Recent Responses
Do philosophers ever completely agree and should they?
Eddy Nahmias
September 24, 2010
(changed September 24, 2010)
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I disagree with Prof. Leaman that philosophers completely agree on the point that they never completely agree on anything. Uh oh, did I just prove his point?
Anyway, putting aside the problem that if "completely" is taken literally, then almost nothing is completely agreed on (and not... Read more
I am a philosophy student in my second year and was disturbed by a conversation in my "philosophy of mind" course. The students were bashing philosophy as a discipline: "a fun waste of time", "sitting and thinking" for a living rather than finding a real job, etc. I'm sure you get the picture. I was discouraged by this. rather than being surrounded by others with a deep passion for philosophy, i am surrounded by shallow thinkers. My question is, how should one go about handling criticisms of this kind, both internally, as well as in social situations as mentioned above? it seems useless to defend myself to those who hold such opinions, but that doesn't mean i want the majority (and it really is most people i meet) to be holding on to those negative stereotypes. How often do you find yourself in these kinds of situations?
Eddy Nahmias
September 24, 2010
(changed September 24, 2010)
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Well, tell these "skeptics about the value of philosophy" that philosophy majors will probably do "real jobs" better than most other majors (see some of the links below), because they will know how to read, think, write, and communicate more clearly. Remind them that they won't remember... Read more
I do not eat animal flesh because I see the clear case that doing so comes at the cost of killing another being that was definitely alive. The other day I was offered a breakfast sandwich that had both egg and turkey bacon on it. I decided to throw away the turkey and only eat the egg (and bread). Also, to add more background to the situation this was a sandwich that would have been eaten by someone else (turkey in all) if I declined. This then led me to think that maybe my actions of throwing away the turkey is actually more morally wrong than eating the turkey. So, my question is if throwing away meat is morally correct for vegetarians (or vegan) who base their diet on the ethical stance of not doing harm to animals.
Eddy Nahmias
September 23, 2010
(changed September 23, 2010)
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The answer will depend on what your reasons are for not eating meat. For instance, I do not believe that eating meat is wrong because killing animals is wrong. Rather, I believe it is wrong to cause suffering to those animals we have good reason to believe can feel pain and suffer (unl... Read more
I am at that age when people try to postpone adulthood (or what is generally conceived as such). This is a time when, if one comes from a developed country, has a lot of money or is educated enough, one has many opportunities to define one’s life. I am from a poor country that suffers from chronic lack of security, spurts of hideous violence and many structural problems, but am educated enough (proof being that I can formulate this question in English, not my mother tongue) to have many opportunities when it comes to my personal/professional development. Among these different opportunities is whether or not I want to reside, and thus work, in my country of origin. Moving away would definitely lead to a richer, easier – though not necessarily happier- life, I am quite sure of it. The problem is I feel an ethical duty to work and live in and for my country. I feel that if every educated person leaves my country, we will be doing a disservice to the place where we and our loved ones are from. Brain drain and the migration of able bodied people to more developed nations are both problems my nation faces. Do I have a duty to stay? Am I irredeemably modern in my concern for my country? I sometimes think I am not postmodern enough, in that I feel more keenly aware and obliged to resolve my country’s problems than the problems other places and people have, despite the fact that (as we are all tired of hearing) globalization is a defining feature of the world. There is nothing essential about being from a place, right? It is a contingent fact that I was born where I was born, but does it mean anything ethically? Is this ethical anxiety really about modernity? If so, should modernity weigh less upon us? Can it be eluded or tricked or must we still dance to its tune?
Gordon Marino
September 23, 2010
(changed September 23, 2010)
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You are right, you did not choose to be born where you were born. You say that there is nothing essential about being from a place. I'm not sure. Maybe I am premodern but I have the sense, and I know that this is pretty gauzy, that there is more of a connection between place and spirit... Read more
I have been dating a guy for about a year, and the chemical spark has faded for me. How important is this in a relationship? He is a very nice guy and I realize the value of this in a long term relationship.
Charles Taliaferro
September 23, 2010
(changed September 23, 2010)
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I think this is really a personal, even private question that involves many other questions: how important is the "chemical spark" for you? If you no longer have romantic feelings for him, does he know this or, if he does not know, should you tell him so as not to mislead him into... Read more
I have been dating a guy for about a year, and the chemical spark has faded for me. How important is this in a relationship? He is a very nice guy and I realize the value of this in a long term relationship.
Charles Taliaferro
September 23, 2010
(changed September 23, 2010)
Permalink
I think this is really a personal, even private question that involves many other questions: how important is the "chemical spark" for you? If you no longer have romantic feelings for him, does he know this or, if he does not know, should you tell him so as not to mislead him into... Read more
Do you really believe that the entire universe was made by a "big bang?" Doesn't it seem like there must be some type of higher being something? It just doesn't seem like all the pieces of the puzzle come together from a few dust particles...
Jonathan Westphal
September 19, 2010
(changed September 19, 2010)
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I believe that your question is a good one, and that there is a further one that it suggests. The further question is where the dust particles might have come from. Or if we mean by "the universe" absolutely everything, including dust particles, then the universe did not come from a... Read more
Is it morally acceptable to punish? And at what stage does punishment turn to revenge? Comparing something like lex talionis (which seems like revenge) with rehabilitative/correctional systems (which seem restorative), it seems that certain forms of punishment are more ethical than others.
Charles Taliaferro
September 17, 2010
(changed September 17, 2010)
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What is quite interesting about the lex talionis ("an eye for an eye....") is that it functioned to limit retaliation (e.g. if my neighbor injures my eye, I am not thereby authorized to kill him and his family). In any case, there are many theories of punishment. These include th... Read more
Should the freedoms of religion and speech be more strictly regulated if this freedom is used for such destructive purposes? If so, who has the power to decide what is acceptable?
Charles Taliaferro
September 17, 2010
(changed September 17, 2010)
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Interesting that you single out religion and speech, and not, say, politics and speech or certain types of industry and speech or even treatments of the environment and speech. I believe that there is an assumption in popular culture (perhaps encouraged by Dawkins et al) that reli... Read more
Do people have a moral obligation to be honest with themselves? Is there anything wrong with priming yourself with delusions in order to experience the bliss of ignorance?
Charles Taliaferro
September 17, 2010
(changed September 17, 2010)
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I'm not sure that ignorance is bliss, but perhaps an extreme form of ignorance (in which you are ignorant of your responsibilities and duties) might lead to a life unburdened by any sense of duty or any call to do good. You are probably not going to aid those in peril or seek to c... Read more