individuals on the ground sent a message that reached us Monday morning that 1,200 were dead,” Nathaniel Raymond, the lab’s executive director, said. “By that evening, they said 10,000. By Tuesday, we couldn’t reach them anymore. We assume our ground contacts are dead.”
Reposted by Luke Roelofs
On November 17 and 18, there will be an online launch of the book “Are ant colonies conscious? Collective minds and philosophical implications,” with the participation of the authors. We invite all interested parties to attend the event. Registration via QR CODE.
October 29, 2025 at 12:04 AM
On November 17 and 18, there will be an online launch of the book “Are ant colonies conscious? Collective minds and philosophical implications,” with the participation of the authors. We invite all interested parties to attend the event. Registration via QR CODE.
Reposted by Luke Roelofs
This week at The Junkyard: A post by Luke Roelofs junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/10...
Leaving It to the Imagination — The Junkyard
A post by Luke Roelofs There’s a common idea that sometimes the best aesthetic choice is to “leave something to the imagination”, where that primarily means not presenting it explicitly. Sometimes...
junkyardofthemind.com
October 22, 2025 at 8:11 PM
This week at The Junkyard: A post by Luke Roelofs junkyardofthemind.com/blog/2025/10...
Reposted by Luke Roelofs
Join us tomorrow at No Kings II! AAUP members will be out in force. indivisibletompkins.org/event/no-kin...
NO KINGS II
In America, we don’t put up with would-be kings. Our peaceful movement is only getting bigger and stronger. “NO KINGS” is more than just a slogan—it’s the foundation our nation was built upon. Born…
indivisibletompkins.org
October 17, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Join us tomorrow at No Kings II! AAUP members will be out in force. indivisibletompkins.org/event/no-kin...
Reposted by Luke Roelofs
Check out AAUP’s statement denouncing the Trump admin’s compact and undemocratic loyalty oaths here👇
Universities Must Reject Trump Admin "Loyalty Oath" Compacts
The AAUP and AFT warn that the Trump administration’s offer to give preferential treatment to colleges and universities in exchange for allegiance to a partisan ideological agenda is entirely corrupt.
www.aaup.org
October 3, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Check out AAUP’s statement denouncing the Trump admin’s compact and undemocratic loyalty oaths here👇
Reposted by Luke Roelofs
“I’m emotionally shellshocked right now,” said one professor in the Texas Tech system. “What does it say about academic freedom? It says we don’t have it.” The professor spoke by phone from the inside of a car to avoid being overheard by colleagues.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/u...
Texas Tech Moves to Limit Academic Discussion to 2 Genders
www.nytimes.com
September 26, 2025 at 11:49 PM
“I’m emotionally shellshocked right now,” said one professor in the Texas Tech system. “What does it say about academic freedom? It says we don’t have it.” The professor spoke by phone from the inside of a car to avoid being overheard by colleagues.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/u...
Reposted by Luke Roelofs
This is big government run amok; will Texas students have to endure government officials censoring professors in the classroom? That isn’t Texas and it isn’t America.
4/5
4/5
September 10, 2025 at 8:04 PM
This is big government run amok; will Texas students have to endure government officials censoring professors in the classroom? That isn’t Texas and it isn’t America.
4/5
4/5
Reposted by Luke Roelofs
Studying philosophy does make people better thinkers, according to new research on more than 600,000 college grads theconversation.com/studying-phi...
Studying philosophy does make people better thinkers, according to new research on more than 600,000 college grads
Philosophers are fond of saying that their field boosts critical thinking. Two of them decided to put that claim to the test.
theconversation.com
August 22, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Studying philosophy does make people better thinkers, according to new research on more than 600,000 college grads theconversation.com/studying-phi...
Reposted by Luke Roelofs
"Because reactionary centrists do not really have values, they struggle to understand the motivations of those who do."
www.thebulwark.com/p/when-moder...
www.thebulwark.com/p/when-moder...
When Moderation Becomes Appeasement
If your chief goal is to find a middle ground with the far right on social issues, you’ll end up condoning its values—just ask Keir Starmer.
www.thebulwark.com
July 9, 2025 at 1:33 PM
"Because reactionary centrists do not really have values, they struggle to understand the motivations of those who do."
www.thebulwark.com/p/when-moder...
www.thebulwark.com/p/when-moder...
Reposted by Luke Roelofs
If you started paying attention to the US in 1960, this sure feels like the darkest timeline. But unfortunately, purges against Black & brown people are normal US behavior.
You know what's NOT normal US behavior?
This is the first time there's been a mass movement to STOP a purge in real time.
You know what's NOT normal US behavior?
This is the first time there's been a mass movement to STOP a purge in real time.
July 4, 2025 at 5:22 PM
If you started paying attention to the US in 1960, this sure feels like the darkest timeline. But unfortunately, purges against Black & brown people are normal US behavior.
You know what's NOT normal US behavior?
This is the first time there's been a mass movement to STOP a purge in real time.
You know what's NOT normal US behavior?
This is the first time there's been a mass movement to STOP a purge in real time.
Reposted by Luke Roelofs
hands-down the best thing i've read about the sex wars (and why they still really matter for today's politics)
jude-doyle.ghost.io/this-is-how-...
jude-doyle.ghost.io/this-is-how-...
This Is How You Lose the Sex Wars
Trying to pick a pathway through forty years of the ugliest conflict in feminism.
jude-doyle.ghost.io
June 30, 2025 at 7:56 PM
hands-down the best thing i've read about the sex wars (and why they still really matter for today's politics)
jude-doyle.ghost.io/this-is-how-...
jude-doyle.ghost.io/this-is-how-...
Reposted by Luke Roelofs
RIP Helen De Cruz (1978-2025) 💔
Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net), professor of philosophy at Saint Louis University, has died. dailynous.com/2025/06/20/h...
Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net), professor of philosophy at Saint Louis University, has died. dailynous.com/2025/06/20/h...
dailynous.com
June 20, 2025 at 9:27 PM
RIP Helen De Cruz (1978-2025) 💔
Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net), professor of philosophy at Saint Louis University, has died. dailynous.com/2025/06/20/h...
Helen De Cruz @helendecruz.net), professor of philosophy at Saint Louis University, has died. dailynous.com/2025/06/20/h...
Reposted by Luke Roelofs
I looked this up, and yes, it is real. I've included an article about it in the comments.
Please share for those who may need it.
Thank you!
Please share for those who may need it.
Thank you!
June 20, 2025 at 4:07 PM
I looked this up, and yes, it is real. I've included an article about it in the comments.
Please share for those who may need it.
Thank you!
Please share for those who may need it.
Thank you!
Reposted by Luke Roelofs
Some topical listening...
Leonard Cohen - Democracy (Official Video)
YouTube video by LeonardCohenVEVO
www.youtube.com
June 14, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Some topical listening...
Honestly surprised I haven't seen more use of this clip today
Hyenas Lion King GIF
Alt: Clip from "the lion king" where three hyenas dance in a circle singing "no king no king la-la-la"
media.tenor.com
June 14, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Honestly surprised I haven't seen more use of this clip today
First the AHA, now the APA, comes out in opposition to Texas Republicans attempts to kill higher education by a thousand cuts:
www.apaonline.org/news/702273/...
www.apaonline.org/news/702273/...
APA board issues letter opposing Texas Senate Bill 37 - American Philosophical Association
Today, the board of officers of the American Philosophical Association issued a letter to Texas government officials in opposition to the version of Senate Bill 37 currently under consideration. As stated in the letter, “The APA has two main areas of
concern: 1) the politicization of academic matters of curricular review in the important area of general education; and 2) the erosion of shared governance and the systematic disempowering of faculty governance bodies.”
www.apaonline.org
May 29, 2025 at 10:50 PM
First the AHA, now the APA, comes out in opposition to Texas Republicans attempts to kill higher education by a thousand cuts:
www.apaonline.org/news/702273/...
www.apaonline.org/news/702273/...
Absolutely co-signing this defene of empathy, as a source of knowledge and a form of strength, that we need more of rather than less.
A short, co-authored piece with Emad Atiq, giving a metaethical response to recent criticisms of empathy from Musk and others.
Empathy can take a toll – but 2 philosophers explain why we should see it as a strength
Empathy affords us a more accurate understanding of others’ experiences and emotions. Just like pain, it can be hard to bear – but that’s also the source of its strength.
theconversation.com
May 23, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Absolutely co-signing this defene of empathy, as a source of knowledge and a form of strength, that we need more of rather than less.
Had a great chat recently with Jack Sezer at Veridical Podcast! Mostly about abortion but more broadly about the philosophy of mind and contemporary politics.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...
EP37: Philosophy and Abortion with Luke Roelofs
Podcast Episode · Veridical · 05/19/2025 · 1h 32m
podcasts.apple.com
May 19, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Had a great chat recently with Jack Sezer at Veridical Podcast! Mostly about abortion but more broadly about the philosophy of mind and contemporary politics.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...