Why I am not a Physicalist: Four Reasons for Rejecting the Faith

Questioning the assumptions of physicalism opens one up to new worlds of possibility.

Peter Sjöstedt-H, PhD

Full essay here.

Greetings TSV subscribers,

I wanted to offer everyone a quick update on TSV, including about some successes from our first six months of operation, our plans for the summer, and ways you can contribute to our mission. We’re also looking for a few more contributors to issue 2 of our journal. Read on for more info!

In late October of 2018, the TSV website went live, offering podcasts and essays that integrate theory and practice, while running parallel to academic and public conversations. Key participants in the first round of publications included scholars and practitioners from a variety of institutions, including Rice University, the University of San Francisco, the New England Complex Systems Institute, the University of Helsinki, University College Dublin, and more.

The contributors were gathered together to explore questions of science, philosophy, religion, and practice. These essays were first published online, and then assembled for publication as part of the first edition of The Side View Journal, which became available in its inaugural form in the spring of 2019. Issue one of the journal featured 108 pages of material from 11 authors and included an introduction to the philosophy behind TSV written by its founder, Adam Robbert.

These essays were complemented by a series of 13 podcasts, featuring an equally compelling group of mathematicians, psychologists, philosophers, contemplatives, and athletes, all of whom have a vested interest in better understanding the human condition, especially as it relates to questions of practice, perception, and action. The podcasts were designed to complement the essays. Together they offered a multimedia approach to the TSV vision.

Between November 2018 and April 2019 (the six-month period in which the site has been active), the TSV website has recorded more than 25,000 page views across its essays and podcasts, driven by more than 11,000 unique visitors. Further, it has been estimated that in total the podcasts have themselves been listened to over 7,500 times on the iTunes and SoundCloud platforms.

Production on issue two has now begun, with 11 authors and counting confirmed as contributors. These essays will be complemented with more podcasts, both overlapping with and expanding beyond the contributors to the essay series. New essays and episodes will start appearing on the site within the next few days and on into the summer.

We’re still looking for a few more contributors, so if you’re looking for a home for your work, we want to hear from you. Please drop us a line through our submissions page. And feel free to visit our About page for more info about our mission. We’d love to hear your ideas.

As always, you can also support our work through PayPal or Patreon. We thank you for your support. It makes our work possible!

Sincerely,

Adam Robbert
Founding Editor, The Side View
@AE_Robbert

Dear subscribers,

Last month we launched the first issue of The Side View Journal. The journal features 108 pages of material by 11 different authors writing on phenomenology, psychology, mindfulness, contemplative practice, philosophy, complexity science, and more.

To introduce the issue, and to give some insight into the philosophical vision behind the project as a whole, I also penned an essay on TSV’s key inspirations and influences. I’m happy to report the essay is now available online in a stand-alone format for your reading interest here.

While we strive to make all our content available for free online, your ongoing support as readers and listeners goes a long way towards enabling our work. You can support us in a number of ways, including by buying a copy of the journal, making a one-time donation through PayPal, or by becoming a monthly Patreon subscriber.

We thank you for your support!

Best wishes,

Adam Robbert

My guest today is Jacob Given. Jacob is a doctoral student of systematic theology and spirituality in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University. His research interests include philosophy and Christianity, phenomenology, and metaphysics. Jacob is working to promote a vision of theology as both embodied and affective practice. He is also the founder and co-host of the Poststructuralist Tent Revival, a podcast on continental philosophy, theology, and religious studies. Episode here.

My guest today is Abeba Birhane. Abeba is pursuing a PhD in Cognitive Science at University College Dublin. Her interdisciplinary research, which includes embodied cognition, digital technology, and critical data science, explores the relationships between individuals, society, and technology. She is a contributor to Aeon Magazine and blogs regularly about cognition, AI, ethics, and data science. In this podcast, Abeba and I talked about automated predictive systems in law, criminal justice, and healthcare, and we explored some of the problems we have to think through when it comes to navigating a world where we’re increasingly tracked, monitored, and surveilled. Abeba’s research in cognitive science and the philosophy of mind, on the one hand, and the ethics and social implications of technology, on the other, puts her in a unique position of being able to address some of these questions head on. Full episode here.