Archive for January, 2014
When mulling over a philosophical problem or antinomy, I have found that it can be conducive to well reasoned thinking to indulge in some improvisation on a musical instrument. On Sunday I was writing an entry on a Kantian perspective on gun ownership, and took a break to play a little guitar, during which time […]
dystopia, gun control, gun rights, music, philosophy
One of the more reoccurring debates I get involved in here on WordPress is whether or not an objective morality is possible for atheists. Most of the time this involves me commenting on posts that posit that secular morality isn’t possible, such that I take it upon myself to show theists where their critique of […]
constructivism, dilemma, Ethics, Euthyphro, G. E. Moore, god, metaethics, moral naturalism, moral non-naturalism, moral realism, moral reductionism, Morality, naturalism vs non-naturalism, Platonism, religion, secular morality, Socrates, Socratic dialogue, supervenience, theist vs. secular morality, theistic morality
In reviewing my ‘about’ page (narcissistic, I know) I noticed that I said that I would write on music and caffein, besides just philosophy and politics. I wrote an entry on one of my favorite rock groups, Queens of the Stone Age, but I haven’t done anything else on music. With that in mind, I […]
descartes, despair, doubt, dreams, Existentialism, illusion, inception, meaninglessness, music, philosophy, skepticism, solipsism
I was responding to a very interesting comment on another blog when some new thoughts on an issue that I find myself thinking about frequently quickly materialized: the intersection and overlap of law and morality. It’s a thorny issue for me, because as a moral realist I think that there are objective moral truths and […]
Consequentialism, criminal, Ethics, good will, goodness, gun control, gun rights, gun violence, Immanuel Kant, justice, Kantianism, moral realism, Morality, Political Philosophy, politics, rightness, self-defense, sex, Violence
I have refrained from writing on the controversial topic of gun control but I feel now that I must address it as today’s shooting in Columbia mall is literally too close to home for me to not comment – my father goes to a new age church in Columbia, Maryland, and I have friends who […]
argument from analogy, constructivism, criminal, Ethics, gun control, gun rights, gun violence, mental illness, Michael Huemer, moral realism, Morality, Political Philosophy, politics, rights, self-defense, thought experiment, Violence
SelfAwarePattern’s post from the other day on the problem of solipsism got me thinking about (my favorite solipsistic movie – no apologies to fans of the Matrix) Inception, and its tension with a thought experiment meant to undermine hedonistic utilitarianism posited by Robert Nozick. The Experience Machine Nozick asks us to consider whether we would […]
axiology, Christopher Nolan, coincidences, Consequentialism, deontology, determinism, dreams, Ethics, free will, good, goodness, hard determinism, hedonism, inception, intrinsic vs extrinsic value, Kierkegaard, logic, modus ponens, modus tollens, moral monism, Morality, movies, philosophy, Robert Nozick, Søren Kierkegaard, the experience machine, the pursuit of pleasure, thought experiment, utilitarianism, value
The Washington Post is reporting that the army is to deploy two blimp-like surveillance aircraft under the auspices that they will monitor for incoming missiles directed at the capital and other east coast cities. The blimps will be equipped with radar powerful enough to completely monitor the east coast from Staten Island to Richmond, and […]
Ethics, justice, law, Morality, philosophy, Political Philosophy, politics, respect, surveillance, terrorism
The Washington Post has recently been indulging its readership in a series of articles proclaiming that a new progressive movement is taking form, and that changing demographics in battleground states suggest that Democratic presidents will become a norm. As a bleeding heart liberal – I was fairly progressive before living in Denmark, but seeing socialist […]
biases, cultural diversity, democracy, demographics, ethical intuitionism, Ethics, liberalism, Martin Luther King jr, metaethics, Michael Huemer, MLK, moral knowledge, moral progress, Morality, philosophical liberalism, philosophy, Political Philosophy, politics, progressive, progressivism
There has recently been a surge in discussion of the principle of falsifiability as a necessary condition of the sciences, due to the efforts of SelfAwarePatterns. I don’t intend to make a contribution to this discussion today, rather, I want to note that Wittgenstein, in his later works, used a similar methodology in the philosophy […]
evil, falsifiability, Karl Popper, language, ludwig wittgenstein, philosophical investigations, philosophy, philosophy of language, science, snakes, wittgenstein
To say that there has been a vociferous response to the continuing revelations of surveillance conducted by the NSA might be to state the facts mildly; there has been heated debate in the public sphere on the matter, culminating in a presidential address yesterday declaring that (modest) changes would be made. President Barack Obama’s remarks […]
anti-terrorism, Barack Obama, cellphone tracking, criminal, deontology, duty-based ethics, Ethics, fundamental rights, goodness, Immanuel Kant, John Locke, justice, Kant, Kantianism, law, metaethics, Morality, national security agency, NSA, obligations, paternalism, philosophy, Political Philosophy, politics, respect, rightness, rights, Snowden, surveillance, terrorism, The Right and the Good, W.D. Ross
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