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A Theory of Argumentative Success
2025/03/20

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What is it for an argument to be successful? John Keller writes that as "argument evaluation is central to the philosophical enterprise" it's important to be clear about what that means. To this end he offers a taxonomy of theories of success and defends an 'knowledge account of epistemic success,' that is, "the concept of an argument that 'works'... is that arguments can establish their conclusions for certain people without establishing them for others, and that an argument establishes its conclusion for someone iff that person knows it to be sound and non-fallacious." The argument, in other words, must be truth-preserving, for truths as known by a given individual. That sounds find, but if we accept it, then we need to go back to the original assertion and ask whether that's what philosophy should be doing? And that is not so nearly clear to me.

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23 good reasons Archives - unitwin-unoe
unitwin-unoe, 2025/03/20

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I criticized Rob Farrow earlier this week without really understanding that his was just one of 23 articles in a series called "23 good reasons for Open Education" (in my defense, you really have to be tuned in to see that, since the articles lack any series introduction, and even the title of the series is abbreviated in the header). The reasons include things like "build a sustainable education system" and "incentivize original thinking" and "recognize teachers' work". While I think the list might be a list of good things about open education, I think that offering some of these as 'reasons' to support it is a bit of a stretch. If you're looking to "recognize teachers' work", for example, there are many better ways to do it. Like paying them more money, for example.

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11 Thoughts About the Massive Layoffs at the U.S. Department of Education
Michael J. Petrilli, Education Next, 2025/03/20

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My feeds have been filled with concerns about cuts at the U.S. Department of Education, understandably, but it's important to highlight that in many circles the cuts are greeted with indifference and even enthusiasm. Michael J. Petrilli (Fordham Institute president and visiting fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution) writes, for example, "I don't anticipate these staff cuts will make much of a difference in the real world of schools and classrooms." Sure, he's paid to write stuff like this. But large numbers of Americans are buying what he's selling, and it's important not just to stand against education cuts but to understand why the cuts are supported by so many people.

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7 customer experience trends in 2024
Alexandria Iacoviello, IBM Blog, 2025/03/20

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This is an article that gets the overall trends right, but which also gets each one wrong in some telling ways. You'll see what I mean. Trend 1 speak to "sustainability" as a business advantage. It's about belief "that the brand cares about its impact on people and the planet." But nobody believes brands 'care'. Or Trend 4, "prioritizing customer accessibility to information", instead of, you know, providing information. Or Trend 5, "personalized experiences using data and generative AI," instead of personalization by enabling personal choice. Or Trend 7, "ensuring data privacy for customers," instead of ensuring customers own their own data. Right issues, wrong emphasis.

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Taking natural-looking motion to yet another level
Doug Belshaw, Thought Shrapnel, 2025/03/20

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The company that brought you the robot dog is now demonstrating the robot human. The demo model, from Boston Dynamics, is more athletic than I am. As Doug Belshaw says, "The usual response to this kind of thing is amusement tinged with fear." Yes, it could be a lethal weapon. But just add it to the pile of lethal weapons that already exist. As usual, the real danger here is the human operating the system. Meanwhile, "imagine the robots in these videos doing the jobs that currently require humans doing things that might endanger their health, such as rescuing people from burning buildings, inspecting nuclear reactors, and even doing very repetitive tasks under time pressure in warehouses." Oh, and as robot teachers.

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We publish six to eight or so short posts every weekday linking to the best, most interesting and most important pieces of content in the field. Read more about what we cover. We also list papers and articles by Stephen Downes and his presentations from around the world.

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