Alex Mendez, PhD

Adjunct Lecturer at The City College of New York. Free Will, Meaning in Life, and Aesthetics. Video Game Nerd.

[Alex Mendez, PhD @AlexMetaMendez]

Super excited to announce that my first ever publication in philosophy, “Two Kinds of Self-Expression: How Free Will Enhances Meaning in Life” was recently published in the Journal of Ethics! Here is a view-only link, that makes the full text accessible! https://t.co/IFsyNK6JnI

[Alex Mendez, PhD @AlexMetaMendez]

@PhilosopherJoeC Interesting! Can someone object that equivocation is occurring in (1)? I.e., “doing things in the past again” might mean, if I were in the past at that time again I could do what I did, or (what I think you mean), in the future I can do things that i know I’ve done in the past?

[Alex Mendez, PhD @AlexMetaMendez]

Currently teaching excerpts from Berkeley’s Treatise on Human Knowledge. As someone not steeped in Early Modern thought, would it be wrong to treat Berkeley as some kind of Occasionalist? I’ve been going back and forth but can’t seem to settle my thoughts on it

[Alex Mendez, PhD @AlexMetaMendez]

@PhilosopherJoeC Wolf has a great paper titled “Asymmetrical Freedom,” where she argues that someone can be morally praiseworthy but not morally blameworthy if determinism were true. I don’t remember the details, it’s been a while since I looked at it. But it’s something like this!

[Alex Mendez, PhD @AlexMetaMendez]

@morallawwithin It’s a shame all those on the left will expire, glad to see people getting snacks from the one on the right!

[Alex Mendez, PhD @AlexMetaMendez]

Professors of X; has anyone ever experimented with playing music in class during lecture at some low setting? I recall having one teacher do this in my HS, and it was a really memorable experience. I can see how it might make class more engaging… or seem very elitist/corny lol.

[Alex Mendez, PhD @AlexMetaMendez]

@JLMoultrie @moonbeeaam I’m not sure where you are currently with your reading. But if B&N feels like a lot but you like Sartre/Existent. I would start with his essay “Existentialism is a Humanism” it’s a lot easier to read (and a lot less scary!) 🙂

[Alex Mendez, PhD @AlexMetaMendez]

@freedomklin @DrAllyLouks Hey, thanks!

[Alex Mendez, PhD @AlexMetaMendez]

@PhilosopherJoeC Very helpful!

[Alex Mendez, PhD @AlexMetaMendez]

@PhilosopherJoeC Can this experience be qualified as a sort of sensation? I feel like Hume does not talk very much about this experienceable nature of willing, but perhaps I’m simply wrong on this.

[Alex Mendez, PhD @AlexMetaMendez]

@PhilosopherJoeC What do you think of Reid’s point that we actually derive our notion of causation from our (alleged) powers of agent causation? Hume seemingly works the other way : we derive a notion of cause (constant conjunction) and then use it to explain human behavior.

[Alex Mendez, PhD @AlexMetaMendez]

@remisramosc I like to think I’m not biased, but then again I study free will, and I do believe we have libertarian free will, and that seems to square nicely with the ideal Christian view, so I’m probably biased lol

[Neil Renic @NC_Renic]

Reviewer 1: Interesting analysis

Reviewer 3: Solid work

Reviewer 2:

[Alex Mendez, PhD @AlexMetaMendez]

@langofmind I feel like *almost* looking identical and *almost* spoking something resembling English would somehow be worse… couldn’t say why, uncanny valley or something like that.

[Alex Mendez, PhD @AlexMetaMendez]

@remisramosc I had the exact feeling about my dissertation work. One of my committee members said: it’s being so “obvious” might account for its plausibility instead of its merit. The paper has since been published. Have faith! Obvious is good, your brilliance wont be masked by self-doubt!

[Alex Mendez, PhD @AlexMetaMendez]

@JoshuaLWatson Analytic philosophers when a = a

[Alex Mendez, PhD @AlexMetaMendez]

@waldenpod I would say the problem is not that nothing is good or bad under determinism, but that we cannot hold people responsible for the good or bad things they do if determinism is true. I think everyone would agree moral judgements exist but whether they are justified is something else

[Alex Mendez, PhD @AlexMetaMendez]

@PhilosopherJoeC Would always be happy to look at something :) DM me and I’ll send you an email!

[Alex Mendez, PhD @AlexMetaMendez]

@PhilosopherJoeC SUPER HELPFUL! Still in class about to teach again, so can’t respond to each one. But I will certainly be consulting this thread when writing my notes tonight 😆 thank you!!