Plato envisioned a realm of reality in which there are no mixtures. The Form of Redness is sheer redness and not at all round, and the Form of Roundness is sheer roundness, and not at all red. But in the real world things keep mixing it up. There are things that are red and round. That’s a fact we can greet calmly, but sometimes mixing triggers worry or disgust. The bathroom should separate from the kitchen, we feel. In other cases, mixtures bring up deep philosophical and ethical problems. These kinds of “mixing problems” come up in a number of the reviews in this issue.
Computer machinery mixed with personhood: Can it be? And if so, what are the new rules for things like that? Ken Daley and Robert J. Howell discuss the essay collection Robot Ethics 2.0. Human-animal hybrids: they’re fascinating in art, but ethically perplexing in a lab. Paulina Rivero Weber takes us to an art exhibit in Mexico City but also considers recent developments in medical research. Animals that are cute enough to love, but also delicious: Jean Kazez reviews a book on animal consumption and tourist ethics. And in her column, she discusses the surprising variety of gender mixtures at a drag show.
We also bring you a review of Tamler Sommers’ new book Why Honor Matters, which our reviewer, Dan Demitriou calls a “podcast book”. (Wait, that’s a mixture too!) And finally, we offer Ann Levey’s review of Dennis Rasmussen’s biographical account of David Hume and Adam Smith, The Infidel and the Professor. We would say they had a mixture of styles and reputations, but that would be pushing it.
