About Rationally Speaking


Rationally Speaking is a blog maintained by Prof. Massimo Pigliucci, a philosopher at the City University of New York. The blog reflects the Enlightenment figure Marquis de Condorcet's idea of what a public intellectual (yes, we know, that's such a bad word) ought to be: someone who devotes himself to "the tracking down of prejudices in the hiding places where priests, the schools, the government, and all long-established institutions had gathered and protected them." You're welcome. Please notice that the contents of this blog can be reprinted under the standard Creative Commons license.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Welcome to Rationally Speaking's newest contributor: Lena Groeger!

by Massimo Pigliucci
The Rationally Speaking family is welcoming our newest member, Lena Groeger!
Lena studied biology and philosophy (my favorite combination of subjects!) at Brown University while taking classes next door at the Rhode Island School of Design. Ever since then, she has been trying to find ways to combine science and philosophy (what a coincidence!).
After graduating, Lena worked as a designer for Brown Health Education, where her job was to take scientific ideas and turn them into posters (or brochures, or t-shirts). Later she was a research associate at Oxford University's Practical Ethics Centre, where she wrote about issues in bioethics and the science of moral judgment.
Lena is now a graduate student at New York University, pursuing a degree in science journalism, and she is excited to write about the many interdisciplinary questions raised by the intersection of science and ethics for the general public.
While waiting for Lena’s first post on Rationally Speaking, you may want to peruse some of her recent writings on, for instance, happiness, the relationship between language and thought, why the popular notion of genetics is off the mark, the science of willpower, and the brain in the voting booth, to mention but a few.
Posted by at 9:10 AM

4 comments:

  1. Welcome Lena! I've read some of your stuff over on Practical Ethics; it'll be great to see your writing here too!

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  2. Yay! Looking forward to reading your post! =)

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  3. Hey! I proposed a science-on-t-shirts idea to a media company a couple years ago.

    The idea was to represent scientific/philosophical concepts iconographically on t-shirts, such that the designs would be compelling but incomprehensible without an explanation. The T-shirts would be accompanied by a website with video clips of leading academics explaining the concept behind the image on the t-shirt (preferably while wearing the t-shirt and pointing to it like a blackboard). The idea is that people would buy the t-shirts, watch the clips, then explain the idea to anyone who asks them "what the hell is that on your shirt?"

    They didn't go for the idea, but I still think it has potential.

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  4. The only science t-shirt I have is this one:
    http://is.gd/TxWNXv

    ReplyDelete

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