3:AM Magazine

In understanding priority in Aristotle’s metaphysics we should first ask about the respect in which we are viewing priority: is it priority in time, in account, in definition, in knowledge, or in being, substance, and nature? I argue that the central notion, in the sense of what plays the role of a criterion for what counts as fundamentally real –Aristotle’s primary substance– or even in the sense of what being fundamentally real (partly) consists in, is ontological priority (in respect of being, substance, or nature).

Continuing the End Times series, Richard Marshall interviews Michail Peramatzis.

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It’s a mistake to analyze actual causation and think that you have thereby analyzed causation. The surface grammar of our language is misleading in this regard. Consider philosophers’ favorite example: “Suzy’s throwing her rock caused the bottle to smash”. This statement describes a relation of actual causation, but there is nothing in the wording to indicate that a specialized causal concept is involved. The word “caused” seems to suggest a fully general notion of causation. One of the clues that this is wrong is that many concepts that involve a causal dimension don’t involve actual causation.

Continuing the End Times series, Richard Marshall interviews Christopher Hitchcock.

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Over the past few years, my site-specific installations have been themed around surveillance. There is no issue more relevant to the future of positive creativity than preserving the independent voice. Thus, I use code, live video and installation to illustrate the disconcerting nature of unsecured data in works such as Data Log and PentAutomaton. I siphon unprotected webcam feeds found by browsing the internet into projection-mapped light sculptures, which also reflect live webcam feeds of their audiences, juxtaposing the playful nature of selfie culture with the unease inherent to viewing people who are not aware they are a part of the installation. I ask the viewer to ask themselves, how much of yourself are you willing to give to the cloud?

Continuing the States of Anxiety series, Jana Astanov interviews Julia Sinelnikova.

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I think psychedelic states can offer genuine knowledge. Specifically, I think psychedelic subjects gain what philosophers call ‘knowledge by acquaintance’ of their own vast psychological potential. They become directly acquainted—because it becomes manifest—with the modal or dispositional fact that there are vastly many, often very unusual, possible ways that their minds can be. And this knowledge often makes a strong impression; many spiritual seekers in the 60s became dedicated meditation practitioners in order to realise the psychological potential they’d discovered by tripping.

Lindsay Jordan kicks off 3:AM’s Psychedelics and Philosophy series interviewing Chris Letheby.

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I do not think you would be required to sacrifice your own life to save the child or indeed to sustain permanent major physical damage to your body which would leave you severely mentally or physically incapacitated for life. It would probably be morally admirable to do so, but this is not something that can be demanded from people. Requirements to sacrifice yourself in this except under truly exceptional circumstances undermine your authority over your own body.

Continuing the End Times series, Richard Marshall interviews Fiona Woollard.

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‘Believe only what is true!’ is a useless epistemic norm. It’s correct, but it cannot guide us, because what we need are criteria we can actually apply; truth, however, isn’t a criterion we can directly test. ‘Believe only what is consistent with your entire belief system!’ is similarly useless. By Church’s theorem we cannot test a given set of axioms for its consistency. In general, this is beyond the computational powers of the best ideal computer.

Continuing the End Times series, Richard Marshall interviews Volker Halbach.

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Bentham was undeniably strange, one of the strangest human beings who ever lived. In my view, it was the acute kindness of his disposition that drove him to formulate proposals that his many critics have seized upon as revealing that “iron cage” of modernity that you mentioned earlier–the Panopticon prison system, control through architecture and surveillance, being one of the primary examples. But he spun off so many elaborate schemes that it is very difficult to see how they fit together, especially as part of a historical trajectory headed toward a better society.

Continuing the End Times series, Richard Marshall interviews Bart Schultz.

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I like to think I’ve inspired women to be more authentic and embodied in their power and leadership. In terms of changing the way people look at art I want to restore our faith in holistic art – TOTAL ART – that which is for and by the community; interdisciplinary art that occurs in sacred, transformative spaces where artists hold court as paradigm shifters and leaders.

Continuing the States of Anxiety series, Jana Astanov interviews Katie Cercone.

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While physics has had tremendous successes it is still an open question whether there is fundamental ontology and laws and if there is whether they can be found by the methods of physics. To the extent that this aim of physics is achieved we should be able to understand how what Sellars calls “the manifest image” emerges from fundamental physics. That is what I mean by “descrying the world in physics.”

Continuing the End Times series, Richard Marshall interviews Barry Loewer.

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Most of the left has put its eggs in the basket of combating neoliberalism, but I think we have to look beyond neoliberalism and look at capitalism itself. This means looking at the social practices of the present form of capitalism, which is moving away from neoliberalism and toward some kind of right-wing populism. Obviously, this is in response to the self-evident refutation of neoliberalism by the Great Recession.

On the 150th Anniversary of the publication of Marx’s Capital, Sofia Cutler, Sara Farah and Emanuel Guay interview Kevin B. Anderson and John Bellamy Foster.

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