I recently read an article where a doctor remarked that he had considered becoming a philosopher but eventually realized that he "didn't have the knack for asking the right sort of philosophical questions." Also, philosophy graduate school applications I read often say that they want the writing sample to demonstrate an ability to detect fruitful areas of philosophical inquiry. Is the ability to pick up on the "right" philosophical questions a skill that can be honed?

What reason do we have to believe that our understanding of morality is better now than it was 200 years ago (as opposed to just different)? What is the standard against which moral progress is gauged?

After looking at the list of categories found on the left hand side of this site a question came to me. What subject if any has been either vaguely or not at all covered in the field of philosophy? Is there any possibility for a breakthrough in some uncovered field that doesn't follow from some previous philosopher's argument or have all subjects relevant to philosophy been already covered? If there is no such subject, or it is just too abstract to consider what has not been considered, could you please point out some of the Cutting Edge or "hot topics" that are currently setting the philosophy world ablaze. Thank you for any consideration.

In reading various relatively contemporary secondary literature on several different philosophers, I've noticed that many of them seem to intimate (or sometimes outright state) that the philosopher in question has been badly misunderstood, at least from a time shortly after their death, until relatively recently. Has the standards of scholarship really drastically improved in the last 20 or so years, or is this sort of claim perennial to the secondary literature on philosophy?

Are all of the senses (taste, sight, etc.) equally credible?

Hey, I am studying year 11 philosophy at school and we are required to write a philosophy essay on a topic we are passionate about. I have always been interested in whether the world (people, places e.t.c) around me is "real" or a dream or information that is being fed into our brains e.t.c. Could you please suggest some resources I could use. As I have just started philosophy my "philosophy vocabulary" is very narrow please keep this in mind. Sally

What purpose does one have to do anything to assist another human if it does not directly benefit one? Our lives are short (sometimes), why should we even consider doing things which do not directly help ourselves? Why do we feel better about ourselves when we help others? Survival of the fittest says we should abandon everyone else to ensure our own survival and procreation. Why do we and animals alike have the need to ensure the survival of our species instead of ensuring the survival of ourselves or our immediate kin.

When I go and get really very drunk, I sometimes forget what happened the following morning. Was I conscious during the periods that are blacked out, or do I forget them because I wasn't conscious? Similarly, when I dream and forget it the next morning, am I conscious? I guess most people would answer No, but it doesn't seem so obvious to me. What's the deal with consciousness? Are clever scientists researching it or do people think it's not understandable? Any chance you know how I can read some research or learn some more about it (without doing a psychology degree)?

Do affirmative action programs make sense in a free market society? Affirmative action programs seek to create equality of opportunity. Free markets seek to reward the best ideas/practices (and hence create inequality). Are the two ever reconcilable then (where one creates equality, the other undoes it)?

Why is it that solipsism can't be 100% refuted? It seems that the theory is very flawed and is called incoherent. And if this is the case then why is it said to be irrefutable? Is the only reason that it can't be refuted is because we can't directly experience what another peron is experiencing, so in other words we can only experience life through ourselves. Is this correct?