Erich Hatala Matthes
@ehatmat.bsky.social
Philosophy professor at Wellesley College
Friends, I am helping to organize this year's APA chairs workshop. Perhaps you are starting your first stint as department chair. Maybe you would like to hear from folks who have been there before. If so, the chairs workshop is for you! Register here: www.apaonline.org/event/chairs...
American Philosophical Association
apaonline.org
I wrote about 19th century silk weavers growing flowers, hobby obsessions, and the choice between revolutionary and reactionary nostalgia in Aeon aeon.co/essays/the-r...
Philosophers! Craig Callender and I are circulating an open letter calling for better COI disclosure in our journals. If tech companies fund and employ philosophers working on AI, we need to know and to be thinking about the impacts 1 docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Open Letter about Industry Funding and Disclosure in Philosophy
*For full list of signatories, updated every few hours, please click here.* In recent years, philosophical writing on areas such as climate change, technology, misinformation, and artificial intellige...
docs.google.com
my paper, “Practicing Screaming: Aesthetic Explanations, Aesthetic Value, and the Screamed Vocals Problem” has now been published online! it’s in Contemporary Aesthetics (an open access journal), so it’s free to read! Here’s the link: contempaesthetics.org/2026/05/29/p...
Practicing Screaming: Aesthetic Explanations, Aesthetic Value, and the Screamed Vocals Problem – Contemporary Aesthetics
contempaesthetics.org
My paper "The Ethics and Aesthetics of True Crime" is now out in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism! It's currently available for free as an "Editor's Choice" article, so grab it while you can! doi.org/10.1093/jaac... @wellesley.edu @academic.oup.com @amersocaesthetics.bsky.social #philsky
The Ethics and Aesthetics of True Crime
Abstract. True crime is an incredibly popular genre of entertainment that crosses many forms of media including books, movies, TV shows, and podcasts. Is t
academic.oup.com
It’s book release day! I’m back on social media! I feel slightly awkward about it because part of the book is about how social media transforms your motivations for communication! But honestly writing a book is lonely, weird basement-work, and now I want to talk to people about this weird jank.
If you are looking for a gift that will really get inside someone’s head and subtly undermine their confidence (and who isn’t?!), might I recommend gifting them a copy of ‘awkwardness’ with zero context or explanation? Now on sale for $17, but hurry— only 9 copies left! a.co/d/bw2KIaS
Awkwardness: A Theory
Amazon.com: Awkwardness: A Theory: 9780197683606: Plakias, Alexandra: Books
a.co
Angela Sun argues that consent must always be revocable. Even when someone intends their consent to be binding "no matter what," revocation dissolves the permission. This protects bodily integrity even when we're not in a "sound state of mind." journals.publishing.umich.edu/phimp/articl...
Can Consent Be Irrevocable?
This article argues that consent must be revocable. I present two arguments for this conclusion. On the argument from informed consent, irrevocable consent lacks validity because it cannot be sufficie...
journals.publishing.umich.edu
My one holiday shopping plug for my books. Super cheap now (under $15) *What to Save and Why* is "a clear, accessible, thought-provoking book" per the NYRB *Drawing the Line* "feels like a friend talking you through different angles on a problem that's been bothering you for years" per the LARB
"There is no playbook for reducing exposure when people’s homes are being sprinkled with lead dust from the sky." A sobering piece from the NYTimes on the dire consequences of the international trade in recycled lead for front-line communities in Africa. #energysky www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
The Auto Industry’s Lead Recycling Program is Poisoning People (Gift Article)
We documented the toxic fallout of a green technology.
nytimes.com
And then there's Eddie Izzard on the "American slang" use of donut with a more positive valence: youtube.com/watch?v=1GaDAjHKYC4&themeRefresh=1
I AM A DONUT - Eddie Izzard
YouTube video by qossay.az
youtube.com
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 9mo agoI love that British people call clueless people a 'donut'. how many other pastry based insults are there (in English or any other language)?
The Routledge Handbook of Nature and Environmental Aesthetics is now out. Lots of great stuff, including a chapter by me on Beauty and Love of Place. Check it out, and ask your library to get a copy! #philsky
Routledge Handbook of Nature and Environmental Aesthetics
This handbook provides the first comprehensive overview of philosophical thinking about the aesthetics of the natural and human-made environments, exploring the topic's foundations, key ideas, and cur...
routledge.com
When a typo in your Google search leads to new and exciting philosophical positions
My revised and expanded entry on the Ethics of Cultural Heritage is now live in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy! Appropriation, repatriation, monuments, and more, as well as a new section on the nascent aesthetic injustice literature. #philsky plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethi...
The Ethics of Cultural Heritage (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
plato.stanford.edu
Grateful to Carolyn Korsmeyer for her thoughtful review of What to Save and Why in Mind! #philsky academic.oup.com/mind/advance...
What to Save and Why: Identity, Authenticity, and the Ethics of Conservation, by Erich Hatala Matthes
Scavenging in the recesses of an attic, I recently came across a pair of shoes I hadn’t worn since university. I debated saving them as a relic of bygone f
academic.oup.com
One of the conclusions of my discussion of cancel culture in Drawing the Line is that it's generally a bad idea to cancel artists and performers (or most anyone, really) for things that they *say* (in contrast with things that they *do*). Sadly seeing more evidence for why this is true. #philsky
This paper from 7 years ago suddenly relevant again in the face of Trump's new "review" of Smithsonian exhibitions. #philsky www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Who Owns Up to the Past? Heritage and Historical Injustice | Journal of the American Philosophical Association | Cambridge Core
Who Owns Up to the Past? Heritage and Historical Injustice - Volume 4 Issue 1
cambridge.org
If anyone on here still wants a copy of What to Save and Why but hasn't gotten one yet, you can grab it on Amazon for $10 and change! www.amazon.com/What-Save-Wh...
Characteristically great piece by @add-hawk.bsky.social. Makes me wonder how many of us studied creative writing and yet somehow ended up... here. dailynous.com/2025/07/15/b...
Beyond Argument: The Creative Craft of Philosophy Writing (guest post) - Daily Nous
"I want to talk about the part of philosophy writing that comes after the argument part: the bit where you work on expressing your idea clearly, delicately, even personally. I want to talk about the v...
dailynous.com
Sobering piece in @nytimes.com compares China's advances in clean energy to the U.S.'s retrenchment in fossil fuels. Hard to read at a moment when the U.S. is giving up on a more affordable, healthier, and more sustainable future. www.nytimes.com/interactive/... 🧪🔌💡☀️💨🔋
I keep thinking the price on What to Save and Why can't possible get lower, but it's now down to $13 and change. Good time to grab a copy if you haven't! #philsky www.amazon.com/What-Save-Wh...
What to Save and Why: Identity, Authenticity, and the Ethics of Conservation
Amazon.com: What to Save and Why: Identity, Authenticity, and the Ethics of Conservation: 9780197744550: Matthes, Erich Hatala: Books
amazon.com
Check me out in The Saturday Evening Post for Earth Day! #philsky
The Saturday Evening Post@satevepost.bsky.social · last yr.Who we are is defined in part by the things that we think are worth caring for, and whether we care for these things, in turn, shapes our sense of self.
Who we are is defined in part by the things that we think are worth caring for, and whether we care for these things, in turn, shapes our sense of self.
Our World Needs More Stewards | The Saturday Evening Post
In a society brimming with things worth preserving, how do we decide what to save?
saturdayeveningpost.com
Woo hoo!!! My amazing @wellesley.edu ES colleague, @jayturner.bsky.social has been awarded a Guggenheim fellowship, for his excellent upcoming project: www.gf.org/stories/anno...
Announcing the 2025 Guggenheim Fellows — Guggenheim Fellowships: Supporting Artists, Scholars, & Scientists
Since 1925, the Guggenheim Foundation has given Fellowships to exceptional artists, writers, scholars, and scientists, empowering them to pursue meaningful work under the freest possible conditions.
gf.org
