Astrology IS rubbish

The BBC is often criticised for having to take a balanced, both-sides-of-the-argument view. Aren't some claims so clearly true that they do not have an opposition worth discussing? Yes. Here's one. Astrology is rubbish. Yet this has made some professional astrologers rather annoyed and they want an apology! Surely if they read their star signs, they'll be able to work out if they'll get one. Oh, wait, I remember, it doesn't work like that. Astrology can't tell you about specific events. At least, not unless you're willing to pay, it seems. But don't. Read more here.

To lie or not to lie?

The rule we learn when young is simple: don't tell lies. But is it that simple? This game from the Open University's Open Learning Team gets you to explore your moral responses to lying.

Weights and Measures

Can a kilogram not weigh a kilogram? On the face of it: no. If something weighs a kilogram then, trivially, it weighs a kilogram. It is a necessary and analytic truth and knowable a priori, as philosophers would say. But where does the kilogram come from? The answer is: Paris. In 1889, a lump of metal cast in London was taken to the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Paris as the exemplar of a kilogram. Being the kilogram, it surely weighs a kilogram; and so does everything else that weighs as much as it.

Yet the metal lump has lost some 50mg over the course of the last 120 or so years. So, do we say that a kilogram is not what it used to be? No. We say that the original lump was used to fix the reference of a kilogram. Once fixed, it could in principle be discarded. In practice, of course, it could not be. For us to determine whether something is a kilogram, we need some set of scales which must be calibrated by a standard weight. So, it's important to keep an eye on your lumps of metal.

Scientists understandably want to use more robust entities to define physical constants. This article from the Guardian introduces the current project to re-define - or re-establish, perhaps - the kilogram. In another article, some brief details are given of how the metre and the second have been re-established over the years.

On a philosophical note, we can answer the original question by saying: it depends. If by "a kilogram" we mean the measure - that which was defined by the original kilogram - then, no. If we mean an object used to define the measure, then yes.

Experimental philosophy

Philosophical argument and analysis often makes use of thought experiments and the appeal to intuition. A view may be motivated or challenged by considering the judgements elicited by a range of scenarios or through the appeal to our everyday understanding of a concept.

Experimental philosophy or 'x-phi' is recent development in philosophy. It employs the methods of experimental psychology and cognitive science to study intuitions. A number of philosopher are now running systematic experiments aimed at understanding how people ordinarily think about the fundamental or foundational issues in philosophical analysis - for example, knowledge, meaning, ethical value, free will.

Have a look at:

The experimental philosophy blog

Jonathan Phillips' blog

Bristol University's experimental philosophy page