Are certain statements offensive simply because people are often offended by them? Or are they inherently offensive no matter what the target thinks of them?

As someone who is clinically depressed, I have often wondered: philosophically speaking, is trying to treat depression wrong? People are depressed for a reason, possibly because life's pretty damned depressing once you get down to it. It seems to me that in plenty of cases, depression is a logical reaction to this planet, a rather depressing thought in and of itself. Despite the wars and the plagues and the genocides and the poverty and the seemingly countless other reasons for one to be depressed, people treat depression like a disease when it seems more like a perfectly acceptable reaction to the human condition. Treating depression like this appears to me as a rather unsubtle way of trying to trick people into believing everything is going to be okay when reality seems to contradict this. Any thoughts?

Is this for philosophers, mathematicians, or logicians? But here goes: Given that the decimal places of pi continue to infinity, does this imply that somewhere in the sequence of numbers of pi there must be, for instance, a huge (and possibly infinite) number of the same number repeated? 77777777777777777777777777... , say? If Pi goes on forever, you might think it must be. After all, if you checked pi to the first googol decimal places you obviously would't find an infinite number of anything. Try a googlplex! Still nothing. But we haven't scratched the surface, even though the universe would have fizzled out by now. If pi's decimal places go on forever, there may be, (not just 77777777777777... or 1515151515151) but all of them, in all combinations, forever. After all, you only have to say "You've only checked a googolplex. There's still an infinite number to to check. The universe is long gone, but pi goes on and on." Philosophers, mathematicians, logicians, any ideas? Mark G.

Eugenics has a bit of a history for being unethical; between disputes over what makes people 'better' and outright genocide of those that don't make the cut, this is quite understandable. However, what about other methods of eugenics? I've recently come across a movement, I can't vouch for size but I imagine rather small, called Transhumanism. It calls for the improvement of human physical and mental aptitudes and abilities with modern science and technology. Surely THIS isn't immoral, right? Unless patients were unwilling, procedures unduly risky, or improvements distributed unequally or based on race or income, surely the desire to improve the human race can't be construed as immoral, can it?

I'm just a Portuguese 15 year old boy looking for some answers (sorry for my bad english) Imagine that there is a suicide bomber terrorist with some people in a room, and there are lots of cops outside that room...The terrorist let all the people leave the room and he stay there alone unarmed but the cops are still outside and they obviously wnat to kill him.Would it be politicaly and would society think it was the correct way of doing things?I think they shouldn't kill him, after all he is a human... but why yes/not?

Can philosophy help us live 'better' lives?

Is it morally defensible that men are allowed to go topless in certain public situations while women are not (e.g., at the beach or pool, park, gym, etc.)? Are the people opposed to women gaining this right prudes, or do they have a legitimate ethical basis for their position?

Will philosophy ever end? Will we ever find the unchallengeable 'truth?' Or will we just get inches closer without ever really grasping the answers to life's most puzzling mysteries?

What are the possible responses when people say that concepts like "being" and "nothingness" are essentially meaningless?

When, if ever, should philosophy get mixed into politics?