Bellevue College Commons | William Payne | Activity https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/members/wpayne/activity/ Activity feed for William Payne. Mon, 13 Jul 2026 21:25:23 -0700 https://buddypress.org/?v= en-US 30 hourly 2 fa751aef9b202c8a50f44d04321633f9 William Payne wrote a new post on the site W. Russ Payne https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/?p=1317 Mon, 09 Mar 2026 14:29:52 -0700 Critical Thinking Note 38: "Feels Philosophy Centric"?There is a line of thinking that seems to lead some faculty on campus to think that philosophers, well perhaps mainly myself, […]

]]> 0 48eb8683757ab8295db0096c9a610a21 William Payne wrote a new post on the site General Education Reform at BC https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/gened/?p=185 Fri, 06 Mar 2026 15:24:11 -0800 Note on the CAC discussion of Critical Thinking on 5/20/2026I regret that I […] “”

]]> 0 3cb4569685b233d76562f65b35a4b7fe William Payne wrote a new post on the site General Education Reform at BC https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/gened/?p=148 Fri, 20 Feb 2026 21:30:26 -0800 Proposal for Institutional Learning Program Structure and GovernanceThis is the text of […] “”

]]> 0 6148b3ae488e785c0b38496df5a2b45b William Payne posted a new activity comment https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/2025/10/30/the-bicycle-theory-of-free-will/#comment-30 Wed, 04 Feb 2026 18:02:17 -0800 Thanks for prodding my memory. There are so many nice trails like this in the PNW. I think this is a trail on Orcas Island.

In reply to - William Payne wrote a new post on the site W. Russ Payne The Bicycle theory of Free Will This is one of my favorite bikes (I have 8 and they are all my favorites). This is the one I ride to places like this where I […] ]]> 8d296ec6ae0a626123539426904268b2 William Payne wrote a new post on the site BC Philosophy Club https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/bcphilosophyclub/?p=26 Mon, 02 Feb 2026 17:44:59 -0800 The Dignity of PoliticsHannah Arendt on the Human Condition Hannah Arendt would certainly not claim that our politics is dignified. To the […]

]]> 0 d64ecbc9fa09a74c3dc4a88fcf5c50b5 William Payne wrote a new post on the site W. Russ Payne https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/?p=1287 Fri, 30 Jan 2026 17:53:28 -0800 Lies, Bullshit, and AuthoritarianismLies are untruths told with the intention to deceive. Lies are bad. Kant is well known for his moral argument against lying. […]

]]> 0 50ec4fae38c53978517421b7d2c7bb76 William Payne wrote a new post on the site W. Russ Payne https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/?p=1201 Thu, 08 Jan 2026 20:29:00 -0800 Critical Thinking Note 37: The Zen of Logic This will not be a post about the meditative aspects of constructing proofs in symbolic logic (doing proofs is probably not the […]

]]> 0 a7403f4962c906b2b3a4bdfc49eb5b98 William Payne wrote a new post on the site General Education Reform at BC https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/gened/?p=144 Fri, 05 Dec 2025 17:34:04 -0800 Certifying Courses for an ILOWe have plans for […] “”

]]> 0 957b4de87e673e26c2f0178c772fb1fc William Payne wrote a new post on the site W. Russ Payne https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/?p=1241 Tue, 18 Nov 2025 17:26:10 -0800 Critical Thinking Note 36: Getting Comfortable with AmbiguityPeople understand “getting comfortable with ambiguity” in different ways. That is, the phrase is ambiguous. And I’m not entirely […]

]]> 1 95187a57144bc3d294fb12ab721ce9af William Payne wrote a new post on the site W. Russ Payne https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/?p=1245 Fri, 14 Nov 2025 18:44:23 -0800 Some Discussion Board posts on Morality1. We used to practice slavery, and many people thought this was OK. Doesn’t this case tell us that people can get morality […]

]]> 0 658a22c8be857c3e6ed9465731542942 William Payne wrote a new post on the site BC Philosophy Club https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/bcphilosophyclub/?p=23 Thu, 13 Nov 2025 23:06:09 -0800 Logical PositivismThe contemporary analytic tradition in philosophy that is now globally well-established got its start with Logical Positivism […]

]]> 0 b1ab91d72b740f293fd36b6954fba6ac William Payne wrote a new post on the site W. Russ Payne https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/?p=1226 Thu, 30 Oct 2025 18:13:15 -0700 The Bicycle theory of Free Will This is one of my favorite bikes (I have 8 and they are all my favorites). This is the one I ride to places like this where I […]

]]> 2 917af09b25b00e73d4e0c65ffb38ef57 William Payne wrote a new post on the site BC Philosophy Club https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/bcphilosophyclub/?p=21 Fri, 24 Oct 2025 17:21:19 -0700 Existentialism is a HumanismWe didn’t get too far with Existentialism last time. Thought I’d offer another source in case there is further appetite for this topic. Existentialism is a Humanism, Jean-Paul Sartre 1946

]]> 0 2039b26c4dd31905353eacb7c2f7be05 William Payne posted a new activity comment https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/bcphilosophyclub/2025/10/09/meaning-in-life/#comment-10 Wed, 15 Oct 2025 18:15:03 -0700 Good worry here. I find the structural analogies in the theoretical foundations of ethics and epistemology very informative. It bothers me too that these don’t extend as neatly to meaning in life. Maybe we can find something like a non-subjective foundational principle in the idea that it’s good to care about things. We have lots of lee way in…[Read more]

In reply to - William Payne wrote a new post on the site BC Philosophy Club Meaning In LifeMeaning in Life is a relatively young topic in philosophy. This is partly because few felt a need to seek answers about purpose […] ]]> 01679062d150409cdc815c34fa502b6e William Payne posted a new activity comment https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/bcphilosophyclub/2025/10/09/why-our-children-dont-think-there-are-moral-facts/#comment-9 Wed, 15 Oct 2025 18:06:47 -0700 You are sounding kind of realist curious right there at the end.

In reply to - William Payne wrote a new post on the site BC Philosophy Club Why our Children don't Think there are Moral FactsOlga Shared this one. I think Greg Damico is using it. If anyone hits a NY Times paywall, let me know […] ]]> 4363a95c3213567b7026f21577280d50 William Payne posted a new activity comment https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/bcphilosophyclub/2025/10/09/why-our-children-dont-think-there-are-moral-facts/#comment-6 Sun, 12 Oct 2025 14:57:48 -0700 I’m also on board with McBrayer’s condemnation of teaching facts and opinions as a dichotomy in K-12 education. As he points out, this mushes together metaphysics and epistemology, more specifically truth and justification. Not a very promising intellectual foundation for critical thinking.

I can see how McBrayer’s presumption of moral realism…[Read more]

In reply to - William Payne wrote a new post on the site BC Philosophy Club Why our Children don't Think there are Moral FactsOlga Shared this one. I think Greg Damico is using it. If anyone hits a NY Times paywall, let me know […] ]]> a0fdb3cadc6b6a2b5b264e7eefcc86b2 William Payne posted a new activity comment https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/bcphilosophyclub/2025/10/02/the-hard-problem-of-conciousness/#comment-5 Sat, 11 Oct 2025 13:06:16 -0700 I’ll link to Chalmers paper when I have a chance. He’s very clear about how he conceives of consciousness, distinguishing subjective conscious experience from other candidates. We all have immediate acquaintance with conscious experience. but of course, we can only know it in our own case. Subjective conscious experience is that what is like for…[Read more]

In reply to - William Payne wrote a new post on the site BC Philosophy Club The Hard Problem of ConciousnessFunctionalism remains the reigning paradigm for analyzing mental states. But not all that is mental yields to functional […] ]]> 0c72ef46fc6641d349c6d3edebc33723 William Payne wrote a new post on the site BC Philosophy Club https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/bcphilosophyclub/?p=17 Thu, 09 Oct 2025 16:55:59 -0700 Why our Children don't Think there are Moral FactsOlga Shared this one. I think Greg Damico is using it. If anyone hits a NY Times paywall, let me know and I’ll send you the text. Why Our Children Don’t Think There Are Moral Facts – The New York Times

]]> 2 81fb241c377c997a2ba90d69725b2264 William Payne wrote a new post on the site BC Philosophy Club https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/bcphilosophyclub/?p=15 Thu, 09 Oct 2025 00:21:22 -0700 Meaning In LifeMeaning in Life is a relatively young topic in philosophy. This is partly because few felt a need to seek answers about purpose […]

]]> 1 7292a16fc89e74eeb864891cef99a24e William Payne wrote a new post on the site General Education Reform at BC https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/gened/?p=135 Thu, 02 Oct 2025 17:57:09 -0700 Critical Thinking: What the Research SaysThere is research on […] “”

]]> 0 3aee4f10f1f46e973584c08c7d3e4cf9 William Payne wrote a new post on the site BC Philosophy Club https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/bcphilosophyclub/?p=13 Thu, 02 Oct 2025 17:12:44 -0700 The Hard Problem of ConciousnessFunctionalism remains the reigning paradigm for analyzing mental states. But not all that is mental yields to functional […]

]]> 1 e6a93209820969c5195865cc39a372fd William Payne created the site BC Philosophy Club https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/activity/p/29674/ Thu, 02 Oct 2025 16:49:12 -0700 0 43d931ad64c7591596c3b0eb311a7055 William Payne created the site BC Philosophy Club https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/activity/p/29673/ Thu, 02 Oct 2025 16:47:19 -0700 0 5e825e855e9b36a9a223bce745126c4e William Payne wrote a new post on the site W. Russ Payne https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/?p=1202 Wed, 01 Oct 2025 17:05:54 -0700 Critical Thinking Note 35: What the Research saysThere is research on Critical Thinking, notably on how it can be taught effectively. Several key findings are reported in […]

]]> 0 113c0a139c1edbac5b117225eccb056b William Payne wrote a new post on the site W. Russ Payne https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/?p=1170 Mon, 28 Jul 2025 07:24:52 -0700 Critical Thinking Note 38: Critical Thinking isn't RhetoricThe essential difference between rhetoric and critical thinking is that rhetoric is about power, critical thinking isn’t. […]

]]> 0 78e4aa2697e7868ca2d526096561f590 William Payne wrote a new post on the site W. Russ Payne https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/?p=1156 Mon, 07 Jul 2025 20:39:00 -0700 Critical Thinking Note 34: Rhetoric WinsWe occupy a rhetorically oversaturated world. The world we’ve shaped now shapes us. For hours a day our thinking is dominated by […]

]]> 1 d7b0ddfc9e05c11b89b6b9b32790bc41 William Payne wrote a new post on the site W. Russ Payne https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/?p=1148 Fri, 20 Jun 2025 15:16:29 -0700 Critical Thinking Note 36: Defining Critical ThinkingAsk anyone who teaches a full course on Critical Thinking what Critical Thinking is and you’ll get a pretty straightforward […]

]]> 0 b5c3fed17ffa628fb298c534ebcf016c William Payne wrote a new post on the site W. Russ Payne https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/?p=1131 Mon, 09 Jun 2025 16:14:10 -0700 Political PhilosophyLocke and Rawls represent traditional ‘center right’ and ‘center left’ political thought in America. Both are in the broad realm […]

]]> 0 1e019c0700ea00ca7aacd1108843646b William Payne wrote a new post on the site W. Russ Payne https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/?p=1127 Thu, 15 May 2025 15:23:38 -0700 A personal reflection on authoritarianismI was a physically uncoordinated and social awkward child. My mother assures me I would have gotten the Asperger’s diagnosis my […]

]]> 0 19b0aa13a30369515e7eb6bd62dfc108 William Payne wrote a new post on the site W. Russ Payne https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/?p=1123 Thu, 08 May 2025 15:38:31 -0700 ConsciousnessThe idea of a philosophical zombie is the idea of a being that is just like a person in every functional respect but lacks […]

]]> 0 e0a43b04ba78d3afed45ce8565428441 William Payne posted a new activity comment https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/2025/05/06/some-thoughts-on-free-speech/#comment-26 Thu, 08 May 2025 03:26:35 -0700 Hi Carson. Thanks for this. I see the playground guidance as aimed at building norms and establishing good faith. I don’t expect this to happen with the committed trolls out there. But the more we forge that good faith social contract with those reasonable enough to find it inviting, the more we marginalize the trolls.

I’d grant that being…[Read more]

In reply to - William Payne wrote a new post on the site W. Russ Payne Some Thoughts on Free SpeechFree speech has become a problem. Provocateurs and trolls routinely appeal to free speech as license to say things they know […] ]]> efc4d51c1ab1e6030e8a39fedfc55a92 William Payne wrote a new post on the site W. Russ Payne https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/?p=1100 Tue, 06 May 2025 15:04:30 -0700 Some Thoughts on Free SpeechFree speech has become a problem. Provocateurs and trolls routinely appeal to free speech as license to say things they know […]

]]> 2 1b6b39b68d9c8f62b1e75a234f4d8d70 William Payne wrote a new post on the site General Education Reform at BC https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/gened/?p=123 Wed, 30 Apr 2025 17:27:12 -0700 Articulating CommunicationIn our last post we […] “”

]]> 0 b64249d331829705752c5f1656d479a3 William Payne wrote a new post on the site W. Russ Payne https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/?p=1110 Thu, 24 Apr 2025 15:17:23 -0700 Critical Thinking note 33: Open-MindednessWe all agree that open-mindedness is a good thing. But exactly what is open-mindedness. Conventional thinking on open-mindedness […]

]]> 0 e4da8c9b400fa751112ed15a5cab9cc5 William Payne posted a new activity comment https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/gened/2025/03/05/articulating-our-ilos/#comment-200 Fri, 14 Mar 2025 16:25:01 -0700 I’m not sure how this narrows our past understanding of critical thinking since I’m not sure what that has been. Our lack of a shared understanding of outcomes like Critical Thinking is a good part of the reason we are engaged in ILO reform.

Addressing our accreditation recommendations requires remedying this issue. To this end, we are…[Read more]

In reply to - William Payne wrote a new post on the site General Education Reform at BC Articulating Critical Thinking:Proposed Bellevue […] “” ]]> 5ae05af287e0c07cf045773889364b66 William Payne wrote a new post on the site General Education Reform at BC https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/gened/?p=112 Wed, 05 Mar 2025 14:01:00 -0800 Articulating Critical Thinking:Proposed Bellevue […] “”

]]> 1 98e03781a48c0c3adf761e6bf7414765 William Payne wrote a new post on the site W. Russ Payne https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/?p=1086 Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:54:06 -0800 Note for the CACI’ve been thinking about the process I go through when I launch a new course in philosophy. Writing outcomes and an outline for […]

]]> 0 16bc58f5c1c38c235c9103341dcc69bf William Payne wrote a new post on the site General Education Reform at BC https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/gened/?p=107 Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:02:00 -0800 Continuing the Journey Email from Liz […] “”

]]> 0 433d9c76ff9fe01b42991e55a1a32907 William Payne wrote a new post on the site General Education Reform at BC https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/gened/?p=104 Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:00:30 -0800 Your Expertise Needed Email from Liz […] “”

]]> 0 5f925773c5e8a1c65532878581f00c12 William Payne wrote a new post on the site W. Russ Payne https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/?p=1073 Sat, 15 Feb 2025 18:53:53 -0800 Critical Thinking Note 32: Free Speech AbsurdityAs an American citizen, I am a free man! Nobody gets to tell me what I can or can’t do! I can make up my own mind and do as I […]

]]> 0 4501d7a0f7647af1733743b1631f8ac1 William Payne wrote a new post on the site W. Russ Payne https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/?p=1063 Tue, 11 Feb 2025 22:06:14 -0800 Why retribution is wrong and should be prosecuted aggressivelyI’ve been philosophically opposed to retribution for a good while, largely as a result of thinking about free will. I’ve come to […]

]]> 0 2f2fe5af873d04e76f2ee08475c2309b William Payne wrote a new post on the site W. Russ Payne https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/?p=1040 Wed, 20 Nov 2024 05:48:11 -0800 Meta-Ethics to EthicsLast week we examined some problems with anti-realist views of morality: nihilism, the view that there are no moral truths and a […]

]]> 0 27f89b077131d4b4df350ef72c628d86 William Payne wrote a new post on the site W. Russ Payne https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/?p=1028 Mon, 28 Oct 2024 02:32:10 -0700 Critical Thinking Note 31: Intellectual CouragePeople generally have reasons for believing the things they believe. Sometimes those are good reasons and sometimes not. When we […]

]]> 0 6f24f00f338c843bc32f1f816671d46a William Payne posted a new activity comment https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/2024/10/18/our-latest-discord/#comment-21 Mon, 21 Oct 2024 14:06:19 -0700 Hi Judith,

I think I can do better than a hypothetical. The first thing that comes to mind are the recently ripped down posters. This trollish behavior aimed at silencing our students of color and provoking outrage. The anonymity of this troll’s action makes direct accountability hard to pull off. But faculty did rally to restore students’ voices…[Read more]

In reply to - William Payne wrote a new post on the site W. Russ Payne Our Latest DiscordI am constantly trying to get my students to slow their thinking down and give some thoughtful attention to how conclusions are […] ]]> 87f4908499bf3b751bb68542428a0149 William Payne wrote a new post on the site W. Russ Payne https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/?p=1005 Fri, 18 Oct 2024 18:04:56 -0700 Our Latest DiscordI am constantly trying to get my students to slow their thinking down and give some thoughtful attention to how conclusions are […]

]]> 3 18cdd843648e97562c0864bde5ab4d7c William Payne wrote a new post on the site W. Russ Payne https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/?p=995 Thu, 25 Jul 2024 16:19:40 -0700 A note on AI for my StudentsSo, I’m starting to see some students use AI to write their assignments. Of course I’m not giving credit for this. So far, AI […]

]]> 0 f3e0c3ea499aa01bb4c16ec0ae57eb73 William Payne wrote a new post on the site General Education Reform at BC https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/gened/?p=92 Tue, 09 Jul 2024 19:40:32 -0700 Issues for Gen Ed ReformThis document is a brief discussion of issues for Gen Ed reform from conversations in the Fall of 2023. Issues-for-Gen-Ed-reformDownload

]]> 0 5f69675ac8fbb1f6cede9cc50b3fd1e5 William Payne wrote a new post on the site General Education Reform at BC https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/gened/?p=89 Tue, 09 Jul 2024 19:36:39 -0700 Gen Ed Reform slides for Campus Community Day April 18, 2024We had three hours […] “”

]]> 0 f1714584d13a90fe5e475f1cfd04d0ed William Payne wrote a new post on the site General Education Reform at BC https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/gened/?p=86 Tue, 09 Jul 2024 19:28:35 -0700 Gen Ed Reform SummaryThis is a summary of Gen Ed Reform at BC in bullet points sent out to faculty in January of 2024 Gen-Ed-Reform-Summary1Download

]]> 0 af8d91c9201da13d8da94b6ea98c6ced William Payne wrote a new post on the site General Education Reform at BC https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/gened/?p=83 Tue, 09 Jul 2024 19:22:13 -0700 Fall 2023 Gen Ed Reform Progress Report6.-Fall-2023-Gen-Ed-Reform-Progress-ReportDownload

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