Can literature "tell the truth" better than other Arts or Areas of Knowledge?

Is it much harder to be a philosopher now (that is, to make a contribution to the discipline) than it was 50 years ago? Is philosophy like science in that there can seem at times to be less and less left for us to "discover," over time?

My question has to do with moral obligation towards persons not yet conscience or even existent. The question is this, how may I weigh the possible happiness and suffering when deciding how many kids to have? For instance, given the income I make I could make one child very spoiled or I could have many children and spread out the wealth. The dilemma is that these kids are nonexistent, I mean if I really had many kids it would be unfair to spoil one; however, if I only do have one child that I spoil then I am negating the possibility of sharing with other children. To put this question on a large-scale basis we could, as a "global community," let's say, either use our resources to make everyone happy now (hypothetically of course) or continue to allow the population to grow to where there are more people (with the ability to feel pleasure and pain) although now (pretending that) we would share all the resources, of course now there is less so every gets the minimum amount to survive. so how do we measure...

What is the difference between the philosophy of language and linguistics?

Hi, I was thinking about the "This statement is false" paradoxon and so I came to: What about the "This statement is paradox" ? It means that I, the statement, can't be true or false. I find that odd. ..Jumping (1) Layer of statements: "I drink coffee" (2) Layer of statements about statements: " is true/false" (3) Layer of statements about statements about statements: " is paradox/not paradox" or is it: " is true/false-determinable/finite or not" Statements of (1) can state every possibility of language. Statements of (2) state if statements of (1) correspond with reality/each other. Statements of (3) state if statements of (2) are self-referential? finite? Where are my mistakes :p? Or which books do you advise me to read? Err..Which question should i ask? Does (3) "exist"? Is the idea of layers a bad idea? Simon

Students of foreign language often remark that to learn a new language is to acquire a new mode of thought. Do they mean to suggest that certain thoughts are only possible in certain languages? If so, I don't see how this can work! How can I, as an English speaker learning French, discover thoughts in French which I could not have expressed in English? I needed English to get there!

Let's say that a virus spread throughout the world and damaged the areas of the brain that are responsible for emotions. The entire population was affected and could no longer experience any emotional reactions, although their reason and intellectual ability was unimpaired. Would morality change if we no longer have any emotional reaction to cheaters, thiefs, inequity, or tragedy? Maybe it's difficult to answer such a hypothetical, but any opinions would be appreciated.

I was thinking about the ethics of the deceit involved in the current "Borat" movie. "Borat" filmed people, who of course gave their written consent, and then held them up to public ridicule. Since these people gave their written consent, they have no legal case against "Borat", but I'm wondering if they still have an ethical case. I'm thinking that "Borat" used people as means to an end, but his subjects were also using "Borat" in that they probably thought they were getting something good out of him. It just turned out that "Borat" had the last word. Is it unethical to use people's images for purposes for which they wouldn't approve, even after they have given their consent?

Can suicide be a way of political resistance? I am especially interested in the political situation at the West Bank, so when you answer in this context, please....

For someone looking for an introduction to empiricism (for the non-trained, nonprofessional philosopher) doing a search on Amazon.com (for example) can prove quite daunting. There are thousands of books on empiricism. Does anyone have particular recommendations for an introduction to empiricism, especially the history/development of empiricism and how it stands opposed to rationalism? Thanks very much!